Whenever you’re making food, you’re bound to be using spices sooner or later. It doesn’t matter if you’re a decent chef or you can barely make scrambled eggs, we know that food made without spices is just horrible. Most of the flavor comes from them and they give a dish identity.
But apart from food, there’s been some other pretty bizarre uses for spices. Some of those things are even done on a pretty much daily basis today without you probably realizing it. Let’s take a look at some of the weirdest ones.
Alcohol
Gin is probably the most popular type of booze right now that uses so-called “botanicals”, which is just fancy drunk people talk for herbs and spices. Some of the things used in the creation of gin are coriander, anise, black pepper, saffron, cardamom or cinnamon. And if you’ve ever drank a shot of Jaegermeister – that has spices in it too.
Herbal Tinctures
Essentially liquid spices, tinctures have been used as medicinal remedies for centuries. You take a few drops of whatever spice you need and put them underneath your tongue, and that was pretty much the way to go before we had modern science. Don’t make these yourself, as many spices and plants can be lethal if used incorrectly and I’m pretty sure the disease you want to cure isn’t “life”.
Insomnia
Research has shown that cinnamon and nutmeg (the spice, not the thing you do at football practice) have calming and sleep aiding properties. The only downside is that taking too much nutmeg in an attempt to fall asleep can actually make you hallucinate. Maybe start with some cinnamon, just in case.
