BY BRITTANY WOOD NICKERSON
In This Article
Herbs have flavored our food for thousands of years, but their real power goes far beyond taste.
When we reach for cilantro, basil, thyme, or black pepper, we are not just ‘following the recipe’—we are quietly engaging in herbal medicine, whether we intend to or not. As soon as you can taste an herb, it is already waking up digestion, helping the body absorb nutrients more fully, and subtly shifting how you feel after a meal.
This perspective turns “eating well” into something generous rather than restrictive. Herbs invite us to enjoy food that is vivid, aromatic, and deeply satisfying, while still supporting health. They help you listen to your body’s own language—cravings, preferences, even how your stomach responds after a dish—and can transform the kitchen from a place of stress and second-guessing into one of curiosity, ease, and self-care.
Most culinary herbs share a few core gifts. Their complex flavors stimulate digestive secretions and improve assimilation, while their aromatic oils help the gut’s involuntary muscles unclench—easing gas, bloating, cramping, and even some tension-type headaches. Their natural antimicrobial compounds support a healthy gut microbiome and, historically, helped keep food safer for longer.
When used more intentionally—in larger, “medicinal” amounts or as teas—these same kitchen herbs can also act as lung tonics, circulatory allies, or gentle diuretics.
Among this everyday apothecary, cilantro stands out. Long treasured in traditional cuisines and healing systems, it brings bright flavor to the plate and a remarkable range of actions in the body—from supporting detox pathways to cooling inflammation and pairing easily with everyday foods. Its story offers a clear example of how a familiar kitchen herb can serve as both a vibrant seasoning and a gentle medicine.
Cilantro
Coriandrum sativum
Flavor profile: (sweet, bitter, astringent, pungent)
Cilantro has an overall detoxifying, cooling, and grounding effect. Like many common culinary herbs, it has been used for thousands of years as a digestive aid. Cilantro increases the secretion of gastric juices, stimulates the appetite, and alleviates nausea. As a carminative, cilantro improves digestion and assimilation and helps relieve gas and bloating. It is great for easing indigestion and diarrhea.
This herb has also been shown to help the body process and use cholesterol, reducing cholesterol and triglyceride levels and increasing high-density lipoprotein levels, which help transport fats like cholesterol and triglycerides. These benefits are most likely due to cilantro’s effects on the liver: cilantro supports liver function and stimulates the secretion of bile, which the body uses to break down and digest fats and oils.
Cilantro is an excellent anti-inflammatory, particularly when inflammation is accompanied by heat. Medicinal doses of cilantro can ease inflammation and heat associated with hives, rashes, flushed or red skin, and excess sweating. It can also help balance inflammatory emotions of a hot nature, like rage, frustration, anger, or irritation.
Cilantro can also be used externally as a poultice to reduce heat (redness and inflammation) on the skin’s surface, such as for sunburn, rash, or acne. Internally or externally, it can be used acutely to address a specific situation or consistently as a tonic for people with a “hot” constitution (perhaps they are hot to the touch, always feel hot, or are prone to inflammatory reactions).
Cilantro and its seed, coriander, are both mild diuretics. Medicinal doses can increase urination and relieve burning sensations associated with cystitis or urinary tract infections (UTIs). (Note that cilantro is not a strong enough antiseptic to treat a UTI and will not replace the need for medical attention, but it can reduce symptoms. It can also help prevent recurrence of chronic UTIs.)
Extracts from cilantro leaves have been shown to help balance blood sugar levels, and the herb may help prevent metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Cilantro increases insulin release from cells and has insulin-like effects, both of which help remove excessive glucose from the blood.
Cilantro also helps the liver convert glucose (which is available in high amounts when blood sugar is high) into glycogen, a storable energy source that the body can convert back into glucose as needed. Adequate glycogen stores help the body maintain stable blood sugar, reducing sugar cravings. If you can’t quite seem to kick the sugar habit, consider adding cilantro to your diet as a support.
Last but certainly not least, cilantro can be used as an effective natural chelator. Chelators are substances that bind with heavy metals in the body so they can be removed. One study showed that cilantro reduced lead counts in mice, and I suspect that it is effective in reducing levels of other heavy metals, such as mercury and cadmium, as well. When you eat seafood, consider also adding a medicinal dose of cilantro to a salad, pesto, or herbal drink to help ensure that any heavy metals deposited in the seafood from polluted ocean waters do not get stored in your body.
Use in the Kitchen
The volatile oils and aromas that give cilantro much of its unique, refreshing flavor dissipate once the plant is heated, dried, or frozen. For this reason, it is often used as a garnish or served raw in salsas, chutneys, sauces, and salads.
When I want to add cilantro to a stew or other slow-cooked dish, I either add the fresh leaves at the very end or save them for a garnish on top. Or I use the root—it imparts an unusual, earthy, cilantro-rich flavor, holds up better to cooking, and offers many of the same benefits as the leaf.
You may have noticed that cilantro is commonly used with spicy foods, like salsa and chili. Cilantro has an overall cooling effect, helping relieve heat in the body, making it a nice complement to dishes with heat. It is also used heavily in cuisines from hot climates.
Cilantro, then, is more than a bright, polarizing garnish. Used thoughtfully, it can cool heat in the body, steady digestion, nudge blood sugar and lipids in a healthier direction, and offer gentle support for the liver and urinary tract—all while bringing a vivid, green freshness to the plate.
When we fold it into everyday meals in generous, enjoyable amounts, we are not only decorating our food; we are inviting a steady trickle of herbal support into the rhythms of daily life.
The following recipes offer a few simple ways to bring cilantro’s bright flavor and gentle herbal benefits into everyday meals.
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Brittany Wood Nickerson is an herbalist, health educator, and professional cook who brings her love of food and nutrition to her training in Western, Ayurvedic, and Chinese herbal medicine. Her work emphasizes health and healing as an empowered relationship between body, mind, and spirit. She owns and directs Thyme Herbal in Western Massachusetts, where she maintains an herbal practice and teaches multi-year apprenticeship programs, herbal cooking classes, and workshops. The author of Recipes from the Herbalist’s Kitchen, she also teaches and speaks at conferences and events throughout the country. She lives in Conway, Massachusetts.
Well Being Journal adapted the above excerpt from Recipes from the Herbalist’s Kitchen by Brittany Wood Nickerson. Copyright © 2017 by Brittany Wood Nickerson. Reprinted with permission from Storey Publishing, an imprint of Workman Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
