What is the secret to cooking delicious, healthy recipes? While your first guess might be fresh produce or organic meats, the first step to tasty, beneficial meals is often having the right spices on hand. Made from flowers, fruits, seeds, barks, leaves and roots, herbs and seasonings have antibacterial and antiviral properties that promote good health while giving your dishes a delicious flavor. Moreover, with options ranging from fennel seeds to dill spices, there are hundreds of exotic spices for sale that can benefit your kitchen. But what are the best spices to buy? Read this list below for some of the healthiest and tastiest suggestions the culinary world has to offer.

Dill
Dill has been used for centuries as a digestive aid: its antibacterial properties help prevent stomach bugs, reduce bloating and help process carbohydrates and proteins. It’s also great on fish, chicken and in potato salads. You can use fresh-picked dill or dill pollen, a potent form of the spice that can be added during the cooking or pickling process.

Rosemary
Many people love the scent rosemary adds to a dish. This is because the phytochemicals in rosemary can help increase your attention levels and decrease fatigue by promoting beta waves in your brain. Rosemary also helps flush out toxins that sap your energy. Try it on grilled meats, but also consider keeping sprigs of the herb around to smell for a quick boost.

Fennel
Fennel has been favored for its culinary and medicinal uses for centuries. The fennel bulb, for example, has high levels of Vitamin C and fiber, while the seeds are often used to make a carminative tea. However, fennel is currently considered one of the best spices to buy because of its interesting, anise-like taste. To try out this spice, buy fennel pollen, an ingredient Tuscan and Italian cooks traditionally use in bread, pesto, salads, roasted meats and fish.

Bay Leaf
Bay leaves have a high concentration of eugenol, a natural anesthetic that can help reduce pain. Because of this, it has been shown to eliminate headaches and migraines. Its woody taste is also great in soups, sauces, stews and pot roasts.

Cayenne
Cayenne contains capsaicin, which can increase your blood flow and metabolism. Some even note that it helps reduce hunger. However, you’re more likely to find cayenne used for its sweet but hot taste, which works well with meat and cheese.

There are a lot of great seasonings that can improve the taste of your recipes while also promoting good health. Because of this, it is almost impossible to definitively decided which are the best spices to buy; instead, different cooks will favor different ingredients for their taste and other properties. The best thing to do is try out a variety of different recipes and play around with some of your old favorites by adding new seasonings. You never know what you might discover. Get more here.