the Witchen Kitchen Beginner Herbal

tammy October 8th, 2007

I have such wonderful childhood memories of playing with Plantain. When certain varieties of the plant are flowering (as they do for most of the summer), the stem can be folded around itself and engineered in such a way that you can pop the flower heads off and send them flying. My cousins, siblings, and I used to run all around the yard during the summer using these mini weapons on each other. It was great fun. In fact, I still do this whenever I get a willing kid to participate with me!

Back then I had no idea that Plantain was also a valuable herbal medicine. Even when I first learned of its medicinal properties, it was some time longer before I understood that what I was reading about was that same old friend from my childhood.

In my reading, it was often referred to as “the Band-aid plant.” I was first introduced to it as a medicine through a wonderful article I found on the internet about the author getting stung by a bee and how she quickly found this plant growing nearby, chewed it up and applied it to the sting, and got instant relief. How she taught her children to find the plant and apply it themselves whenever they got a sting or bug bite…

This and other stories I read stirred a deep yearning in me. A yearning for the simplicity of such a way of life, the self-sufficiency of it, the rightness of it. This was near the beginning of my journey into herbalism, and I became very anxious to find this plant so I could experience it in this way too! I was totally in awe to discover shortly after that this was the very same common weed I had been playing with my whole life, practically a permanent fixture in my little piece of the world. And there it was, still right outside my door growing everywhere in my yard. I needed only step outside and it was free for the taking.

Fascinated, I read all about Plantain and learned many facts about it. I learned that the fresh young leaves can be eaten as a salad green or cooked like spinach, imparting many valuable nutrients. The seeds are used by many as a bulk laxative. The roots can be made into a remedy for a variety of serious illnesses. To give a good idea of the widespread uses and benefits of this plant, go to: http://altnature.com/gallery/plantain.htm

But I must say, no amount of reading and intellectual learning can compare to actually seeing it work before your very eyes.

My little fair skinned grand-daughter was the first person I experimented on. The bugs just love her! They eat her up every time she goes outside. On one rare occasion, when she was just a couple years old, a bee stung her and had her howling in pain. I remembered immediately that Plantain might help, but I wouldn’t really know for sure unless I tried it, so that is what I did. I went right out into the yard and gathered some healthy green Plantain leaves.

I wasn’t quite ready at that early stage of my herbal career to jump full fledged into making spit poultices (yikes!), so instead of chewing it up I used my fingernails to macerate it and squeeze it so that some of its green juice was oozing out. Then I placed the leaves directly on the sting. Within 5 seconds she stopped crying and said it didn’t hurt anymore!! A few minutes later she said it hurt again, so I applied fresh leaves, with the same instant results. After that she went merrily back to playing as if nothing had happened at all. I’ve since used plantain many times for similar situations, and always with the same miraculous results.

Where I live in central Virginia, the plantain is still flourishing out in the yard even this late into Fall. But I know it will soon diminish as cold weather sets in. So, to make sure I have access to some of its healing properties all winter long, I made my first oil infusion of Plantain this summer, and I will soon turn some of that into a healing salve. I’ll use my oil and salve often throughout the winter and beyond for rough dry hands, chapped lips, rashes, abrasions… any sort of skin irritation.

How to make Plantain Oil & Salve

Gather fresh plantain leaves on a sunny day. Choose only unblemished leaves that the bugs have not eaten. You should not wash them, so choose a spot that is unlikely to have been chemically sprayed or visited by the neighborhood dog! It’s important that the leaves NOT be wet, because the extra moisture can encourage the growth of mold in your oil — you don’t want that! Let the leaves sit for a while to wilt a little. This will help to reduce the moisture further.

Tear the leaves into small pieces and fill a glass jar. Fill it well. This takes a lot of leaves, so choose a smaller container if you only have a little. When the container is full, pour extra virgin olive oil over, stir it and pour more, so the container is filled to the very top and leaves are completely covered. Cap tightly and sit in a cool dry location, somewhere that won’t be damaged by oil seeping out (it always seeps out a little). Let sit for at least 6 weeks.

