China Bayles' Book of Days
Page 5
Learn about Scottish herbs:
The Scots Herbal: Plant Lore of Scotland, by Tess Darwin
Ginger . . . is of an heating and digesting qualitie, and is profitable for the stomacke, and effectually opposeth it selfe against all darknesse of sight; answering the qualities and effects of pepper.
—JOHN GERARD, HERBAL, 1597
JANUARY 26
Today is National Australia Day, celebrating the rich cultural diversities of the entire continent.
A Quartet of Australian Herbs
A reader in Australia, Brother Jim Cronly, enjoys the Victorian-Edwardian mysteries that Bill and I write as Robin Paige. Not long ago, he sent us a sampler of Australian herbs, plants that add their unique flavors to Australian foods. I’ve enjoyed experimenting with and learning about these four interesting herbs.
• Wattleseed (Acacia victoriae), roasted and ground, has a complex flavor reminiscent of hazelnut, coffee, and chocolate. For centuries, indigenous peoples ground it into flour staple foodstuff. We combined it with cocoa to make a rich-tasting ice-cream sauce.
• Mountain Pepper (Tasmannia lanceolata) is a small tree found in New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania. The leaves have a smoked, chile-pepper taste, good with chicken and fish; the berries are more fruity and are a nice addition to marinades and soups.
• The bush tomato (Solanum centrale) is a perennial shrub, a relative of the tomato and potato, that grows in the deserts of Central and Eastern Australia. The nutritious dried fruit, which looks like a raisin, has the intense tang of a sun-dried tomato, but with a subtle caramelized taste. The aboriginal tribes of the region call it kampurara; for centuries, they gathered it as a staple food.
• Lemon myrtle (Backhousia citriodora) is a native of the coastal rainforest. The leaves have a strong lemon aroma and taste with eucalyptus overtones. They are often used to flavor poultry and seafood, and make excellent vinegar, mayonnaise, and vinaigrettes. Researchers have found that the oil has antibacterial and antifungal properties that make it more effective than the better known tea tree oil.
WATTLESEED CHOCOLATE SAUCE
2 tablespoons roasted ground wattleseed
2 tablespoons cocoa
cup sugar
1 cup water
½ teaspoon vanilla
In a saucepan, combine the wattleseed, cocoa, and sugar. Add water gradually, stirring until smooth. Add vanilla. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Strain if desired. May be refrigerated for up to a week; reheat in the microwave.
JANUARY 27
More than anything, I must have flowers, always, always.
—CLAUDE MONET
A Floral Calendar
Medieval monks devised a catalogue of herbs and flowers in the form of a calendar, dedicating each day to a particular plant. This calendar was not generally available until William Hone reprinted it in his popular Every Day Book, which was published in weekly installments in 1826. Partly an almanac, the book, as the title page announces, offers a miscellaneous collection of “useful knowledge” for “daily use and diversion.”
COLTSFOOT: WHAT’S IN A NAME?
The herb chosen by the monks for this day is coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara). The common name referred to the shape of its leaves, which looked like the hoof of a horse. (Different people saw it differently and named it assfoot, foalfoot, and bull’s-foot.) The plant flowers in the early spring before the leaves appear, leading some to call it filius ante patrem, or son-before-father.
Other names—coughwort and British tobacco—give a clue to the plant’s traditional medicinal uses. Smoking coltsfoot for the relief of coughs and asthma was recommended by the Greek physician Dioscorides; later, it was mixed with yarrow and rose leaves, as an herbal remedy for asthma. Coltsfoot lozenges were used (like horehound lozenges) as cough drops. The fresh leaves were applied to boils, abscesses and ulcers, and coltsfoot compresses were used to relieve joint pain.
Read more about the floral calendar:
Flora’s Dictionary: The Victorian Language of Herbs and Flowers, by Kathleen Gips (The monks’ calendar is reprinted on pp. 170-177.)
Excellent herbs had our fathers of old—
Excellent herbs to ease their pain—
Alexanders and Marigold,
Eyebright, Orris, and Elecampane.
Basil, Rocket, Valerian, Rue,
(Almost singing themselves they run)
Vervain, Dittany, Call-me-to-you—
Cowslip, Melilot, Rose of the Sun.
Anything green that grew out of the mould
Was an excellent herb to our fathers of old.
—RUDYARD KIPLING, “OUR FATHERS OF OLD”
JANUARY 28
Bright flowers whose home is everywhere
—WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
“Daisies Don’t Tell”
In the monks’ medieval calendar, today was the day to celebrate the daisy (Bellis perennis), which had a wide variety of uses. Daisies don’t tell? The meaning of that phrase probably has something to do with the daisy’s unreliability in forecasting future events.
THE MEDICINAL DAISY
The daisy’s genus name, Bellis (martial or warlike) refers to its use by Roman doctors as a common treatment for battlefield wounds. John Gerard, the sixteenth-century herbalist and author of the first important herbal in English, wrote: “The leaves stamped take away bruises and swellings . . . whereupon it was called in old time Bruisewort,” adding, “The juice of the leaves and rootes snift up into nostrils purgeth the head mightilie, and helpeth the Megrim [migraine].” If daisy snuff didn’t do the trick, one early herbalist advised simply chewing the fresh leaves.
