fall herbs and spices

 

Fall is the perfect time for a cup of tea. The weather gets cooler, and it feels so warm and cozy to wrap yourself in a blanket or sweater, and enjoy a hot cup of tea. Here are some tea recipes that are perfect for the fall season.

Fall Fruity Spice Tea

This first tea recipe is really great for the fall season, combining a lot of the best flavors and spices for the season. It is going to be a fruity concoction that has some sweetness, and also those fall spices you have grown to love. If you want something with a hint of pumpkin, but you don’t like coffee, this is a great alternative. For the tea, you want to start with any flavor tea you like, though white and black teas are ideal for this variety. You can then combine the brewed tea with your flavors, like cranberry juice, apple juice, and maybe a bit of lemon or orange juice. Add to that your fall spices like cinnamon, clove, and pumpkin pie spice. Mix it all together into a delicious fall tea.

Simple Pumpkin Spice Tea

For a cup of tea that tastes even more like a pumpkin spice latte, you want to leave out all those delicious fruity flavors, and go for the more spiced flavors instead. This is great by starting with a spiced tea like rooiobos, then adding in your pumpkin pie spice, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. You can also add in some vanilla extract and maple syrup if you want to add in more sweetness to it. When you’re done blending your tea, you can choose to add something to make it creamy, like heavy whipping cream, along with a cinnamon stick at the very end.

Spiced Chai Tea

One of the most popular tea flavors for the fall season is chai tea. It naturally has all those spices you have grown to love during this time of year, but it really is easier than you might think to make. The simplest way to make it is to get chai tea bags, then add in some of your own flavors. Brew your chai tea, then add in a little extra spice, such as cinnamon and some nutmeg on top. If you like a sweeter chai tea, a bit of maple syrup or a little sugar can also be added into your spiced chai tea.

With these teas, you are getting the fall spices you crave, but also the health benefits associated with the many fall spices and the tea leaves themselves.

 

 

 

 

There are a lot of  spices that are great to use in the fall, but they aren’t just for taste; many of them also have excellent health benefits for you. Here are some popular fall spices and the different ways they can benefit you.

Ginger

A popular spice to use in the fall, but also year-round is ginger. Ginger is also becoming more popular as people discover its many healing powers. Ginger can be used as the actual ginger root, which you can shave or grind yourself, or you can get ground ginger to make it a little easier. Ginger is often used for cooking, from adding it to your Chinese food for a little spice, to cooking soup or chili with some ground ginger. You can also make ginger tea, which is amazing for nausea and digestion. Aside from helping with your digestive system, ginger is also great for pain and loss of appetite.

Cinnamon

Who doesn’t love some cinnamon? Cinnamon is probably one of the more popular spices, often combined with sweet flavors for a nice treat. During the fall, it is frequently used to top lattes, made into cookies like gingerbread or snickerdoodle, and is a frequent spice to use in baked goods with pumpkin, nutmeg, and other fall flavors. It also happens to have health benefits, including protecting your heart and helping to prevent diabetes. Cinnamon has a lot of antioxidants, which is always important for general wellness, and can help to reduce inflammation in the body.

Cloves

This is a spice you probably use often in the fall when combined with some of these other fall flavors, but don’t realize all of the reasons to use it more often. Cloves can be found in many forms, but getting ground clove in the spice section of your grocery store, to using clove oil as an essential oil. Cloves are also anti-inflammatory, similar to cinnamon, so they help with conditions like arthritis. It also works as a natural antiseptic and can even provide mild numbing. Many people use clove oil on a toothache.

Nutmeg

The last fall spice you should know about is nutmeg. Like cinnamon, it is a frequent spice to be used in fall dishes, especially the baked goods and coffee drinks. This has a taste similar to cinnamon, so there is a lot of versatility when using it. It has been linked to various health benefits, including improving your cognitive function, helping to provide natural pain relief, and reducing indigestion. Some people have also noted its ability to help with insomnia.

