Herbs and spices with benefits: 8 kitchen staples that double as traditional Asian remedies
That jar of turmeric tucked behind your olive oil? It's been used to fight inflammation for thousands of years. The star anise you bought for a braise? Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has relied on its antiviral properties since ancient times.
Your spice rack isn’t just a collection of flavour enhancers—it’s a treasure trove of traditional Asian remedies that have nourished bodies alongside taste buds for generations. These kitchen staples prove that wellness doesn’t require expensive supplements or complicated routines. Sometimes the most powerful home remedies are hiding in plain sight, waiting to transform your next meal into something both delicious and nourishing.
While modern science continues to study these ancient remedies (and many benefits require further research or higher doses than practical for daily use), incorporating these herbs and spices into your cooking offers a simple way to honour time-tested wellness traditions while creating extraordinary dishes. Whether you’re sourcing from your pantry or exploring a Chinese medicine store, these ingredients serve up both flavour and function.
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Ginger
Ginger is a kitchen staple used in traditional Asian remedies to aid digestion and fight inflammation. (Photo: Engin Akyurt / Unsplash)
Perhaps no ingredient bridges the gap between traditional Asian remedies and modern kitchens quite like ginger. This knobby rhizome brings fiery warmth to stir-fries, gentle heat to Korean kimchi and soothing comfort to Chinese braised dishes. Japanese pickled ginger and Thai soups showcase how different preparations unlock varied flavour profiles while maintaining its natural healing properties.
Ginger has been a cornerstone of TCM for centuries, prized for its digestive properties and nausea-relieving effects. It contains some of the highest antioxidant levels among spices and shows promise against bacterial and fungal infections. However, as with many kitchen health tips, more research remains necessary to fully understand ginger’s therapeutic potential.
Read more: Seven reasons to spice up your diet with ginger
Turmeric
The golden rhizome has long been celebrated in traditional Asian remedies for its anti-inflammatory properties. (Photo: Dyah Miller / Unsplash)
This golden-yellow rhizome from the ginger family brings more than its warm, earthy flavour to your kitchen. TCM and Ayurvedic practices have long celebrated turmeric as a powerful anti-inflammatory agent, thanks to its active compound curcumin. Some studies also found that turmeric offers potential benefits for blood sugar management and heart health.
The vibrant spice appears in countless Asian dishes—from Vietnamese banh xeo, or savoury fried pancake, to Indian biryani and Thai turmeric chicken. Its slightly peppery, mustard-like taste with citrusy undertones makes it equally at home in savoury curries and golden milk lattes.
The real magic happens when you combine turmeric with black pepper and fats like coconut milk—a practice that traditional Asian remedies have employed for centuries to enhance absorption.
Galangal
Often confused with ginger, galangal brings its own distinct personality to Southeast Asian kitchens. This rhizome offers a citrusy, cooling, woodsy aroma—quite different from ginger's fiery heat.
Traditional Asian remedies have long recognised galangal’s potential as a source of antioxidants, particularly those linked to improved memory, lower blood sugar and cholesterol management. But studies are still underway to fully understand its benefits.
Galangal is often pounded into a paste or used whole for infusion, forming the foundation of Thai curries and soups, Indonesian rendang and Vietnamese fish stews—a true Asian superfood with culinary and medicinal value.
Read more: Rooted in flavour: A deep dive into Malay food
Star anise
This star-shaped spice is prized in traditional Asian remedies for its antiviral and immune-supporting benefits. (Photo: Rens D / Unsplash)
These eight-pointed stars deliver more than their distinctive liquorice-like sweetness to broths and braised dishes. Star anise is treasured for its antiviral properties—its shikimic acid content is even one of the main active ingredients in one influenza prescription drug.
Star anise is essential in spice blends like Chinese five-spice powder and Indian garam masala. Vietnamese pho wouldn’t be complete without its warm, spicy notes. The pods infuse dishes and teas with hints of clove and cinnamon, though their powerful aroma demands restraint.
This dried fruit shows promise with its antifungal and antibacterial properties, though research remains ongoing. While you won’t achieve pharmaceutical-level effects from cooking, incorporating this remedy for wellness into your meals connects you to centuries of natural healing traditions.
Cardamom
These aromatic pods are essential in both spiced dishes and traditional Asian remedies for gut health. (Photo: Jaspreet Kalsi / Unsplash)
These seed pods from the ginger family have perfumed cuisines across the region for centuries. Green cardamom offers warm, herbal, citrusy notes with hints of mint, while black cardamom brings a smokier character. A staple of South Asian cooking, cardamom works beautifully in Indian garam masala dishes, spiced tea and rice pudding, as well as Sri Lankan curries and coconut custard pudding.
Traditional Asian practices value cardamom for digestive support, often combining it with other natural healing spices to ease nausea and stomach discomfort. It contains antioxidant compounds that may help protect cells from damage and support heart health.
Sichuan pepper
Despite its name, Sichuan pepper is neither pepper nor chilli—it’s dried berries from a spiky shrub that deliver a distinctive mouth-numbing sensation alongside citrus aroma and pine overtones. Red Sichuan peppercorns offer more fragrance, while green varieties provide stronger numbing effects.
Sichuan pepper defines dishes like mapo tofu, kung pao chicken and dan dan noodles. It’s more than a flavour bomb—TCM has used its numbing quality to relieve toothache and other discomforts.
Some studies suggest antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits, making it a promising player in the world of remedies for wellness and everyday spice benefits.
Read more: Spicy food connoisseur? The fiery roots of Asia’s love for heat
Pandan
Fragrant pandan leaves are used in traditional Asian remedies for their soothing and antioxidant-rich properties. (Photo: Redicul Pict / Unsplash)
These long, blade-like leaves offer a sweet, grassy flavour with hints of rose, almond, vanilla and coconut. Pandan is used to wrap foods like savoury Thai chicken or infuse flavour and colour in desserts like kuih seri muka or Malay sticky rice custard.
Pandan is a rich source of beta carotene for eye health and immune support, plus carotenoids for heart health. Traditional Asian practices include using pandan-infused coconut oil for joint relief and chewing the leaves for oral freshness. Though many of these natural healing applications await more clinical research, pandan’s popularity in Chinese medicine stores speaks volumes.
Read more: 7 traditional pandan dishes across Southeast Asia
Lemongrass
This tall, stalky grass brings fresh lemony aroma and citrus flavour with subtle ginger and mint undertones to Asian cooking. In traditional folk remedies, lemongrass has long been used for sleep, pain relief and immunity support. It naturally contains antioxidants, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties.
The fibrous texture of lemongrass means it’s typically used for infusion, then removed before serving, or pounded into a paste. It defines Thai tom yum soup, Malaysian laksa and Vietnamese pho. Indonesian rendang gains complexity from its bright, refreshing taste that cuts through rich coconut-based dishes. Beyond cooking, it makes for refreshing lemongrass tea and iced tea blends.
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