THE DIVINING DAISY
But daisies weren’t just popular medicine. They were also popular for making prophesies. You’ve certainly learned the most famous one: “He loves me, he loves me not.” The last petal decides the question—but its unreliability is unfortunately notorious. You can, however, tell the seasons by the coming of daisies: It’s spring in the English Midlands, people say, when you can put your foot on nine daisies. But be careful: Dreaming of daisies in spring or summer brings good luck; if you dream of them in fall or winter, however, bad luck is on the way.
Read more about daisies:
A Modern Herbal, by Mrs. Grieve (1931)
Let the housewife be skilful in natural physick, for the benefit of her own folk and others: for to have a physician alwaies when there is not very urgent occasion and gret necessity, is not for the profite of the house.
—GERVASE MARKHAM, MAISON RUSTIQUE, OR A COUNTRY
FARME, 1616
JANUARY 29
My usual hair-care regimen is homemade and simple. I concoct my own herbal castile shampoo with aloe, chamomile, and lemon juice, and occasionally I beat up an egg yolk and rub it in after a shampoo. When it gets really dry, almond oil is good. The almond oil treatment usually takes care of dandruff as well, but if it’s a problem, I massage in mint vinegar three or four times a week until it clears up.
—LAVENDER LIES: A CHINA BAYLES MYSTERY
Herbal Hair Care
Herbal shampoos are easy to make, and you can choose the ingredients that are especially suited to your needs, whether your hair is light or dark, oily or dry. You can buy the inexpensive ingredients at a natural foods store. This basic recipe makes about two cups of a no-suds shampoo.
HERBAL SHAMPOO
16 ounces distilled water
2 ounces herbs (see suggestions)
6 ounces liquid castile soap
2 tablespoons aloe
½ teaspoon jojoba oil
½ teaspoon pure essential oil (see suggestions)
Bring the water to a boil. Add herbs, cover, and reduce heat. Simmer 15-20 minutes. Strain and cool. Gradually add the castile soap, mixing gently, then the aloe, jojoba, and essential oil. For easy use, pour into a plastic squeeze bottle. Shake gently before using.
SUGGESTED HERBS:
• For blond hair: 1 ounce
calendula flowers; ½ ounce each of chamomile flowers and comfrey leaf (OR dried orange peel OR 1 tablespoon aloe gel).
• For dark hair: 1 ounce sage leaves; ½ ounce each comfrey leaf (OR rosemary, if your hair is oily) and Irish moss.
• For dry hair: ½ ounce each nettle leaf, marshmallow root, calendula flower (OR substitute elder flowers OR orange blossoms).
• For oily hair: ½ ounce each yarrow leaf and flower, witch hazel bark, rosemary.
• For dandruff: 1 ounce rosemary, 1 ounce thyme. Rinse with cider vinegar.
SUGGESTED ESSENTIAL OILS:
• For normal hair: lavender, clary sage, chamomile
• For oily hair: basil, lemon, patchouli, rosemary, tea tree, witch hazel, ylang-ylang
• For dry hair: myrrh, peppermint, calendula
• For dandruff: clary sage, lavender, lemon, patchouli, rosemary, tea tree, ylang-ylang
Read more about making your own bodycare products:
Earthly Bodies and Heavenly Hair: Natural and Healthy Personal Care for Every Body, by Dina Falconi
JANUARY 30
In the medieval floral calendar, today’s herb is spleenwort.
Spleenwort and the Doctrine of Signatures
Spleenwort (Asplenium scolopendrium) isn’t an herb you’re likely to run into every day. But the monks who compiled the floral calendar thought that today was a good day to celebrate spleenwort (wort is the Anglo-Saxon word for “plant”). I thought I’d use the occasion to tell you about the Doctrine of Signatures, which explains how spleenwort (and other herbs) were named.
THE DOCTRINE OF SIGNATURES
In earlier days, it was believed that plants were “signed” by the Creator with visible clues to the purpose for which they were designed. Red plants could treat the blood, yellow plants would be effective against jaundice, blue-flowered plants could treat a bruise; plants with bloom or fruit shaped like the genital organs promoted fertility. Plants with leaves shaped like the spleen, the liver, or the lungs were thought to be medicinally useful to treat these human organs. This theory, promulgated in Renaissance Europe by Paracelsus (1493-1541) and Jacob Boehme (1575-1624), is also found in Chinese philosophy, in the Qur’an, and in the plant lore of Native Americans. The theory fell into disrepute during the eighteenth century, but many of the plants retained the names they were given.
SPLEENWORT
Spleenwort is a pretty fern that thrives in dry, shady areas. We no longer grow it as a treatment for diseases of the spleen, for which it has no proven efficacy. But we grow herbs for all sorts of reasons: because we like to use them in cooking, crafting, and healing; because they grow comfortably in our gardens; and because they are powerful symbols, conveying meanings through the rich associations of human history.
