Aromatic herbs are essential in the kitchen to provide freshness, acidity or sweetness to the foods they accompany. For chef Iolanda Bustos, they can make “the dish breathe another life.”
Apart from their great value in enhancing the flavor of products, they are ingredients that provide many health benefits. Its leaves contain multiple vitamins, facilitate digestion and help reduce flatulence.
However, some of these spices are very similar to each other, although when you smell or taste them they are absolutely different. Therefore, we leave you below a guide to these aromatic herbs, which come from the Mediterranean, the Caucasus or countries in Asia and Africa.
This dark green herb, native to the island of Sardinia, is often confused with cilantro or chervil, despite the fact that, as Bustos explains to La Vanguardia, “when you touch them, the aroma is totally different.” Parsley is very mild, it is sold without roots and its pointed leaves are used in cooking.
Among its properties, parsley provides vitamin A, iron, fiber, calcium and potassium, according to the Spanish Nutrition Foundation in a statement.
Coriander is the aromatic herb that generates outright praise or rejection among those who take it, for genetic reasons.
Its light green leaves are more tender, unlike parsley. It comes from South Asia and North Africa and is an essential ingredient in the cuisine of India, Thailand and Morocco.
It is usually added to meats, white fish or soups and if it is used in cooking chopped or mashed, its intense citrus flavor is enhanced.
Its leaves are lighter green and “more divided,” explains the chef from Girona, and have beneficial properties for digestion.
Its flavor, reminiscent of a combination between celery and anise, enhances that of other aromatic herbs, details the Leioa Hospitality School in a publication, which is why it is often found in bouquets of fine herbs and used in soups and sauces. .
There are two varieties of this vegetable: the sweet one, which has a bulb, Bustos says, and which is found in supermarkets; and wild fennel, which does not have a bulb and whose seeds and leaves are used to flavor dishes. Its leaves are very similar to those of dill or tarragon.
As an aromatic herb, fennel is usually used in fish especially, but also in rice or pasta, according to the chef.
It is digestive, helps regulate body temperature and breathe better.
The leaves of this aromatic herb are reminiscent of feathers and are a dark green tone. Its flowers and seeds are also used in cooking and it is a basic ingredient in the Nordic and Baltic countries.
It is usually used for fish, salads, sauces or pickles, due to its spicy flavor.
It is native to Europe and Asia and is distinguished by its more elongated leaves.
Its flavor is aniseed, similar to that of fennel, but more spicy, bitter and spicy. It is used in sauces, stews, or as a dressing.
