The benefits of Christmas spices

Spices are a huge part of Christmas cooking and baking. Their smell and taste represent everything that is festive and warming at this time of year. But they also have some great medicinal properties and health benefits too.

Cinnamon

Great in mulled wine and Christmas cake, cinnamon is said to help cells deal with excess blood sugar.

It has also been found to have large quantities of proanthocyanidins, a class of polyphenols with powerful anti-inflammatory properties. Having a sprinkling of cinnamon in your morning latte can promote healthy cell production, which is great for your skin too.

Find out more about the health benefits of cinnamon here.

Cloves

Ham was traditionally studded with cloves at Christmas to help kill bacteria.

In the Renaissance, they were thought to ward off epidemics and people wore clove pomanders.

They in fact have many medicinal properties and contain the active component eugenol, which has made them the subject of many health studies, most notably into digestive tract cancers and joint inflammation. They are also known as natural painkillers.

Like to know more? The BBC Good Food website offers further nutritional details and information on their health benefits here.

Ginger

Enjoyed in Christmas gingerbread, this root was used by the ancient Greeks as an after-dinner digestive and by the Egyptians to ease travel sickness on voyages.

In modern medicine, it has been used to alleviate motion and morning sickness, and nausea brought on by chemotherapy.

Fresh ginger contains a compound called gingerol, which has been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties that help control the aging process. Ginger is also recommended to improve blood circulation and is thought to help treat colds.

Read more about its medicinal properties here.

Come & see us

Now all you need to do is make sure you use these marvellous festive spices in your cooking and baking this Christmas.

No time to make your own? Come and see us and find out what goodies we’ll be making this year with spices in.