And sometimes (my personal philosophy here) we grow a plant because it teaches us something. Spleenwort teaches us that appearances can be deceiving and that we can be wrong (sometimes dead wrong) when we try to reconstruct the facts so that they fit our theories. If for that reason alone, I’m glad to grow spleenwort in my garden and to know how it got its curious name.
But please, don’t use it to treat your spleen. It’s not toxic, but it won’t work, and it might keep you from searching for the treatment you need.
Lerne the hygh and marvelous vertue of herbes. Know how inestimable a preservative to the helth of man God hath provyded growying every day at our handes.
—MASTER JHEROM BRUNSWYKE, 1527
JANUARY 31
January is National Candy Month. We can’t let the month end without a few herbal candies!
Herbal Candies
For centuries, herbal hard candies and similar confections had an important medicinal use: to make the herb palatable and to deliver it slowly to the area to be treated—especially important for the mouth and throat. Strong teas were brewed from the herbs, sugar was added to make a syrup, and the syrup was cooked into a candy that could be held in the mouth until it dissolved. Some herbs have a long tradition of this sort of use: horehound, as a treatment for coughs and sore throats; licorice, for mouth ulcers and sore throats; ginger, for upset stomachs; peppermint, for digestive difficulties.
TRADITIONAL RECIPE
1½ cups strong herb tea
4 cups sugar
Mix sugar and tea in large saucepan. Without stirring, heat to 300°F on a candy thermometer or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms hard, brittle threads. Pour onto a greased cookie sheet and let cool. Cut into pieces before it completely hardens. Store in an airtight container.
CONTEMPORARY RECIPE
3 ¾ cups white sugar
1½ cup light corn syrup
1 cup water (or herbal tea)
1 teaspoon flavored extract (peppermint, orange, etc.)
½ teaspoon food coloring (optional)
¼ cup confectioners’ sugar for dusting
In a medium saucepan, stir together the white sugar, corn syrup, and water. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until sugar dissolves, then bring to a boil. Without stirring, heat to 300°F on a candy thermometer or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms hard, brittle threads. Remove from heat and stir in flavored extract and food coloring, if desired. Pour onto a greased cookie sheet, and dust the top with confectioners’ sugar. Let cool, and break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.
Candied horehound is made by boiling down the fresh leaves and adding sugar to the juice thus extracted, and then again boiling the juice till it has become thick enough to pour into little cases made of paper.
—LADY ROSALIND NORTHCOTE, THE BOOK OF HERBS, 1903
FEBRUARY 1
Candlemas Eve.
End now the white-loafe and the pye,
And let all sports with Christmas dye.
Kindle the Christmas Brand, and then
Till sunne-set let it burne,
Which quencht, then lay it up agen,
Till Christmas next returne.
—RICHARD HERRICK
The equinoxes and solstices divide the year into quarters, while other celebrations mark the “cross-quarters.” Today is Imbolc, the first cross-quarter day of the Celtic year, celebrating the goddess Brighid. Other cross-quarter days: Beltane (May 1), Lughnasadh or Lammas (August 1), Samhain (November 1).
Brighid’s Day
Brighid (Bridget) is the Celtic goddess of poetry, healing, and metal crafting. Traditionally, hers was a feast of purification and new beginnings. Candles were lit on this night and on the following day, then saved to light the next year’s Yule log.
Ruby Wilcox celebrates Brighid’s Day by making a special herbal candle for this purpose, which she ceremoniously lights on Candlemas Eve. Here are the supplies you’ll need to make your own.
BRIGHID’S CANDLE
a pillar candle
votive candles in the same color as the pillar candle
empty, clean metal can
pan
small paintbrush
several kinds of dried and fresh herbs and flowers:
leaves of bay, sage, fern, rue, thyme, germander,
boxwood, costmary
blossoms of violets, lavender, pot marjoram, chive,
hyssop, tansy, feverfew
seeds of dill, coriander, fennel
essential oil to scent the candle
ice pick or similar sharp-pointed tool
Melt votive candles in the metal can, placed in the pan of water over low heat. Lay out the herbs and plant material you’re going to use, either randomly or in a pattern. Use the paintbrush to dot melted wax onto the pillar candle where you want to apply an herb. Place the herb or flower on the wax and hold until fixed. Brush a thin layer of wax over the plant material. Continue this process until you like what you see. Brush a thin layer of wax over the pillar candle to cover and seal the herbal material. To scent your candle, heat the ice pick and drill five holes around the wick. Drop 2-3 drops of essential oil into each hole.
Read more
about making candles:
The Big Book of Candles: Over 40 Step-by-Step Candle-making Projects, by Sue Heaser
Creative Candles, by Chantal Truber
FEBRUARY 2
Today is Candlemas Day.
If Candlemas day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight;
But if Candlemas day be clouds and rain,
Winter is gone, and will not come again.
—TRADITIONAL ENGLISH WEATHER RHYME
Blessed Beginnings
The Catholic Church assimilated the pagan purification festival by linking it to the purification of the Virgin after the birth of Christ, “the light that brightens the darkness.” Worshippers brought their year’s supply of candles to the church to be blessed by the priest in a special Candle-Mass.