10 Best Herbs to Add to Your Home Apothecary

What are the 10 best herbs to add to your home apothecary? With so many different plants to choose from, where do you begin?  Well, I have narrowed this list down to the top 10 most medicinal and versatile herbs to begin your home apothecary.  

 I found that about 15 or so were commonly mentioned throughout my research, but for the main meat and potatoes of this post, I will focus on the top 10 highly recommended herbs for beginning your home apothecary.

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1. Chamomile

It was no surprise that chamomile  (Matricaria recutita) would be in the top 10, I just didn’t think it would be one of THE MOST recommended herbs to add to your home apothecary.  Let’s see why that is, shall we?

For starters, chamomile is relatively easy to grow and most greenhouses/garden centers will sell chamomile at the start of the gardening season.  However, if you have a bit of a green thumb, and even if you don’t, why not try your hand at starting this little gem from seed?  

Roman Chamomile is an annual that is relatively easy to grow from seed and can be sown directly outdoors in early spring or started indoors a bit later.  Chamomile prefers a sunnier location but will do just fine in a partly shady area too.  

Okay so you have decided that you are going to add chamomile to your home apothecary, but why should you add chamomile to your home apothecary?  What are the medicinal properties & benefits of this cheery little herb? 

Benefits of Chamomile

• Relaxes the nerves and helps to induce restful sleep
• Strengthens the immune system
• Helps treat congestion, cough, sore throat & runny noses
• Helps to treat menstrual cramping by decreasing inflammation
• Digestive support (heartburn, nausea, morning sickness)
• Anti-septic which helps to increase wound healing
• Helps to remedy skin disorders such as eczema, dermatitis, cold sores, burns & even pink eye
• Helps reduce stress & anxiety due to its sedative nature
• Helps to fight free radical damage to cells slowing down the process of aging due to high amounts of antioxidants
• Contains anti-allergin compounds which could help to ease seasonal allergies or other common allergies
• Helps protect the skin against harmful UV rays
• Decreases under-eye circles & puffiness
• Helps to remedy dry scalp
• Help relieve colic & diaper rash
• Can help treat gingivitis 

How to Use Chamomile 

How do we obtain all of these amazing benefits that chamomile has to offer? Well for starters, you should consume high-quality tea.  This will allow your body to absorb all of the amazing medicinal properties of chamomile.

For cosmetic uses, chamomile tea bags can be placed on the eyelids to relieve puffy eyes and dark circles.  A strong chamomile decoction can also be used as a hair rinse, oral rinse or face astringent.  * A decoction is basically just an herbal infusion that steeps for longer than a traditional tea, all plant parts are typically used in a chamomile herbal decoction.  

Mountain Rose Herbs has a lovely blog post describing the process in more detail.  

Another way to add chamomile to your at-home apothecary is to make an herbal oil infusion.  Simply Beyond Herbs discusses this process in greater detail if you are interested in making one for yourself.  

To make an infused oil, typically the dried flowers are infused in a carrier oil (jojoba, olive, almond, etc.) and solar-infused for about 4 weeks minimum. 

Once strained, you can then add a few drops of your favorite essential oil to increase the benefits and entice your olfactory senses in the process!

Now I completely understand why chamomile is so highly suggested for home apothecaries.  

Calendula

Calendula was another herb that was top on the list to add to home apothecaries.  Calendula -the flowers & leaves -are typically used on the skin to help remedy common dermatological disorders.  

If you are going to try your hand at growing your own, and why not, seeding calendula is relatively simple.  

Calendula can be directly seeded into the soil in early spring or when soil temps are consistently around 50 degrees or if you are impatient like me, 4-6 weeks indoors before your last danger of frost.  Calendula is sun-loving so do your best to accommodate them and they should thrive for you.

Benefits of Calendula

• Can be used internally or externally (poultice, decoction, oil or tea)
• Can help treat skin disorders such as eczema, acne, burns and other common skin ailments 
• May help to manage menstrual cramping and irregularities
• Contains immune-strengthening compounds  that may fight cancer cells and tumor growth
• May help treat mouth concerns such as gingivitis or cavities
• Helps to remedy skin lesions, bruising, and minor cuts and scrapes

How to Use Calendula

• The most common methods for adding this fiery little herb is through the use of tea and oil infusions.  I share the recipe on how to make this herbal oil infusion in an earlier post so feel free to check that out.  
• To make tea, add boiling water to the flower petals and let steep for 5-10 minutes.  
• Calendula-infused oil can also be added to beeswax to make a soothing salve to keep on hand (or foot or any other part of the body in need of some TLC)

It’s easy to see why Calendula is one of the top ten plants to add to your home apothecary. 

