Weight-Loss Herb — Thyme
Thyme, a member of the mint family, is one of the best known and most widely-used culinary herbs. Thyme is an essential ingredient in bouquet garni, as well as a prime ingredient in the expensive Benedictine liqueur. The entire plant is aromatic. Honey from bees that feed on thyme flower nectar is a gourmet delight. The Greeks believed that Thyme imparted strength and fortitude. Later, in medieval time ladies embroidered thyme on scarves for their knights to carry as a token of bravery. Thyme may help you lose weight. It aids in digestion, and as such, is excellent when combined with fatty meats that often cause gastrointestinal problems such as duck, lamb, and pork. 
Medicinal Uses:
Thyme’s best use medicinally is as an antiseptic, but it also has expectorant, antispasmodic, and deodorant properties. It is an ingredient in commercial expectorants and antispasmodics prescribed for whooping cough and bronchitis.
Thyme has a long history of use in natural medicine in connection with chest and respiratory problems including coughs, bronchitis, and chest congestion.
Herbal medicinists use thyme in infusions, extracts, teas, compresses, bath preparations and gargles.
The pounded herb, if given fresh, from 1 to 6 OZ. daily, mixed with syrup, has been employed with success as a safe cure for whooping cough. An infusion made from 1 OZ. of the dried herb to 1 pint of boiling water, sweetened with sugar or honey, is also used for the same purpose, as well as in cases of catarrh and sore throat, given in doses of 1 or more tablespoonsful, several times daily. The wild plant may be equally well used for this.
Thyme tea will arrest gastric fermentation. It is useful in cases of wind spasms and colic, and will assist in promoting perspiration at the commencement of a cold, and in fever and febrile complaints generally.
In herbal medicine, Thyme is generally used in combination with other remedies.
Thyme was also once applied to various mental health disorders. Pillows stuffed with thyme were made for those suffering from depression. Thyme was also believed to be a mild sedative and the tea thought useful in preventing nightmares. When prepared in a soup or served in beer, thyme was said to help one to overcome shyness.
Insects are repelled by thyme. Make a cup of thyme tea, put it in a plant mister, and spray around doorways and windows in summer to repel insects.
Health Benefits:
Thyme is an excellent source of iron and manganese, a very good source of calcium and a food source of dietary fiber.
Thymol, the primary volatile oil constituent of thyme, and its health-supporting effects are well documented. In studies on aging in rats, thymol has been found to protect and significantly increase the percentage of healthy fats found in cell membranes and other cell structures. In particular, the amount of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid) in brain, kidney, and heart cell membranes was increased after dietary supplementation with thyme.
Thyme also contains a variety of flavonoids, including apigenin, naringenin, luteolin, and thymonin. These flavonoids increase thyme’s antioxidant capacity, and combined with its status as a very good source of manganese, give thyme a high standing on the list of anti-oxidant foods.
The volatile oil components of thyme have also been shown to have antimicrobial activity against a host of different bacteria and fungi.
Both thyme and basil contain constituents that can both prevent contamination and decontaminate previously contaminated foods.
Essential Oil:
Oil of Thyme is the important commercial product obtained by distillation of the fresh leaves and flowering tops. Its chief constituents are from 20 to 25 per cent of the phenols Thymol and Carvacrol, rising in rare cases to 42 per cent. The phenols are the principal constituents of Thyme oil.
The fragrance of its leaves is due to an essential oil, which gives it its flavouring value for culinary purposes, and is also the source of its medicinal properties.
The flowering thyme tops contain an essential oil consisting primarily of thymol and carvacrol, along with tannins, bitter compounds, saponins, and organic acids. The distilled thyme oils are used commercially in the production of antiseptics, toothpaste, mouthwash, gargle, hair conditioner, dandruff shampoo, skin cleanser, various toiletry items, potpourri, and insect repellent.
There are two commercial varieties of Thyme oil: the ‘red,’ the crude distillate, and the ‘white’ or colourless, which is the ‘red’ rectified by re-distilling.
Red oil of Thyme is frequently imported and sold under the name of oil of Origanum: it is often adulterated with oils of turpentine, spike lavender and rosemary, and coloured with alkanet root, and is not infrequently more or less destitute of Thymol.
French oil of Thyme is the most esteemed variety of the oil known. A considerable quantity of Thyme oil is also distilled in Spain, but probably from mixed species of Thyme oil. French oil (specific gravity 0.905 to 0.935) contains 20 to 36 per cent of phenols, chiefly Thymol, on which the value of the oil chiefly depends. Spanish oil contains a much higher percentage of phenols, 50 to 70 per cent, mostly Carvacrol, but sometimes a fairly large proportion of Thymol is present.
Use as a Culinary Herb:
Thyme is an important spice of European cuisines, especially in South Europe. It is especially typical for France, where fresh branches of thyme, tied up into bundles together with other fresh herbs, are added to soups, sauces and stews, being removed before serving.
In Central Europe, Thyme is most used for soups, fish, meat, poultry and eggs. Thyme, particularly lemon thyme, is a great addition to herbal vinegar.
In MediÂterranean, the Jordan condiment zahtar contains thyme as vital aroma.
In Egypt, dukka, a typical spice mixture, is a slightly salted combination of toasted seeds (sesame, hazelnut; in Egypt, also the young peach kernels, which are similar to almonds), coriander, cumin, black pepper and thyme, predominantly used to flavour meat. Egyptian white bread eaten together with olive oil and dukka gives a very simple, but delicious meal.
In Britain, thyme is the most popular culinary herb besides mint.
In the United States, particularly of the East Coast, the Creole cuisine of New Orleans (the only true regional cuisine of the US, see also sassafras) is particularly famous for its extensive use of thyme.
Fresh thyme is not only less intensive that dried thyme, but is has a more soft flavour, less smoky, and fits perfectly to Mediterranean vegetables (e.g., ratatouille) or fish. Dried thyme, on the other hand, has a dominating smokiness that comes best in spicy foods, particularly meats.
How to Use Thyme
Add thyme to your favorite pasta sauce recipe.
Fresh thyme adds a wonderful fragrance to omelets and scrambled eggs.
Hearty beans such as kidney beans, pinto beans and black beans taste exceptionally good when seasoned with thyme.
When poaching fish, place some sprigs of thyme on top of the fish and in the poaching liquid.
Season soups and stocks by adding fresh thyme.
