One of my favourite things to do as a chef is to play around with the spices I use in my food. I love the fact that you can change up the flavours of a meal and, by using a wide variety of spices in your cooking, you can literally Travel around the world, all in your own kitchen.

In recent years, I’ve become even more passionate about the importance of spices in the dishes that I cook because adding as little as half a teaspoon a day of some of these nutritional powerhouses to your diet can have a dramatic effect on your overall health and wellbeing. Indeed, here we’ll discover a hit list of nutritional powerhouses that will not only spice up your dishes but also help soothe an upset digestive system, boost immunity and, most importantly, help reduce inflammation.

Spices also regulate blood sugar levels by reducing sugar cravings. Plus, they are potent protectors for both internal and external organs, warding off everything from heart disease to premature signs of ageing. In short, they are the ingredients I encourage everyone I meet to be adventurous with in their cooking, so rich are they in their ability to heal. Yet by far their standout medicinal property is the fact that they are, by nature, so anti-inflammatory.

An inflammatory tale

You see, the foods you choose to eat can either halt or cause inflammation in the body and a running thread that links a huge variety of common health problems in the modern world is chronic inflammation. From obesity and type-2 diabetes to heart disease and cancer, inflammation wreaks havoc on your metabolic function and, if left unchecked, causes damaging oxidative stress on your body’s organs.

That’s why, in my opinion, medicinal spices are the most important ingredients to use whenever you’re cooking a meal for yourself and your loved ones because they’re a sure-fire way to help reduce inflammation naturally throughout the body. By fighting free radicals, spices help to minimise any oxidative stress and inflammation that may be present.

Your spice rack

So which spices should go to the top of your rack? Well, like anything, cooking is a bit of theory, a whole lotta love and heaps of experimentation, so it’s all about finding the ones you love. However, recent research shows the spices that have the most marvellous anti-inflammatory properties are turmeric, ginger and cloves. We can add to this list the wonderful healing powers of cinnamon.

Turmeric

Our family’s favourite spice has to be turmeric. We love adding its earthy, warming flavour to curries, such as a prawn or chicken laksa, and it’s also pretty damn fantastic added fresh or powdered to treats like coconut ice-cream with Manuka honey.

Meanwhile, one of my ultimate energy-boosts to start the day is a mug of steaming hot bone broth infused with turmeric, a squeeze of lemon and some salt and pepper. That’s because you really do get so much bang for your buck when it comes to how effective regular ingestion of turmeric is. The rhizome (root) is a great way to heal and seal the gut and fill the body full of lots of important antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

Turmeric quells inflammation, boosts immunity, creates a stronger digestive system and helps to protect joints. In Ayurvedic medicine, it has been used for centuries as a treatment for inflammatory joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. Including it regularly in your diet can also help improve inflammatory skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis.

What’s really special about this spice is the active compounds it contains called curcuminoids. These compounds are antioxidant, protect cells from free radical damage and can improve memory. These same compounds also help to activate powerful enzymes that detoxify and cleanse the liver as well as encouraging healthy heart function.

In India, turmeric paste has been used for centuries as a skin food and topical application because of its healing properties. It’s nature’s oldest anti-ageing secret because it flushes your blood, detoxifies your liver and leaves your skin looking smooth, supple and radiant.

There’s also lots of exciting research being done into curcuminoids, their anti-carcinogenic properties and how they may inhibit the growth of certain cancers.

Another star spice is ginger. Interestingly it’s a botanical relative of marjoram and turmeric and, as with turmeric, it’s the aromatic rhizome (root) that is used for culinary and medicinal purposes. It’s one of the ingredients Nic and I use almost every day in at least one of our meals because it’s got massive depth of flavour and is incredibly versatile.

 Ginger

I love ginger crushed and fried with garlic as the base of a laksa or Indian curry. I reckon when you’ve got fish so fresh it should be eaten as sashimi you can’t go past a simple Japanese dressing of tamari infused with finely grated ginger, sesame oil and dried bonito flakes.

With more than 40 scientifically proven pharmacological actions, including anti-nausea, antibacterial, antiviral, antioxidant and antiparasitic properties, ginger is a cure-all for many common maladies.

As the weather gets cooler, my favourite way to ingest it (and I do this at least a few times each week in the lead-up to cold and flu season!) is to take about 20g of the peeled root and slice it into a steaming cup of hot water so it can steep as ginger tea. It tastes great and is a fantastic natural, quick remedy to help alleviate bloating and indigestion.

Ginger’s effectiveness as a digestive aid is due to two active ingredients: gingerols and shogaols. These substances help neutralise stomach acids, stimulate the appetite and tone the muscles of the digestive tract.

It’s best absorbed into the body by consuming it as the fresh ginger root — although it can also be taken as a dried powder or in extract form — and of course it has advanced anti-inflammatory properties. This is why it eases headaches and relieves joint pain. It has also been proved to reduce knee pain in patients with osteoarthritis and, for centuries, was used to treat tooth pain.

New research also shows that ginger can be beneficial for asthmatics to consume regularly, alongside normal medication, because ginger’s potent antioxidant activity naturally mirrors the anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of pharmaceutical asthma drugs.

Cloves

Another great spice to put at the front your rack is the clove. Sure, it’s familiar as an addition to the Christmas ham but there are so many more incredible medicinal properties to this spice that it’s one I encourage all of you to start experimenting more with in the kitchen.

Cloves are the unopened pink flower buds of the evergreen clove tree. The buds are picked by hand when pink then dried until they turn brown in colour.

Cloves have been used since ancient times in China as a way of infusing dishes with its sweet, warm, aromatic flavour. Cloves are also a key spice in Chinese medicine because the oil under the hard shell of the clove is renowned for its superior anti-inflammatory properties as well as being antibacterial and analgesic.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is also another fantastic medicinal spice and an easy one to enjoy sprinkled over chia seed pudding or dumped into your daily smoothie. In fact, research published in the journal Diabetes Care revealed that as little as half a teaspoon a day significantly reduces blood sugar levels in type-2 diabetes sufferers. It can also help to reduce triglycerides, create a stronger digestive system, tone tissue and help relieve and reduce inflammation and stiffness in joints.

That’s why sufferers of arthritis often find that adding a daily dose of cinnamon to their diet provides much-needed nutritional support because it helps reduce inflammation so drastically.

As a chef who’s had the privilege of travelling and cooking with many different cultures, I can honestly say there is nothing more universal in the culinary world than the power of spices and you don’t get another ingredient that packs more of a nutritional punch. That’s why I urge gourmands to go far and wide in their search for exotic and interesting spices that will enliven the palate and really up the ante medicinally simply by including them in as many of your meals as you can.

There are so many more medicinal spices with as many fantastic properties as the ones I’ve discussed. So go and seek your favourite ones and get into the kitchen. Here’s a few recipes to get you inspired by spices.

Harira Soup

Serves: 6

Prep time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 2 hours 15 mins

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Bone Broth with Turmeric, Cumin & Lemon

Serves: 1

Prep time: 2 mins

Cooking time: 2 mins

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Jamaican Goat Curry with Cauliflower

Serves: 4-6

Prep time: 30 mins (plus 1 hour marinating time)

Cooking time: 2 hours 45 mins

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Bok Choy with Ginger

Serves: 4

Prep time: 5 mins

Cooking time: 7 mins

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Chai Tea

Serves: 2

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