 

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Fall and pumpkin seem to go hand in hand, so it comes as no surprise that want to use more of it during this season. Not only is pumpkin delicious and extremely versatile, especially with baked goods, but it is also good for you. Pumpkin is often considered a superfood and includes the following health benefits.

It Can Improve Your Vision

If you have been looking for natural ways to improve your vision and reduce vision loss related to the aging process, pumpkin is a great place to look. It has unique healing properties and nutrients that are known to boost vision and eye health, including beta-carotene. This can convert to vitamin A in the body, which is what you really need for proper eye health. The serving size of pumpkin per day to help with vision and other health benefits is about a cup of pumpkin. The antioxidants in pumpkin may also help with preventing cataracts and macular degeneration.

Pumpkin is Great for Heart Health

Everyone should be concerned about their heart health, regardless of how healthy they think they are. You are susceptible to heart problems if you don’t eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly, but even if you do, you should still look for other ways to boost your cardiovascular health. If you like the taste of pumpkin, you’re in luck, because it can be great for your heart and reducing your blood pressure. Pumpkin has a high amount of potassium, which is good for helping to treat hypertension, or high blood pressure.

It Helps to Improve Your Skin

Another excellent health benefit of pumpkin is that it helps to give you more youthful skin. Pumpkin contains nutrients like beta-carotene that are not only good for your eye health, but can protect your skin from sun damage. Those UV rays are very harsh, and even with sunscreen, you might need a little extra protection. You get this from these nutrients, which pumpkin has plenty of. You can consume the pumpkin or use it to make a face mask that protects your skin and leaves it looking more youthful.

You Can Improve Your Immune System

If you tend to get ill in the fall, such as with seasonal colds or allergies, you can boost your immune system with pumpkin. It has vitamins and nutrients to boost your immune system, including antioxidants and vitamin A, that build up your immunity gradually so you have a better chance at fighting off illnesses and viruses.

 

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Fall is upon us, and it is the perfect time to think about herbs. You may consider herbs to be something you grow in the spring and summer, but there are many that can be planted and harvested in the fall. You just want to look for herbs and plants that can withstand the colder temperatures that fall and winter tend to bring.

Rosemary

The first herb that is great for growing during the fall is rosemary. This type of herb can usually handle the colder weather conditions, so you can start growing it near the end of summer or beginning of fall. It also has a lot of health benefits and healing powers. Rosemary has natural antioxidant properties, allowing it to help stave off infection and bacteria. It is also considered an antibacterial, antifungal, and antiseptic herb.

Thyme

You may also want to grow thyme in your herbal garden, which is not only good for growing in the fall, but works great in many Autumn dishes. Thyme not only has medicinal qualities, but is often used for culinary purposes. All parts of thyme can be used for holistic purposes, including the leaves, flowers, and even the oils. Some healing benefits of thyme include cough and bronchitis, stomach problems, diarrhea, arthritis, and to be used for a sore throat.

Lavender

Lavender is one of the most popular herbs because of its many medicinal qualities. It also happens to be easy to grow in almost any conditions, including the crisp weather of the fall season. With lavender, you can use it for muscle tension, easing stress and anxiety, removing buildup and itchiness from the scalp and skin, and even helping with physical pain.

Mint

Who doesn’t love mint? This is a great herb to have in the fall and winter, plus you can grow it in the fall even as the temperatures start getting a little cooler. Mint is best for stomach problems, indigestion, and appetite, as well as being wonderful for easing stomach pain and nausea. There are many other health benefits of mint, including reducing inflammation. Mint is easy to use in a nice tea.

Sage

If you want to grow herbs to be used in meals as well as for health benefits, sage is a great one for the fall. Sage has a long list of nutrients, including B vitamins, folic acid, vitamin A, fiber, iron, magnesium, and many more. It is fairly easy to grow even as someone brand new to growing herbs.

 

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