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The Healthy Heart of Thai Cuisine
At the heart of Thai Cuisine are the nutritious and healthy
herbs, spices, and flavoring which provide the dazzling array of delicious
and exotic tastes that make Thai cuisine so unique. Featured here are of
them with their Thai common names in parenthesis.
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Marsh Mint (Sa-ra-nee)
The fresh leaves are used as a flavoring and eaten raw in Thai cuisine.
Volatile oil contents give the plant several therapeutic uses, including
carminative, mild antiseptic, local anaesthetic, diaphoretic, and digestant
properties. |
Kaffir Lime (Makrut)
The leaves, peel and juice of the Kaffir Lime are used as a flavoring
in Thai cuisine. The leaves and peel contain volatile oil. The major therapeutic
benefit of the juice is as an appetizer. |
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Sacred Basil (Ka-phrao)
Sacred Basil is an annual herbaceous plant that resembles Sweet
Basil but has narrower and reddish-purple leaves. The fresh leaves,
which are used as a flavoring, contain approximately 0.5% volatile oil,
which exhibits anti microbial activity, specifically as a carminative diaphoretic,
expectorant and stomachic. |
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Lime (Ma-nao)
Lime is used principally as a garnish for fish and meat
dishes. The fruit contains Hesperidin and Naringin, scientifically proven
antiflammatory flavonoids. Lime juice is used as an appetizer, and has
antitussive, antiflu, stomachic, and antiscorbutic properties.
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Greater Galanga (Kha)
Greater Galanga commonly used in Thai cooking as a flavoring. The approximately
0.04% volatile oil content has therapeutic uses as carminative, stomachic,
antirheumatic, and antimicrobial agents. |
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Sweet Basil (Ho-ra-pha)
Its fresh leaves are either eaten raw or used as a flavoring
in Thai cooking. Volatile oil contents varies according to different
are as carminative, diaphoretic, expectorant, digestant, and stomachic
agents.
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Lemongrass (Takhrai)
This erect annual plant resembles a coarse grey green grass used as
a flavoring. Lemongrass contains 0.2-0.4% volatile oil. Therapeutic properties
are as a diuretic, emmanagogue, anti-flatulence, antiflu, and antimicrobial
agent. |
Chili (Phrik)
Chili is used as garnishing and flavoring in Thai dishes. There are
many different specifies. All contain capsaicin, a biologically active
ingredient beneficial to the respiratory system, blood pressure, and the
heart. Other therapeutic uses include being a stomachic, carminative antiflatulence
agent, and digestant. |
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Garlic (Kr-thiam)
Dried mature garlic bulb are used as a flavoring and condiment in Thai
cuisine. The bulbs contain 0.1 to 0.36% garlic oil and organic sulphur
compounds. Therapeutic uses are as antimicrobial, diaphoretic, diuretic,
expectorant, antiflatulence, and cholesterol lowering agents. |
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