Spices are among the key ingredients in cooking. These were probably discovered thousands of years ago by accident through observing native plants’ defense systems against predation, or their ability to preserve food due to antibacterial properties.
What spices do is bring out the natural flavor of the food they are added to, making even bland food taste amazing. They also add a number of health benefits to the spices, helping you stay healthy while enjoying your favorite foods.
In this article, we present ten spices that are popular and common.
1. Basil
Basil is a popular spice used mainly in Italian cuisine. There are two types of basil: sweet basil and purple basil, which have an intense spicy flavor. Basil is rich in antioxidants and has been found to have excellent properties for cancer prevention. It has also proven useful for people with arthritis due to its anti-inflammatory effects. In addition, it promotes fat loss through its ability to speed up metabolism.
2. Black Pepper
Black pepper is native to Southern India, but it is widely grown in tropical areas. It has been used for spices since antiquity due to its strong aroma and spicy flavor. However, like other spices, black pepper also possesses health benefits. Black pepper helps reduce the risk of cancer by increasing metabolism. It can also lower bad cholesterol levels by preventing cardiovascular diseases.
3. Cardamom
Cardamom is popular in Indian cuisine and Middle Eastern cuisines because of its unique flavor that blends really well with rice, meat dishes, and desserts (especially baklava). It’s a popular spice among households because it can be used as a remedy for stomach aches and indigestion problems. In addition, cardamom is beneficial in weight loss because it controls sugar cravings and increases metabolic rate.
4. Cayenne Pepper
Cayenne pepper is a type of chili powder with a healthy dose of spices, which makes dishes pop with flavor. The spices in cayenne pepper have been proven beneficial for the heart by promoting cardiovascular health and preventing heart disease. It has also been found to be an effective pain reliever that reduces inflammation, which is why some people use it as a home remedy for arthritis or muscle soreness due to exercise or injury. In addition, cayenne peppers help maintain healthy digestive system function as well as beautiful skin because they fight acne and dandruff problems.
5. Cinnamon
Cinnamon spices are popularly used for baking sweet treats. It has been used for spices since ancient times, especially in Chinese and Indian cuisine. It is also known for its medicinal purposes, which are attributed to its antibacterial properties. Cinnamon can help reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering LDL levels while maintaining healthy blood sugar levels.
6. Clove
Cloves are spices that have a strong aroma similar to that of cinnamon. The spices are also very popular among households because they can be used as a home remedy for toothaches and sore throat problems. Clove is one of the spices with the most health benefits, including being protective against skin cancer (which should not be surprising since other spices such as turmeric and ginger protect against skin cancer too). Clove has antiseptic properties that help keep wounds clean and discourage the growth of harmful bacteria. The spices also protect against infections such as MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which has evolved to become resistant to antibiotics.
7. Nutmeg
Nutmeg is a popular spice used in baking, adding it makes desserts take on a warm and comforting flavor reminiscent of Christmas season spices like gingerbread and pumpkin pie. It’s also beneficial for your health because nutmeg contains chemicals that help prevent bleeding during surgery and reduce symptoms of arthritis and joint pain by reducing inflammation. Nutmeg is even used as a remedy for digestive problems such as colic, constipation, diarrhea, flatulence, bad breath, stomachaches, nausea, and vomiting because it has anti-spasmodic and anticholinergic properties.
8. Paprika
Paprika is a popular spice that increases the flavor of dishes without overpowering them. It can be used as an alternative to cayenne pepper for those who are not fans of spices since it doesn’t have as many spices as other spices on this list. Paprika also helps prevent cancer because some spices within paprika possess antioxidant properties that protect against harmful substances released by free radicals in the body, which causes oxidative damage that leads to cell death or mutation into cancer cells. Like many spices, paprika is also beneficial for weight loss because it promotes fat burning through metabolism-boosting effects on the body. It also prevents heart disease by increasing HDL cholesterol and reducing the oxidation of LDL cholesterol.
9. Parsley
Parsley spices are popularly used as a garnish on dishes because of their beautiful appearance, which is perfect for aesthetics-focused people who love decorating their food. In addition, spices also have properties that protect against cancer by inhibiting the development of tumors or blocking pathways that enable tumor cells to grow quickly. One such spice is apigenin within parsley spices, which has shown promise as an antioxidant as well as a potential treatment for ovarian and breast cancers in some studies done on mice. Another study found apigenin to inhibit estrogen production, which makes it a potential treatment option for preventing the growth of hormone-driven breast cancer tumors.
10. Chili Powder
The most popular spices in the world are spices that people tend to use the most often because they add flavor and aroma to food. Chili powder spices, like cayenne pepper spices, can be used for many different dishes and do not overpower the dish with spices like some other spices on this list do. It is even beneficial for health because it contains capsaicin which has been shown to promote fat burning by increasing thermogenesis (the production of heat) within brown adipose tissue (BAT), which destroys fat cells through oxidation making them unusable by the body. Chili pepper spices such as chili powder have also been linked with a reduction in blood sugar levels due to their role in maintaining healthy insulin sensitivity while helping reduce appetite through their ability to stimulate the release of gut hormones that suppress appetite.