Comfrey

I will say that I was elated to see comfrey on the list because this is one of my favorites and I am not the only one.  The bees absolutely love this plant and it is one of the first to bloom, at least in my zone.  I started this plant from seed and be aware, it spreads and seeds itself like crazy.  I have it growing all over the place and I don’t mind one bit!

I don’t think that I need to add that comfrey is quite easy to grow from seed, but just to mention, I did start these little buggers indoors and planted them once the threat of frost subsided. Comfey is a perennial shrub that comes back year after year with little to no effort.  

Many different internet sites warn about the uses of comfrey, especially if taken orally.  It is said that comfrey contains a toxic substance called pyrrolizidine alkaloids that are said to be toxic to the liver.  (Moutnsinai.org)

Comfrey roots and leaves contain a substance called allantoin which helps new skin cells grow, reduces inflammation and keeps skin cells healthy.  

Benefits of Comfrey 

• Comfrey is used to treat wounds and reduce inflammation from sunburn, bruising and strains 
• Comfrey salves, poultices or infusions have been used to heal bruises, pulled muscles, ligaments, fractures, sprains, strains and even fractures and osteoarthritis.
• Comfrey tea can also be consumed in small doses to relieve respiratory ailments such as bronchitis, asthma and coughing

How to Use Comfrey

• Comfrey can be made into a salve after infusing the roots and leaves in a carrier oil and applied directly to the skin.  
• Comfrey leaves and roots can be harvested and dried to make an herbal tea or decoction.  The tea or decoction can also be used as an astringent to clean wounds.
• If for no other reason, consider growing this fast-growing perennial for the bees! They could use as many budding blooms as they can get.

Lavender

Lovely lavender.  Probably one of the most popular herbs and most well-known for its sweet and delightful scent.  There are a few different varieties of lavender each with its own uniqueness.  

I have a few varieties growing but none that I can take credit for starting.  To me, lavender is one of the more difficult herbs to grow from seed.  They need to experience a bout of cold prior to seeding.  This can be done by keeping the seeds in the refrigerator for a few weeks.  

I have done that and still very little germination.  Luckily, lavender is one of the most popular plants to purchase, so many common garden centers and greenhouses carry this plant.  

Why is lavender so popular? 

Benefits of Lavender

• Lavender essential oil has been used to treat headaches, induce restful sleep, soothe burns and can even help neutralize venom from insect bites.
• Lavender essential oil is one of the only essential plant oils that does not need to be diluted prior to being placed on the skin which makes using lavender essential oil pretty convenient.  
• Lavender flowers can also be useful when treating insomnia.  Flowers can be made into a tincture along with other herbs and taken nightly to induce restful sleep.
• Lavender oil can also be used to stimulate hair growth or even help to remedy dryness, graying or dull hair.  Simply massage the oil into the scalp daily and then rinse
• Lavender essential oil has also been used to treat minor skin irritations and minor burns due to its medicinal anti-inflammatory properties

How to Use Lavender

• Lavender buds/flowers can be used as tea to help induce sleep or to help relax and calm the body and mind. 
• Lavender essential oil can be put into rollers and added to the temples or any part of the body to benefit through the use of aromatherapy.  
• Lavender buds and flowers can be put into satchels and used inside pillowcases and/or dresser drawers.
•  Lavender can also be used alone or in a combination with other herbs as a facial steam for some relaxing self-care or even fill a satchel and place in under the bath fixture as you are filling it.
• Lavender can also be infused with an oil of your choice (grapeseed, jojoba, olive, almond etc) and added to salves or other body care products.  Personally, I will add my infused oils directly to a bath for a nice soak.  Just be careful, sometimes the oils leave a residue and it can become very slick afterward.   

Elderberry

Elderberry has become more popular than ever as it has found its way as a staple in many different herbal and homeopathic cold and flu remedies.  Elderberry is rich in nutrients, such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, fatty acids, organic acids, minerals, vitamins and essential oils. 

Polyphenols, known for their free radical scavenging (antioxidant) activity, have a strong presence in elderberry. The high antioxidant activity of elderberry fruit and flowers is associated with their therapeutic properties. 

The berries of the elderberry plant are harvested, dried and typically made into syrups.  However, if you are attempting to make your own DIY elderberry syrup, the berries must be dried or cooked to avoid digestive upset due to a compound (cyanogenic glycoside) that may be toxic to the system.  This compound is highly present in unripe berries but is relatively low or even absent once dried or cooked. 

There are many different products to consider if you are going to purchase rather than make.  Personally, I have used Sambucol Elderberry Tablets for years and I have had great success with either knocking out my sickness completely (if taken right at the start of feeling under the weather) or at least lessening the symptoms so it isn’t quite so miserable.

