When we taste herbs, we’re an organoleptic approach. Which is a fancy way of saying a sensory approach to herbalism. I’ve written about taking a sensory embodied approach in another article (click here)

By understanding herbal tastes, we can actually start understanding:

• What herbal actions it might have, ie what it does in the body,
• what kind of chemical constituents it might have, and
• the best ways to prepare it as a medicine.

Note – I always say ‘might’ because whilst there are strong patterns for most of the tastes, there are always exceptions to the rule. It’s helpful to stay away from rigid black and white thinking, but instead have general patterns to guide you as you explore and deepen your relationship with plants.

The 5 major herbal tastes

Whilst I talk about the 5 major herbal tastes, in fact, various herbal traditions have different ideas about how many there are.

The 5 tastes are:

1. sour
2. sweet
3. salty
4. pungent
5. bitter

As a group, these 5 are commonly associated with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), but they also occur in all major herbal traditions.

In Ayurveda, they have these 5, plus a 6^th: astringency.

From a Western Herbalism framework, some people teach that there are 9 tastes:

• sweet
• sour
• salty
• bitter
• pungent
• astringent
• spicy
• acrid
• bland

Whilst it’s really helpful to differentiate that many tastes, in general I tend to think of the bottom 4 as sub-tastes.

Or another technical explanation for at least some discrepancy is differentiating between ‘taste’ and ‘mouth feel’.

According to Sajah Popham, astringency is technically considered a ‘mouth feel’ as there’s no taste receptors on the tongue for astringency. But, astringency has a distinct sensation and is also a herbal action in Western herbal medicine.

It’s really common for people to talk about astringency and sour interchangeably. Whilst they do often occur together, I personally think they need to be differentiated because the two tastes work slightly differently in the body. I personally think about astringency as sub-taste of sour.

Simple vs complex herbal tastes

Sounds easy so far right? Taste a herb and you’ll instantly know some of its potential herbal actions!? Well yes and no.

Most herbs have complex tastes, not just a single taste, so their medicine will be similarly complex. This is part of what contributes to the uniqueness of herbs.

For example, whilst a herb might have some bitterness, its dominant taste might be pungent. Or perhaps it’s mostly pungent but has a strong affinity for the head (like rosemary). Each of these will change the nature of how these herbs work in the body.

Let’s take an example

Rosemary: primarily pungent, with a bit of astringent

The pungent taste indicates that rosemary is a stimulating warming circulatory stimulant. Pungent aromatic plants are often carminatives (although that generalisation depends how you define pungency) and aromatic plants usually have an effect on the nervous system as well as being antimicrobial.

The astringent aspects will be drying and toning to tissues, although because this is a mild secondary taste, these actions won’t be as strong.

That’s just a quick example and we go into much more detail about the herbal tastes in my Embodied Herbalism: Herbal Tastes course (click here)

Does that tell us the whole picture? Not quite. That’s when we layer over our other knowledge, such as her affinities, traditional use and clinical studies.

But just through taste alone, it gives us a really good guide to some of rosemary’s foundational energetic effects and herbal actions.

Love herbal tastes and want to know more?

I go into heaps more detail in my Embodied Herbalism: Herbal Tastes course (click here).

The course covers:

• how to describing taste and body sensations in herbalism
• what energetics is
• the difference between taste and mouthfeel
• the 5 flavours: sour, sweet, salty, pungent, bitter and 4 sub-tastes
• taste each flavor and learn what herbal actions are associated with it
• what chemical constituents might make up each flavor
• how taste can guide you how to prepare your medicine

In this super fun group learning environment, you’ll be amazed what the group can work out about just through tasting the herbs!

I honestly think knowing herbal tastes is such a useful skillset for home herbalists – it allows us to build a deep understanding of the herbs through our direct experience of how they taste. It also helps us build a holistic understanding of herbs, building a bigger picture, rather than just relying on rote learning of herbal actions.

Feeling inspired? Go make a herbal cuppa and see what you taste! (then jump on my newsletter and come tell me bout it! 🙌)

The post What are herbal tastes? appeared first on Everyday Empowered.

I’ve never seen a list like this, and I thought it’d be fun to put it together — it’s allllllllll the ways I could think of to work with herbs. I’ve made most of them, but not all—so inspired to keep exploring this beautiful herbal life!

