Best Spices To Use During Fall

The scents, sights, and colors of fall make it one of the more magical times of the year. One way to recreate that magical feeling of fall inside your home is by using fall spices in your cooking.

The beauty of using fall spices is that they can be used in a wide variety of dishes, from cookies and cupcakes to teas, hot ciders, and soups.

These 5 fall spices do more than just recreate the delightful scents of the season. They also offer considerable health benefits.

# 1. Cinnamon

Who doesn’t love some cinnamon? This is one of the more popular fall spices, often combined with sweet flavors for a nice treat.

Cinnamon is harvested from the bark of different types of evergreen trees, with different varieties coming from all over the world. Most of the cinnamon you find in stores is Ceylon cinnamon, which comes from Sri Lanka.

During the fall, you can sprinkle cinnamon to top lattes, or to add flavor to gingerbread or snickerdoodle cookies. Cinnamon goes well with cloves, nutmeg, and other fall flavors.

Health Benefits of Cinnamon

Cinnamon has some powerful health benefits, including protecting your heart and helping to prevent diabetes. This spice is packed with antioxidants, which is crucial for general wellness and to help to reduce inflammation in the body.

In many countries, cinnamon has been used as a medicinal spice for many years, not just for flavoring your foods and drinks.

Packed with nutrients – Cinnamon is high in fiber, iron, calcium, and vitamin K and has zero fat, sugar, carbs and calories. Imagine that! You can add as much of this spice as you like in any dish without worrying about how many calories you are ingesting.

Antioxidant-Rich – Using cinnamon in your cooking every day is the perfect way to get more antioxidants. The antioxidants in cinnamon are known to help increase your immunity and boost your immune system, fight off illnesses and bacteria, and even help fight against bacterial infections.

Reduces inflammation – Extra inflammation in the body can be disastrous and painful if you have arthritis. Inflammation is what causes pain in the joints. Excessive inflammation can worsen pain from chronic conditions like Crohn’s disease and gout. Cinnamon is a natural anti-inflammatory spice, so you can use it for chronic pain and also reduce inflammation that leads to brain problems and heart disease.

Ways to Use Cinnamon

There are many ways to use cinnamon every day in your daily drinks and foods. Here are some great ideas you can try during the fall:

• Sprinkle some cinnamon on top of your coffee, tea, or any other warm morning drink
• Add cinnamon to your smoothies for a boost in flavor and health any time during the day
• Add a dash of cinnamon along with your preferred fall spices to roast fall vegetables such as pumpkin and squash
• Mix in cinnamon into your cake or cookie batter

These are definitely not the only ways you can use cinnamon and get all of these health benefits, but they are good places to start.

Don’t be afraid to experiment a little and see what you come up with.

# 2. Clove

The next fall spice that you can use for health is clove. People are often unfamiliar with clove, aside from adding it to oranges for deodorizing a home or using it alongside other spices on this list for baked goods and spiced drinks.

The many health benefits of clove give you lots of great reasons to use it more often.
Cloves are anti-inflammatory just like 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.

You can use clove in a few different ways for health, from using the actual cloves themselves in dishes, ground clove in your spiced foods and drinks, and clove essential oil for aromatherapy and natural health remedies.

Many spices come from parts of Asia, and clove is no exception. There are records of it being used since the 13th century in Asia and Africa.

Health Benefits of Clove

Look at the different ways you can benefit from clove:

Balances out blood sugar levels – People with diabetes often look for natural remedies to use for their disease in addition to medical treatments. While clove should not replace medical care, it can help to balance your blood sugar levels if you have type 2 diabetes. This is due to the eugenol that can be found in the clove spice.

Reduces the risk of infection and viruses – Clove has antioxidants, which can help reduce illnesses, infections, and viruses. Not only does it help boost your immunity to these illnesses, but it can help provide natural treatment for viral and bacterial infections.

Relieves tooth pain – You may also like to know that clove oil when applied to a cotton swab can be placed on a sore tooth and provide natural pain relief. It is good to avoid using over-the-counter pain relievers in excessive amounts and look for more natural remedies. However, this should not replace proper dental care.

Ways to Use Clove

Now for the different ways to use clove so that you can benefit from using it routinely.

Add clove to dishes that use curry powder – A good way to tell when clove will be appropriate for more savory dishes is to think about what you use curry in. For example, an Indian dish that uses curry powder will taste great with clove as an added spice.

Combine it with other fall spices – A dash of clove powder extract will add a nice spicy twist to your favorite fall cookies – pumpkin spice cookies or snickerdoodles.

Try marinating meat or fish with clove – Go a different direction by marinating chicken, fish, or other meat with clove and spices like turmeric and ginger.

Spice your Asian cuisine – Most Asian dishes taste great with this spice.

Use clove essential oil for aromatherapy –You can use clove essential oil directly in a diffuser, where you inhale the scent as it surrounds you, add oils to a bath, or make simple DIY care products with the oils.

# 3. Nutmeg

Like cinnamon, nutmeg is a popular spice to be used in fall dishes, especially baked goods and coffee drinks. This has a taste similar to cinnamon, so there is a lot of versatility when using it. If you have ever made treats in the fall season, you have most likely used nutmeg.

Nutmeg 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.

Nutmeg is almost always shipped from other countries since the nutmeg trees are native to areas of the Spice Islands and East Indies. The nutmeg tree contains seeds, which have kernels inside them. These kernels can be ground up, which is where you get the nutmeg spice.

