AMERICAN GARDENER

Parsley is one of the most widely grown and most universally consumed fresh herbs in the world, a bright, clean, versatile Mediterranean herb that has been cultivated for over 2,000 years across Europe, the Middle East, and beyond. Native to the central Mediterranean region — particularly Sardinia, Algeria, and Tunisia — it spread through Roman … Read more

Coriander is one of the most ancient, most widely cultivated, and most culturally significant herb and spice plants in the world, remarkable for being the only commonly used culinary plant where both the fresh leaves and the dried seeds are harvested as entirely distinct and commercially separate ingredients with fundamentally different flavors, aromas, and culinary … Read more

Sea moss is a type of red algae or seaweed that grows along the rocky Atlantic coastlines of Europe, North America, and the Caribbean, harvested for centuries as a food, medicine, and industrial ingredient and experiencing an extraordinary surge in global popularity over the past decade as one of the most celebrated superfoods in the … Read more

Black pepper is the most widely traded and most universally used spice in the world, accounting for approximately 20 percent of the entire global spice trade by value and present as a table condiment and cooking ingredient in virtually every cuisine on earth. Native to the Malabar Coast of Kerala in southwestern India, where it … Read more

Lemongrass is one of the most important and widely cultivated aromatic plants in the world, a tall tropical grass native to South and Southeast Asia that produces intensely lemon-fragrant stems and leaves from extraordinarily high concentrations of citral — the primary lemon volatile compound — making it simultaneously one of the most important culinary herbs … Read more

Herbs and spices are among the most ancient and most culturally significant plant products in human history, used for at least 50,000 years for flavoring food, preserving it, healing the body, and in religious and ceremonial practices across virtually every civilization that has ever existed. The distinction between herbs and spices is largely practical rather … Read more

Galangal is a group of aromatic rhizome plants belonging to the ginger family, native to Southeast Asia and southern China and cultivated across the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia for over 1,000 years as both an indispensable culinary spice and an important traditional medicine ingredient. Often called Thai ginger or blue ginger in Western … Read more

Asparagus is one of the oldest cultivated vegetables in the world, with a history of human cultivation stretching back over 2,500 years to ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, where it was prized both as a luxury food and as a medicinal plant. Native to the coastal regions of Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia, it … Read more