In categories:

Topical (applied on skin)

• herbal oil
• creams
• salves
• balms
• compresses
• poultices
• herbal steam
• neti pot
• spritzer
• hair oil
• mouthwash
• eye wash/ drops
• ear oil
• shampoo/ conditioner
• hair detangler

Internal

• tea
• tincture
• elixir
• herbal-infused honey
• electuary
• herbal-infused vinegar
• oxymel
• glycetract
• syrup
• smoke blends

Culinary

• herbal salt
• herbal butter
• in meals – curries, stews, eggs, etc
• in baking – cookies, cakes, bliss balls etc
• smoothies, ice blocks and ice cream
• spice blends
• pesto
• natural food colouring
• marshmallows
• candies
• cordial
• bitters in cocktails and mocktails
• kombucha and other fermented drinks
• in ferments

Personal Care/ Home Care

• cleaning spray
• smudge sticks
• deodorant
• moxa sticks
• incense
• deodorant
• potpourri
• simmer pot
• herbal eye pillows
• herb moth-repelling sachets
• herbal baths
• floral/ leaf displays
• wreath

Art

• botanical illustration
• eco-dying
• flower mandala

Are you feeling inspired?

This is one of the reasons I LOVE home herbalism – there are literally so many ways to work with herbs in daily life!

Our herbal homes are full of creativity, potential, and joy as we personalise it to our interests, tastes and needs.

Does your home herablism need to look like anyone elses? Hell no!

Do you need to do it all? Definitely not!

Can you find what works for you!? YESSS!

I’m sure there’s probably more – drop a comment below (or email hello @ everydayempowered.com.au to tell me what I’ve missed (Contact form’s not working atm, so don’t use that yet!)

The post The Complete List of How to Use Herbs in Daily Life! appeared first on Everyday Empowered.

1. Are the herbs good quality?

Are your herbs vibrantly coloured and smell good (or what they’re supposed to smell like, which sometimes isn’t “good” 😂). When you taste them, do they have flavour (whether that’s pungent, sour, bitter etc)? Are there signs of spoiling?

If you’re storing herbs at home, I recommend keeping them in an airtight glass container and keep in mind, dry herbs are usually only really fresh for a year (or as short as 6 months and up to 2 years). They’re best kept in a dark cupboard that’s relatively temperature stable (but do your best and use your common sense, you also want them accessible to use, not locked up in a dungeon).

It sucks to have to throw herbs out (and by that I mean compost them), but if your herbs aren’t good quality, neither are your remedies and they won’t work as effectively.

2. Are you using the right dosage?

Higher doses aren’t necessarily better, but if your herbal remedies aren’t working, this might be a factor. With tinctures, it can be relatively straightforward to increase the dose by a few drops, to mls until you reach the higher suggested dosage range. But there are two other elements to consider:

The first is using enough herb material. Oftentimes you’re just not getting enough herb to make effective remedies, and this can be with a variety of preparations, such as teas, infused oils, vinegars or tinctures.

The second thing to think about is steep time. Chamomile can make a delightful beverage tea with a 5 minute steep, but if you really want its strong antispasmodic effects to help with period pain, you might need a 20 minute steep with up to ¼ cup of herb material.

Always check with a trusted herbal reference to see the safe, suggested dosage range for each herb. Keep in mind, some herbs are only to be used in low doses (although you’ll generally know that because these will often be given from a practitioner).

3. Are you taking the herbs regularly enough?

Often (*not always*- really depends what you’re using them for) small doses of herbs taken regularly is more effective that large doses less often. For example, at the very first sign of a cold (ie within first 24 hours), I use elderberry syrup every hour before tapering off to 3-4 times day (learn more about how to use elderberry syrup effectively)

Most remedies don’t need to be taken hourly, but this is really the art of home herbalism, and you’ll find your rhythm over time.

Sometimes it’s not about regularly through the day, but regularly over time. For example, many adaptogenic and immunomodulating herbs, such as astragalus or withania, have cumulative effects, meaning you need to take them regularly over time for them to be effective.

