Welcome to FabulousFusionFood's Herb-based Recipes Page — Herbs are typically the milder of the flavourings added to food. By definition a herb is any herbaceous part of a plant. This means any combination of the stems the leaves and the flowers. Basically those parts of a plant that live above ground (in contrast the roots of a plant if used as a flavouring are generally considered as spices, as are the seeds and fruit of a plant). The list below therefore describes as many parts of a plant as possible if they are used (either fresh or dried) as a food flavouring. The exception here is the woody stem, which tends to be thought of as a spice rather than an herb.

In terms of flavouring, at least for economic impact, herbs have tended to play second fiddle to spices. The majority of herbs need to be used fresh, their flavour chemicals tend to be volatile. As a result, herbs, typically, are grown locally, added fresh and used towards the end of cookery. Which is not to say that they're not important in cookery. They can be vital and some combinations, like French fines herbes or bouquets garnis are key to the flavour profile of a dish.