If you are interested in making some DIY elderberry syrup, here is a quick tutorial from Mountain Rose Herbs

Benefits of Elderberry

• Helps keep the immune system strong
• Effective cold & flu relief
• Helps to reduce sinus pressure & inflammation
• May help to lower blood sugar- useful in diabetics
• Acts as a diuretic helping to remove excess fluid in the body
• Rich in antioxidants, the berry may help reduce your risk of cancer

How to Use Elderberry

• Elderberry can be made into syrup, gummies or a tincture.  
• Fresh berries may be used only in a tincture but not in syrups or gummies, those recipes need to have the berries cooked or dried. 
• Elderberry can also be used in tea form made with flowers and dried berries.  

Lemon Balm

Ahh lemon balm, the smell is just so clean and refreshing, but lemon balm is so much more than just a pleasant scent.  Lemon balm is one of the easiest herbs to grow whether it gets a little sun or a lot, it seems to just enjoy its home.  

Lemon balm has quite a reputation within the nervine world.  If you’re not familiar with what a nervine plant is, it basically helps to support the body’s nervous system.  Plant nervines, such as lemon balm, have a calming effect on the body, not sedative, just calming & relaxing.  

Nervines are also helpful in reducing pain associated with nerve damage and disorders causing nerve damage.  

Lemon balm can also help boost one’s mood, bring calm to a restless body and even put to ease some of the day’s worries.  Just the smell alone can have a calming effect!

Benefits of Lemon Balm

• Reduce anxiety, depression
• Relieves headache
• Can help to reduces cold sores & other mouth ulcers
• Can help to soothe the digestive system
• Can be used as an astringent for acne-prone skin

How to Use Lemon Balm

Lemon balm is commonly used in tea form using fresh or dried leaves.  

• Lemon balm can also be made into a tincture using fresh or dried leaves and submerging them with alcohol.  That mixture will set for 4-6 weeks and then it can be strained and used. 
• I have also infused lemon balm in oil and I will either use that oil directly on my skin or make it into a salve to treat many different skin conditions.  
• As an added bonus, lemon balm helps to repel mosquitos and other annoying insects.  
• One more enjoyable way to use lemon balm is to add the plant’s leaves to some Epsom salts or Himalayan salts and add it to either a foot soak or a bath soak.  

Mullein

Magnificent mullein.  Not as well known as others, but oh so powerful!  Mullein’s flowers and leaves are used to treat respiratory conditions, especially that dry, almost choking, tickly cough that doesn’t seem to expel much mucus.  

Mullein helps to strengthen and support the lungs and soothe the inflammation caused by a dry and non-producing cough. 

Mullein is also beneficial for common skin conditions, such as burns or eczema.  To reap the benefits of its magic, it’s best to apply it topically either in the form of an herbal infusion or made into a salve.   

Finally, mullein will also help to remedy minor ear infections.  This can be used in a mixture with garlic or St.John’s Wort or just simply infusing the mullein flowers into a carrier oil.  A few drops are placed into the ear and sealed with a cotton ball to keep the mixture in.  Not only does this work to help clear the infection, it also helps to ease the pain of the infection.  

Benefits of Mullein

• Respiratory Support – especially with a dry unproductive cough
• Remedy for common ear infections
• Skin conditions such as eczema, burns and even acne
• The roots have been shown to relieve pain, inflammation and bladder incontinence 

How to Use Mullein

• Mullein can be used as a tea or tincture using either fresh or dried leaves.
• Dried or fresh leaves and flowers can also be made into an herbal infusion with a carrier oil of your choice.  
• The roots can be harvested, cleaned and ground into a powder in capsule form to help strengthen the bladder muscles.  
• The roots have also been shown to relieve inflammation of the joints.  Chop and dry the roots and make them into a decoction or capsule.  

Peppermint

Other than knowing peppermint helps to provide one with fresh breath and help with certain digestive upsets, I was surprised that this often overlooked and rather invasive herb, ended up in the top 10 list of most medicinal herbs.  

The most active compound in peppermint is menthol.  It is menthol that is responsible for not only its cooling effect but also its ability to relieve pain associated with muscle cramping or spasms, as well as, relieving menstrual cramping.  

Peppermint is also quite nutrient dense where just one ounce of dried peppermint leave contains a whopping  540 mg of calcium, 220 mg of magnesium and 753 mg of potassium, and you know what’s even better? The taste! (Herbmentor.com)

  Peppermint is one of the easiest plants to consume, fresh or dried, because it tastes really good! 

Benefits of Peppermint

• Peppermint helps with a variety of digestive upsets including severe digestive disorders like IBS.  
• Peppermint is also used as a pain reliever.  It has been effective in treating headaches,  sunburn, hives, poison ivy and poison oak.
• Peppermint can stimulate the nervous system by providing alertness and for those trying to limit their caffeine intake, peppermint tea may be a nice substitute.
• Peppermint has also been used to help relieve fevers associated with colds and flu.  
• Peppermint can also be used to help relieve congestion in the lungs or sinuses.

