January 15, 2012
Herbs For Fragrance
An herb is any plant or a part of the plant that is used for medicine, flavor or fragrance. However, the most natural fragrance in the world is that of the flowers such as rose, honeysuckle, lilacs, and many other such flowers which continuously emanate scent. The scent can be smelled just by talking a walk around these flowers. Some flowers give out their perfume when they are blistered in the sun. For example, thyme or lavender. Some leaves even emanate perfume when rubbed against hand or brushed up against the branch. These leaves come in a variety of scents such as mint, nutmeg, lemon-rose, lemon, ginger, henna etc. Oils can be extracted from these leaves and many other herbs which have multiple uses.
Some of the herbs can be used dried or fresh but smell very good. They can be used in potpourri, flower and herb arrangement, sachets or wreaths. These leaves along with their use can be listed as follows:
1. Lemon verbena: used for potpourri and herbal tea.
2. Lavender: used for crafts etc.
3. Mint: used in teas etc because of its menthol property.
4. Coriander: entire plant can be used in cooking.
The other herbs used are pineapple sage, thymes, rosemary, scented geraniums, myrrh, camphor, aloe vera and the list is endless.
The naturally occurring fragrant herbs are free from any synthetic material.
Some of the herbs such as coriander, ginger, cucumber, nutmeg and even basil are used in cooking to add a scent to food. There are some herbs which are inevitable during daily cooking. They include saffron, red and black peppers, cinnamon and many other spices which are nothing but a bunch of herbs. Mint is a very essential herb used in cooking. It can be used to drive away nausea and inhaling it makes you feel good. Some experts believe that using natural herbs in food rather than using synthetic substitutes for them makes the food taste even better. These herbs can be grown in kitchen gardens easily. They require relatively less maintenance
Also, few of the fragrant herbs can be used as essential oils for the body as well as for healing purposes. Ancient Indian history has seen the use of healing herbs for curing a number of diseases. Aloe vera has a moisturizing effect hence it is used in a number of moisturizers today. Also lavender, rosemary, eucalyptus are very good for the well being of a person. The essential oils are the liquids extracted from different aromatic herbs. They can also be used in perfumes, cosmetics, food, incense sticks, cleaning liquids, shampoos, laundry detergents and many more such products.
The essential oils have medicinal properties. These medicinal oils can be used to treat minor skin ailments as well as the dangerous cancer. These oils are used in aromatherapy which is believed to be an alternative form of medicine for soothing of body as well as mind. Experts have claimed that these oils have very strong antiseptic properties. Hence, generally doctors recommend naturally occurring oils for babies as well as adults.
This shows that the fragrant herbs are not just limited to arrangements and crafts. There are multiple and important uses of fragrant herbs as we have seen above. People go for synthetic perfumes and oils but they forget that Mother Nature has provided us with a variety of perfumes in the form of herbs which can be used alternatively.
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