4. Is this the right preparation for this herb?

We have a wide variety of ways to work with herbs – in water, alcohol, vinegar, glycerine, honey, whole powdered herbs, in oil etc. Whilst some of these are just personal preference and what’s available, often it’s because certain chemical constituents extract better in different preparations.

If your herbal remedies aren’t working, then it’s really important to consider if you’re making the right preparation.

Even when working with the same herb, you might work with it in different ways to extract different constituents. For example – you might have heard nettle is an amazing source of iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and zinc, but these minerals don’t extract well into alcohol. So if you’re using a nettle tincture you won’t get these benefits (but you’ll still get the anti-histamine actions for example). If you want the nourishing components, these extract better into vinegar or water.

So then you decide to make a nettle tea. Going back to the second point however, quantity of herb and steep time are both really important here.

Steeping a teaspoon of nettle for 5 minutes won’t give you the nutrient-dense punch you’re looking for, compared with a traditional nourishing infusion, which uses 30g of herb (per litre) with an 8 – 12 hour steep time.

5. Is this the right herb for this condition or person?

We are all different and herbs are all different. Respecting this, it doesn’t make sense that there’s JUST ONE HERB that will suit every person and every condition.

This nuance can be challenging when we’re used to the modern medicine take-this-pill-for-this-disease mentality. But it means we can get much more specific, personalised and effective support from our herbal remedies.

If your herbal remedies aren’t working, it’s important to consider the person’s constitution, the season, and herbal energetics of the both the tissue state and herb.

Simply put, energetics refer to whether a herb and tissue state is dry or moist, hot or cold. In general, our goal in herbal medicine is to create balance. For example – for a wet hacking cough, we’d use drying herbs, but those same drying herbs might not help, and might even aggravate, an already dry, unproductive cough.

Depending what’s going on, choosing the right herb for the right person might also refer to the psychological indications for particular herbs, or the overall symptoms pattern.

If you’re new to herbs and this seems confusing, take heart! You don’t need to know it all, or do it alone. You’ll pick things up over time, and can always work with skilled practitioners or take courses to learn.  

This is really why I emphasise learning the basic pillars of herbalism so you’ve got a good baseline understanding of what to think about. It’s also why I suggest learning fewer herbs more in depth. You’ll be more likely to understand this nuance related to the particular herb and you’ve got a higher chance of using it effectively and confidently at home! (Like the sound of this? This is what our courses are all about – join us, we’d love to support you!)

6. Are you addressing the root cause?

Depending on the issue, this might be something you work with a skilled practitioner to work out, then you can continue to care for at home. Oftentime we can get caught up treating the symptoms but not the root cause. Sometimes there’s even layers to root causes. If you’re not seeing results with your home remedies, or even with practitioner-prescribed remedies, keep searching till you find what works for you!

Keep in mind as well, that different modalities and herbal traditions describe root causes differently.

7. Herbs aren’t magic bullets and work best in tandem with core lifestyle pillars

Herbs are incredible but they’re not magic bullets and they really do work best with a solid life-nourishing lifestyle, such as movement, laughter, enough sunlight and fresh air.

Sometimes the herbs are effective, but they simply need more time to work, or give our bodies more time to rest.

A simple example of this and the previous point about root causes is we might get caught in that recurrent cold spiral. We might find ourselves regularly reaching for our cough syrup or elderberry syrup. But in this case, you might actually need deeper immune system support, or have a vitamin/mineral deficiency you need to address. You might need a week to just sleep or perhaps you’re too socially isolated and need to make time to build stronger relationships. Health if multi-layered, and herbs work most effectively in tandem with core lifestyle pillars and addressing the root cause.

To make it easy for you, here’s your quick checklist in condensed form. If you’ve got a little herb nook in your home, feel free to write these down, so you can return to it if you need it,

7 reasons your herbal remedies aren’t working:

1. Are the herbs good quality?
2. Are you using the right dosage?
3. Are you taking the herbs regularly enough?
4. Is this the right preparation for this herb?
5. Is this the right herb for this condition or person?
6. Are you addressing the root cause?
7. Herbs aren’t magic bullets and work best in tandem with core lifestyle pillars

Keen to make your own herbal remedies but want a bit of extra support? It’s really simple with our DIY Remedy Kits.

The post 7 reasons your herbal remedies aren’t working. appeared first on Everyday Empowered.