How to Use Peppermint

• Peppermint essential oils can be used topically to reduce pain or added to hot water to make an herbal steam to help reduce congestion.
• Peppermint leaves can be made into tea to ease digestive upsets.
• A strong peppermint tea can also be added to a bath to help relieve sore muscles, sunburn or poison ivy/oak.  This would be especially helpful with children.  
• Peppermint leaves can also be added to a carrier oil to make an herbal infusion to relieve sore muscle, achy feet, or any other area in need of some soothing.  

Rosemary

Romantic Rosemary.  It is just one of my favorites.  I have such an attachment to one that I grew from seed that I don’t even like to harvest any of her leaves.  She’s just so dainty and sweet, but that’s not why she made it to the 10 most medicinal herbs to add to your home apothecary.  No, no, no, she deserves to be here, so let’s find out why.

Rosemary has been shown to boost memory and cognition.  Rosemary extract has also been shown to help prevent the sun’s damaging UV rays from negatively affecting the skin.  This particular study was from participants who ingested rosemary extract, rather than put it on the skin.

Rosemary has also been credited to help hair growth.  You will notice that many popular hair products advertise rosemary as one of the main ingredients.  Honestly, you would be better off making your own rosemary scalp oil though, it’s pretty easy.  

Rosemary is credited with increasing circulation, relieving pain &  inflammation, reducing fevers and helping to nip colds and flu in the bud.  

Rosemary is also used to help remedy common digestive upsets such as indigestion, gas and bloating.  

Benefits of Rosemary

• Helps with memory & cognition
• Pain reliever and helps to reduce inflammation
• Helps to reduce or remedy digestive upsets
• Helps to relieve cold/flu symptoms
• Can help with hair growth

How to Use Rosemary

• Rosemary is one of the best culinary herbs that pairs well with meats, potatoes and even certain pasta or vegetable dishes
• Rosemary can be made into tea using fresh or dried leaves to help alleviate stomach upsets
• Rosemary oil can be used to massage the scalp for hair growth.  
• Dried leaves can be made into a tincture to help relieve pain, increase memory or help to remedy stomach upsets.  

Yarrow

“Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is one of the most important medicinal herbs there is; it’s found pretty much everywhere, and it’s been used for everything.”

Henriette Kress

Yarrow has been used for centuries and many herbalists keep this plant on their short list of herbs to have on hand due to its versatility.  

Yarrow is famous for its ability to stop bleeding wounds, help prevent infection and speed up the healing process due to its antimicrobial and antiseptic properties.

Ironically, as powerful as this plant is at stopping the bleeding of wounds, it is also just as powerful at flowing the blood within the body.  This will help people who suffer from stagnant blood conditions like varicose veins or fibroids.  

Yarrow helps to improve circulation allowing the blood to flow freely.  

Yarrow also helps with cold and flu symptoms as well.  It can soothe a sore throat, increase sweating to alleviate fevers,  remedy a chronic or acute cough and even help with detoxification.  

Yarrow can also help to relieve urinary tract infections, strengthen the kidneys and keep them functioning optimally.  Yarrow can also be used to alleviate certain digestive upsets and even relieve symptoms of IBS.  

Benefits of Yarrow

• Helps increase wound healing by assisting in blood coagulation & preventing infections
• Can increase healthy blood flow to alleviate stagnant blood conditions
• Has the ability to remedy many different symptoms of the common cold & flu
• Can help to relieve urinary tract infections
• Help to remedy various digestive upsets, including IBS

How to Use Yarrow

• Yarrow leaves and flowers can be made into tea 
• Yarrow leaves and flowers can also be made into a tincture
• Yarrow can be infused in oil and used topically or made into a salve with other herbal infusions
• Yarrow can also be used by making a poultice from the fresh leaves applied directly to a wound

Well, that about does it for our list of the top 10 most medicinal and versatile herbs to add to your home apothecary. 

I do hope the information has helped you decide which herbs you would like to add and even which ones you would like to start in your own garden.  If you feel slightly overwhelmed like I do sometimes, wanting to add them all but not super clear on how to use them when to use them, and so on, I would highly recommend reading a previous post on the best herbal books to get you started and then get to know one or two herbs really well and then moving on to another.  

That may help to alleviate some of the feelings of overwhelm.  I am excited for you to begin adding more powerful plants into your life.  They sure are amazing.  As always, I wish you health and wellness, one herb at a time.

Thanks for reading!

Footnotes

1. Felter, Harvey Wickes, and John Uri Lloyd. King’s American Dispensatory. Eighteenth Edition. Third Revision ed.
2. Wood, Matthew. The Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2008. 
3. Herbmentor.learningherbs.com
4. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, Third Edition Hardcover by Dan Bensky, Steven Clavey, Erich Stoger
5. Sauer’s Herbal Cures by William Woys Weaver
6. Mountsinai.org