Harnessing Summer Herbs for Digestive Wellness

There are so many easy ways to get your hands on fresh herbs in the summer months. They can literally grow like weeds in your backyard or on a patio but are readily available at farmers’ markets and grocery stores. I always get so excited to plant herbs every spring and by this time of the season, I have so much I don’t know what to do with it!

While we often think about fresh herbs as a way to add flavor to foods and create different cultural cuisines, they are so much more. Did you know that fresh herbs are concentrated sources of polyphenols that can feed the bacteria in our gut? When we look at adding a variety of plants to the diet, fresh herbs can be one of the easiest methods. Parsley is a great example of an herb that is easy to add and seems to go well with almost every dish. It adds a little brightness to meals and lots of polyphenols. This article will take a deeper dive into just how fresh herbs can improve gut health and ideas for using them in your cooking more regularly.

Polyphenols and Microbiome Diversity

While using fresh herbs adds flavor to a meal, it’s also adding some powerful, functional nutrition. Fresh herbs have several benefits that make them pretty enticing to add to meals:

• Prebiotic Action: Fresh herbs act like prebiotic fiber to help feed some of the key beneficial bacteria in the gut. Herbs contain polyphenols, which are apparent in the bright colors found in foods. Polyphenols are not absorbed in the beginning part of digestion and are mainly absorbed in the large intestine. Because of this, they provide food to the bacteria residing in the large intestine. (think of them like fertilizer)

• Microbial Balance: Herbs can help to disrupt pathogenic bacteria residing in the digestive tract while sparing the beneficial ones. In a sense, they are acting as a natural anti-microbial for the gut to help it stay in balance.

• Digestive Balance: Certain fresh herbs can help reduce spasms in the digestive tract, reduce gut sensitivity, and even stimulate digestive enzymes and bile to improve nutrient breakdown.

• Microbiome Diversity: Each herb can impact different gut bacteria, so by increasing the variety of fresh herbs in your diet, you are ultimately increasing the overall diversity of your diet and your gut microbiome.

Seed-to-Table Simplicity

If you aren’t used to using fresh herbs regularly, getting started is much easier than you might expect. Fresh herbs are best added towards the end of cooking any dish, right before serving. It helps if you begin by experimenting with some simple additions. Take a look at the list below to get a better sense of which fresh herbs go well with certain types of foods. For example, you could start by adding some fresh parsley to your brown rice or quinoa before serving. Another idea is adding some fresh thyme on cooked carrots with a little olive oil.

Here is a quick reference guide for pairing fresh herbs with common plant-based pantry staples:

Base Ingredient	Complementary Fresh Herbs
Chickpeas	Parsley, cilantro, dill, mint
Lentils	Thyme, rosemary
White beans	Sage, rosemary, basil
Black beans	Cilantro, basil
Brown rice	Thyme, chives, oregano, parsley
Quinoa	Mint, cilantro, parsley
Farro/barley	Rosemary, sage
Root veggies (carrots, sweet potatoes)	Rosemary, thyme
Nightshade veggies (tomatoes, peppers)	Basil, oregano, parsley
Cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cabbage)	Chives, mint, sage
Summer squash/cucumber	Mint, cilantro, chives

Practical Takeaways

1. Countertop herbal oils: It helps to find easy ways to use fresh herbs daily in different ways to help build a new routine. I like making an herbal oil that sits on my countertop that I can use over a 2–3-day span. I typically use a small jar and add extra virgin olive oil and then a variety of chopped herbs. It’s so easy to grab the jar and add it to dishes I am making without having to grab the herbs and chop them.

   
   

   

   
   

2. Hot and Cold Infusions: Another easy idea is infusing herbs into either a hot or cold beverage. Fresh mint or thyme leaves are excellent added to hot water and covered to steep for about 5 minutes. If a warm beverage doesn’t appeal to you, a similar process can be done with a pitcher of cold water. Simply grab a handful of herbs, add them to the water, and refrigerate to enjoy throughout the day. My favorite herbs for a cold infusion are basil, mint, or rosemary.

   
   

   

   
   

3. Herb-Rich Salad Greens: If you like to add lettuce or other greens to your meals or as a side, try replacing half of the lettuce or greens with chopped fresh herbs. Doing this gives the lettuce a lot more flavor and increases the health benefits of the entire meal. I especially like to use this method with basil and chives. The flavor is so good I only need to add some olive oil and lemon to make the salad complete.

Preserving the Harvest

At the end of the season, a little planning ensures that none of your plants go to waste.

Overwintering

Some of the plants will return again next year if you bring them inside or cover them. The ones that fit in this category include rosemary, thyme, chives, mint, and oregano. I have had many of the same herb plants for several years and they end up coming back even stronger the following year, and I don’t have to go through the effort of planting them again.

Drying

You can also dry some herbs and use throughout the winter. My favorites for drying are

rosemary, thyme, sage, and oregano. I simply cut a bunch of each herb, tie them together, and hang them to dry in my basement for a couple of weeks. I store them whole in mason jars in the kitchen and just crumble them before using just like I would with a dried herb in a jar from the store. They tend to stay fresher if you keep them whole in jars rather than crumbling them before storing.

Conclusion

 Using fresh herbs is wonderful for adding flavor to food, but also an incredibly easy way of improving overall gut health and making food more nutrient-dense. Fresh herbs are easy to grow on a patio or even in the kitchen, but also easy to find at the store. It’s such a magical feeling to see plants come to life and then to benefit from the nutrition they can offer. Pick one or two fresh herbs from the list and try adding a fresh handful to a meal this week!