Spices of­ten over­look some of our kitchen ex­cept for cook­ing use but these foods are some of the most pow­er­ful sources of nu­tri­ents. Read this list of ex­quis­ite spices that in­ject de­li­cious flavour in­to your food and while bring­ing forth healthy food ben­e­fits.

Cin­na­mon

Cin­na­mon is sourced from the in­ner barks of cin­na­mon trees. The cin­na­mon sticks we are fa­mil­iar with are from the Cas­sia Cin­na­mon va­ri­ety. Cin­na­mon gets its aro­mat­ic flavour and scent from a unique com­pound called cin­namalde­hyde that yields im­pres­sive health ben­e­fits. For in­stance, stud­ies have shown that us­ing cin­na­mon con­tains an­ti-in­flam­ma­to­ry prop­er­ties and an­tiox­i­dants which help the body chron­ic dis­ease, in­clud­ing the afore­men­tioned type 2 di­a­betes. How can you en­joy this fra­grant spice, then? Try cin­na­mon as a breath fresh­en­er, just chew on a cin­na­mon stick and it will un­pleas­ant oral bac­te­ria. Sprin­kle it in­to your meals like oat­meal, hot bev­er­ages and baked good­ies for a spice kick.

Gin­ger

Gin­ger is an es­sen­tial in­gre­di­ent for cook­ing around the world such as in In­di­an, Asian and Caribbean cui­sine. The pun­gent and pep­pery flavour is not­ed for help­ing many to al­le­vi­ate nau­sea, bloat­ing and sooth­ing men­stru­al cramps. Gin­ger is a go-to in­gre­di­ent for when you have a cold as it pro­vides an im­mu­ni­ty boost to fight off in­fec­tions and bac­te­ria. A sim­ple rem­e­dy us­ing gin­ger to grate 2 ta­ble­spoons of fresh gin­ger then mix with 1-2 cups of boil­ing wa­ter. Al­low to steep and add a tea­spoon of hon­ey. Don’t lim­it your­self with gin­ger teas, there are so many ways to en­joy gin­ger, you can add it in­to your soups, stir-frys, mari­nades, smooth­ies, stews and cur­ries for spicy aro­ma.

Turmer­ic

Turmer­ic, al­so called saf­fron or “har­di” in Trinidad and To­ba­go is known for its bright yel­low col­or or cur­cum­in. Cur­cum­in is the com­pound re­spon­si­ble for most of turmer­ic’s awe­some health ben­e­fits. Cur­cum­in can pro­mote health­i­er blood flow and blood pres­sure reg­u­la­tion. Turmer­ic is used by many for cos­met­ic pur­pos­es for fa­cial masks that claim to even out the skin tone and leave a beam­ing glow. This spice is avail­able as a pow­der and in the raw veg­etable state as a root that you can grate and use as de­sired. Sim­i­lar to gin­ger, grate a small knob and boil in hot wa­ter for a nat­ur­al spice tea.

Cayenne

Bright red and spicy, cayenne boast an in­cred­i­ble bold taste and colour to your cook­ing while al­so serv­ing up nu­tri­tion­al ben­e­fits. Cayenne pep­pers are a type of chili pep­per, orig­i­nat­ing from Latin Amer­i­ca and are close­ly linked to bell pep­pers and jalapeños. Boost your me­tab­o­lism with cayenne con­tain­ing cap­saicin, the com­pound re­spon­si­ble for the heat of this pep­per but al­so con­tain­ing me­tab­o­lism-boost­ing prop­er­ties. With the heat pro­duced, this as­sists in­creas­ing blood flow and can in­crease your calo­rie burn. If you are al­ready a fan of spicy food, adding cayenne pep­per is a no-brain­er and should be easy to in­te­grate. Try it in its var­i­ous forms in­clud­ing as a raw pep­per, pow­dered spice or sup­ple­ment. Sim­ply add a pinch of cayenne pep­per spice to many of your fa­vorite foods, such as eggs, soups, meats and sauces.