Before “pumpkin spice” became a flavor synonymous with seasonal lattes, cinnamon, cloves, and other warming herbs were valuable medicines used to keep out the cold.
The idea of an herb possessing heat comes from ancient Greek and Chinese healing traditions, where the notion of temperature is one of the basic fundamentals of good medicine. Before the advent of clinical trials, ancient herbalists used their sense of taste to determine the medicinal function of plants. Herbs with sour and bitter tastes were classified as cold, while sweet and spicy flavors signified warmth.
