بسم الله الرحمان الرحيم

الحمد لله رب العالمين وصلى الله وسلم على نبينا محمد وعلى آله وأصحابه ومن اهتدى بهديه إلى يوم الدين أما بعد

 السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Herbs, Spices & Everything Nice…..

شِبِتّ - Dill: A garden plant used to give a special taste to food. Easy to grow with beautiful ferny growth, dill is a commonly grown herb.

Add to sauces, cheese, egg & fish dishes. Seeds make pickles. Mince leaves w/scissors, not knife to preserve flavor. Dill is grown for both its leaves and seeds. If you want the leaves, snip off the developing flower stalks to keep the plant from setting.

أُكالِبْتوس - Eucalyptus: Ornamental fragrance, medicine.

شَمَار - Fennel: A yellow-flowered umbelliferous plant, with fragrant feathery leaves used in sauce, salad.

·        Bronze Fennel: Ornamental, medicinal. This herb looks like Dill but has a great anise flavor. Distinctive bronze foliage makes this one decorative. It’s a fast grower so give it plenty of fertilizer. Use it as a cooked vegetable. Also with seafood. Seeds are used in hot breads, spiced beets and kraut.

·        Florence Fennel: Culinary and ornamental. Grown for its edible “bulb”. The bulb is formed from the swollen leaf bases. This bulb, which has an anise flavor and fleshy consistency, is sliced into salads or cooked as a vegetable.

·        Sweet Fennel: Culinary. This herb looks like Dill. Anise scented foliage. Blooms yellow clusters of flowers in second season. Prune plants to keep them dense and manageable. Fresh leaves can be gathered and used the first summer in salads or to garnish fish entrees.

إِبْرَةُ الرَّاعِي Geranium: Garden plant with red, pink or white flowers.

·        Lemon Bitter Angel Geranium: Culinary, fragrant, and used for teas.

·        Rose Scented Geranium: Use the leaves in herbal teas, jellies, sorbets, herbal butters, cake, or relax in a Rose milk scented bath.

There are many different types of Geranium which can be used in fruit cups, potpourri, herbal arrangements, crafts, and baking.

زَنْجَبِيل - Ginger: Medicinal, hot, spicy root used in cooking or preserved in syrup, or candied. It is also used to reduce the toxicity of some herbs. Allaah said,

وَيُسْقَوْنَ فِيهَا كَأْسًا كَانَ مِزَاجُهَا زَنجَبِيلًا

And they will be given to drink there a cup (of wine) mixed with Zanjabeel (ginger, etc.).

Al-Insaan 76:17

Tip: Label your herbs and spices in ‘Arabic. Read and pronounce its name every time you use it until you’ve memorized it. In Shaa Allaah this will help increase your ‘Arabic vocabulary for general conversation like cooking and eating well.

Haneefah