After the six weeks, strain out the herb and then pour the oil back into a fresh clean dry jar. Cap and let sit for a couple of days so any water in the infusion will sink to the bottom. Then carefully pour the oil into yet another clean dry jar, making sure not to get any of the water at the bottom. Cap and store in a cool dry location. Use as needed for external skin ailments.

Ta-da! You have just made an oil infusion!

Salve

To make salve, gently heat some of the oil on very low heat (high heat will damage the oil). Add about 1/4 cup grated beeswax to every cup of oil. Continue to heat gently until beeswax is completely melted. To test the consistency, dip a spoon in the mixture and then put the spoon in the freezer for a couple of minutes to harden the salve. If it is too hard, add some more oil to your mixture; if it is too soft, add some more beeswax. When it is the right consistency, pour into clean dry jars and let cool before capping. Store in a cool dry place.

Where to get supplies

Excellent quality beeswax, olive oil, and a variety of jars are available at Mountain Rose Herbs.

• Food as Medicine , Herbal Remedies , Wild Crafting
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tammy September 26th, 2007

Well my vegetable garden flopped again this year, but the good news is that my herbs are doing wonderfully! They really are soooo easy to grow, and they require virtually no maintenance. I can feel Fall in the air here in central Virginia, so I’ve been trimming back the herbs and harvesting their goodness before they die back for the winter. The last couple of days I’ve been working on the sage. I have tons of it. I don’t want any of it to go to waste, so here are some ways I am preserving it.

Sage Honey

Preserving sage in honey is a delicious and healthful way to enjoy the sage all winter long. When I say it is delicious, I mean so delicious you just might want to sit down with a spoon and an open jar and eat the whole thing! (Don’t really do that… way too much sweet for one sitting!)

Honey itself is highly anti-bacterial and tends to draw moisture to itself. For these properties it is considered an excellent wound remedy — raw honey applied to a wound will keep it moist and free of bacteria and speed its healing — and is also wonderful for healing many ailments of the digestive tract and sore throats. In addition, honey is an excellent source of high quality protein and carbohydrates plus many vitamins. It is an all-around health food that should be consumed regularly in small amounts. When you combine honey with an herb, the honey will draw out the water soluble vitamins of the herb (due to it’s water drawing properties), and also the strongly fragrant and anti-infective volatile oils in the plant. The result is a sweet and delicious medicinal.

To make sage honey start with fresh sage and a small glass container (I used a pint size canning jar, but you can also use recycled jelly jars, etc). Pull off only the unblemished sage leaves from the stem and tear these into smaller pieces and fill your container. Press it down and really fill it — this takes quite a bit of herb to do, so if you only have a little sage, use a smaller container such as a baby food jar. When it is full, pour raw honey over the herb to cover, and then use a chop stick or other utensil to poke around to get the honey all around and under the herb. You will then probably have to pour on more honey to cover the herb again. Fill the container all the way to the top with honey, then cap tightly, put on a label with the name of the herb and the date, and then sit it on a shelf to “brew.”

The honey can be used within the next day or two, but the medicinal properties will increase the longer it sits. Many wise women let their honeys sit for at least six weeks before consuming. You do not need to remove the herb before using. To enjoy, just take out a spoonful of honey and herb, put it in a cup and pour boiling water over it for tea, or take a spoon full at a time like a cough syrup for a sore throat. You can also spread it on toast, or any other way you might use regular honey.

*Note: Do not give honey to children under 1 year. They cannot digest honey well enough to kill potentially harmful spores that are found in all honey. Older children and adults do not have this problem. *

Sage Vinegar

I started making herbal vinegars last year. I have found my vinegars to be wonderful for seasoning dark leafy greens and other vegetables, and as a primary ingredient, along with olive oil, in salad dressings.

Consuming herbal vinegars is really good for your bone health, too. According to Susan Weed, vinegar splashed onto cooked leafy greens increases the amount of bio-available calcium from the greens by one-third. Herbs are chock full of additional minerals that also become readily available to your body when they are infused in vinegar.

