Herbal tastes as a concept in herbal medicine is actually pretty straightforward – they describe how a herb tastes. Whilst it’s quite straightforward, the magic comes in what the tastes can tell us about how a herb might work in the body!
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:
- sour
- sweet
- salty
- pungent
- 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 6th: 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! 🙌)