The flavor of nutmeg is a nutty and sweet spice, often used in Western recipes, and many Asian recipes as well. Not only can you get ground nutmeg for your dishes, but nutmeg essential oil is also available for even more health benefits.

Health Benefits of Nutmeg

So, why should you use nutmeg? It isn’t just because this is a wonderfully delicious and versatile spice. It also has a long list of health benefits. Here are some of the ways nutmeg can benefit your physical and mental health:

Loaded with nutrients – Nutmeg has a lot of nutrients just in a simple serving. It contains plenty of vitamins and minerals, including magnesium, folate, fiber, vitamin B 6, and manganese.

Helps with your insomnia – If you are suffering from insomnia, nutmeg is an excellent spice to add to your kitchen. It helps to calm the mind and help relax you for bed.

Helps with digestion – Nutmeg, like many other fall spices, can help with your digestion, including relieving constipation.

Natural pain relief – Don’t forget nutmeg also has a natural property that works similar to menthol, where it can relieve minor pain in the body.

Ways to Use Nutmeg

If you are new to using this spice, you might not be entirely sure how to use it for your dishes. Here are a few options to help get you started:

• Make spiced coffee or cider – Nutmeg is really easy to add to hot and cold drinks, especially when you mix in other spices like cinnamon and allspice. It tastes great in spiced cider and coffee drinks.
• Add it to your roasted veggies – Make a pan of roasted fall vegetables like squash, pumpkin, and sweet potatoes, and sprinkles some olive oil and nutmeg on top.
• Try it in your breakfast baked goods – Nutmeg is perfect with your breakfast foods, from pancakes to sweeter baked goods like muffins.
  
  

# 4. Ginger

Ginger is one of the best fall spices, especially in terms of its health benefits. You might be no stranger to using ginger for your digestion and stomach issues, but it also has many other medicinal purposes as well.

Ginger has a spicy flavor with a strong smell you will notice instantly. It is often found in the spicier Asian and Indian dishes, though there are many other ways to use it as well.

Ginger can be found as the root of the ginger plant, which you can shave or grind yourself. You can also get ground ginger or fresh ginger at farmer’s markets, natural food stores, and even your regular grocery store.

Health Benefits of Ginger

Relieves nausea – Using it for gastrointestinal distress is one of the most common reasons to use ginger as far as medicinal purposes goes. Ginger is wonderful for relieving any stomach pains or distress you have, calming down your stomach if you are getting seasick while on a boat, or if you have morning sickness from pregnancy. Anyone with nausea can use ginger, from those who ate something funny to people with nausea as a result of another illness or cancer treatments.

Protects against heart disease – Ginger also happens to be a great spice for improving your cardiovascular health. It is considered a superfood, helping you to reduce blood clotting which can lead to heart disease and the resulting heart attack. It can also help you to prevent strokes.

Boosts your immune system – Want a nice boost to your immune system? Add ginger to the other spices that help with your immunity. When you naturally improve your immune system, you are helping to fight off illnesses, infections, and diseases in a perfectly natural and healthy way.

Ginger also has similar antioxidants as the other spices listed here, so it is good for treating bacterial infections as well.

Ways to Use Ginger

If you are not accustomed to using ginger, here are some different ways to benefit from it:

Shave off pieces of gingerroot for your savory dishes – This is good on vegetables, in rice and other grains, and to spice up your meat.
Get ground ginger for spiced dishes – Ground ginger can also be used when you want to add more spice and a kick to soups, chilis, and many other savory foods.
Make ginger tea – If you want a drink that includes ginger, try making ginger tea to relieve nausea.

# 5. Turmeric

The last fall spice on this list that you should use for health benefits is turmeric. Turmeric has been trending a lot lately, both as a superfood and as something that has a long list of medicinal uses. This spice is often associated with fall, but you can definitely find it year-round, which is another added bonus.

Health Benefits of Turmeric

The reason turmeric is constantly trending in the health community, especially in the natural health community, is because of all the medicinal benefits it provides you. Here is just a short list of the many ways you can use turmeric for health:

• Reduce pain and inflammation
• Use it as an anti-depressant
• Help balance out blood sugar if you have diabetes
• Get more antioxidants into your body
• Help improve your skin
• Aid in your weight loss efforts
• Treat high cholesterol

Ways to Use Turmeric

If you want to get all of these and other health benefits, there are many ways to start using turmeric daily. Here are some good options that aren’t too difficult to do:

Make a cup of turmeric tea – This is probably the easiest way to use turmeric when you want to have it daily. You can make a cup of turmeric tea, sometimes called golden milk. It isn’t actually like a regular tea drink, but is a combination of turmeric with spices, and any type of milk you like. You can use almond milk instead of cow’s milk if you prefer. You of course can also make a traditional cup of tea mixed with the ground turmeric.

Try making turmeric broth – You can also drink broth if you want something else warm to drink and don’t want to make the tea or the golden milk with your turmeric. This starts with bone broth, chicken or beef broth, then has some ground turmeric mixed in.

Season your veggies or rice – As a spice, you can also use turmeric to season your savory dishes, like vegetables that you are roasting, or rice, quinoa, and other grains. To add some turmeric into soup or chili, just start with a small amount, then test the flavor to see how you like it.

Make a spice mixture for meat – If you are making chicken, beef, or other types of meat, you can marinate the meat in a mixture of spices including turmeric, ginger, and others that you enjoy using for this type of cuisine.

All of these fall spices are readily available, inexpensive, and easy to use. You are getting the delicious flavors while also gaining all of the health benefits at the same time.