3 Spices with Surprising Alternative Uses

We already know that our spice racks are medicine cabinets, too. The vast majority of spices we use for their flavor also affect our health in certain ways: garlic is a potent disinfectant, cinnamon lowers blood sugar levels and has anti-inflammatory properties, basil improves digestion, and the list could go on and on.

There are, in turn, some spices that have more uses than protecting our health and giving our food some much-needed diversity. Actually, some of them have uses that you may be surprised to hear about.

Turmeric

Turmeric has a warm, slightly bitter, peppery, and mustard-like aroma and a signature color. It is used in a vast variety of Asian dishes, sweet and savory alike. It may also be a medicinal herb, although the health benefits of turmeric are still not proven by science. What may be surprising that it also doubles – or better said, triples – as a textile dye.

Turmeric is routinely used to give saris and the Buddhist monks’ robes their signature golden yellow color in India. And it’s also pretty easy to use at home: simply mix turmeric, water, and vinegar in the right proportions, boil them, add your natural fabric in the boiling mixture until it reaches the right color, then let it dry.

Rosemary

Rosemary is one of the must-have spices in every home. It gives meat, veggies, and mushrooms a wonderful aroma but it can be used as an ingredient for herbal tea as well. On the other hand, herbalists often recommend it to alleviate muscle pain and promote hair growth, among others.

But its fragrance is good for more than just adding flavor to your dishes. Rosemary essential oil is often used as a perfume ingredient to add a herbal, aromatic note to their top notes. Besides, it can also be used as an insect repellent: just drop a bunch of the herb on your grill on your next cookout, and its aromatic smoke will keep mosquitoes and flies away.

Garlic

Garlic is a true hero in every kitchen. Aside from keeping vampires away, it also offers an unmistakable flavor to a cornucopia of dishes, and it also takes care of our health: it has been proven to keep our digestive system healthy and help our immune system fight off invaders of many types.

What few people know is, in turn, that it’s also a surprisingly strong adhesive that’s always at hand. The sticky juice that can be found inside the garlic cloves can be used to repair fine porcelain and glass. Simply press the juice of the garlic on a brush, cover the broken edges, and press them together firmly. The adhesive works fast and will help fine cracks almost completely disappear – completely safe and chemical-free. And don’t worry about the smell – it disappears in a few minutes.