To make sage vinegar, start with fresh sage and a glass container. Pull off the unblemished leaves, tear them into smaller pieces, and fill your container. Pour regular apple cider vinegar over (I buy a gallon at a time from the grocery store) and stir to remove air, then pour more to completely cover the herb and fill the container to the very top. Cap tightly with a non-metal top, and put a label with the name of the herb and the date on it. Vinegar eats metal! Do not use a metal top. If all you have is metal, put a plastic baggie over the top of the jar before screwing on the lid. The vinegar is ready to use after six weeks. You can strain out the herb and put it in a nice bottle with a sprig of fresh herb, or you can just keep it in the “brewing” jar.

Dried Sage Tea

A spoonful of dried sage leaves and boiling water will make a lovely tea anytime you want a warm drink. It also has many medicinal properties, which I will go into in a future post.

Different wise women dry herbs in different ways. One way that I like is to pluck off the unblemished leaves and put them in a small brown bag (lunch size). I roll the sides of the bag down to make a little open pouch, label the bag with the name of the herb, and then put the herb in. Every day or two I reach in and stir the leaves around to circulate air and promote even drying.

I like this method because it prevents having a lot of different herb bundles hanging all around the kitchen dropping leaves and debris all over the place. I don’t mind a few herb bundles, but I have limited space, so I would soon have to resort to hanging them from eye hooks in the ceiling if I used that method exclusively! The brown paper sack pouches can be sat anywhere I have room for them, so they make it much easier to live with a lot of drying herbs in the house.

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You can make honeys, vinegars, and teas out of many different herbs in just the same way as you would sage. I plan to also make some of these with my Rosemary and Tarragon. You can experiment freely with just about any culinary herb.

If you haven’t yet grown any sage in your own garden, but want to experiment with it, you can usually buy fresh sage in the produce section of any grocery store. For best results, look for organic. You can also order dried sage at my favorite organic bulk herb resource, Mountain Rose Herbs. Apple cider vinegar is available from any grocery store. For honey, I recommend finding a quality source for raw honey, as the heat processing of most commercial brands destroys many of its healthy benefits. Health food stores usually carry honey in bulk, and there are also several good online sources.

For some more easy ways to experiment with herbs using simple ingredients from the grocery store and/ or your garden, visit www.learningherbs.com and take advantage of some of their free resources.

Well, making my honey, vinegar, and dried tea took care of a lot of my sage harvest, but I still have more! My next post will be about making Sage Smudge Sticks, which are used much like candles or incense in the home…. stay tuned!

• Food as Medicine , Herbal Remedies , Organic Gardening
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tammy September 1st, 2007

Before that trip to the doctor’s office, before seeing those special therapists, before trying some of the stronger herbal remedies to treat that serious problem you may have, there is the every day food you prepare in your kitchen.  This is where good health starts.  Everything else is patchwork.

Culinary herbs are potent additions to your good health arsenal in the kitchen, and is one of the easiest ways to begin experimenting with herbs. 

Some of my favorite common cooking herbs are Rosemary, Thyme, Marjoram, and Basil.  They can all be freely added to recipes in fresh or dried form.  In addition to the wonderful taste, they also are anti-oxidant rich (anti-oxidants prevent cancer and retard signs of aging), cardiac tonics (tones the circulatory system and heart), mild anti-depressant and nerve nourishers, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, natural food preservatives (food containing these herbs, especially meats, will not spoil as fast), and digestive aids.  There are many, many other culinary herbs that have similar beneficial properties, and many of them also contain loads of vitamins and minerals.

Herbs are very easy to grow in your garden or in a pot inside the house.  They are extremely hardy and will grow even in poor soil.  You can pick up a small plant at the nursery in the Spring, and it will flourish over the Summer.  Then you’ll be able to pick the herbs fresh whenever you need them for cooking during the warm months, and you can also preserve them in a variety of ways to use over the winter.  My favorite ways to preserve them is by making herbal vinegars and honeys. 

Now that you have an idea of the wonderful benefits of using these herbs, get in the kitchen and start cooking!  Need some recipes or ideas?  Visit www.magicmealplanner.com.

I’ll be posting more information over the next several weeks on the medicinal properties and specific remedies that can be made from my favorite cooking herbs… stay tuned!

• Food as Medicine
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