Most people use herbs to give food a bit of extra taste and flavour. But ethnobotanist James Wong explores their traditional use in helping to treat a range of minor everyday ailments, from cold sores and insect bites to bad breath.

Using lemon balm, he creates a lip salve which might help when cold sores strike. Next, James forages in the fields for plantain, a common weed, which he uses to make a cream to help soothe insect bites and stings. And for those keen to have fresh breath, he shows how to make a spray using thyme.

Cross-country joggers try out James’s bites and stings remedy, and a make-up artist who works in close contact with her clients is keen to find out if James’s thyme breath spray could replace the mints she always carries with her.

And for a beauty treat, James uses peppermint and other common garden herbs to whip up a fragrant homemade body scrub.

Next week, James turns his attentions to roots.

Monday 23 March
8.30-9.00pm BBC TWO