Summer Fruit Cordials

By Tina Sams, The Essential Herbal Magazine www.essentialherbal.com

In my kitchen, you'll see a row of jars filled with various fruits that have ripened during the past summer, just waiting for me to turn them into cordials.  In the recipes below, you'll see that you don't need to steep the fruits for months on end, but I do it this way and have a cordial making spree when time allows in the late fall.

 

 Making cordials is a great way to have a little taste of summer in the winter, a little sweetness after dinner, and they make a superb gift over the holidays.  Besides the fruits, you can add different herbs and spices.  Ginger is one of my favorites to add, as well as vanilla.

There are three main steps to making cordials.

Steeping - in this step, the ingredients are steeped in the alcohol (usually vodka or brandy, but you can try anything you like).

Sweetening - typically a sugar syrup is used, but maple syrup is a great substitute.  Honey can also be used.

Aging - The flavors all improve tremendously with age.  Generally 2 to 4 weeks is good.  I like to leave mine a lot longer, if possible.

More than anything (here comes my mantra...) have fun with them and try the things that you like.  You might come up with the world's most delicious cordial all on your own. 

Here are some recipes to get you going:

Wild Blackberry Cordial- Christy Sarles (radicalweeds.com)

Pick enough berries to fill a clean glass jar in the size of your choice at least a third, and up to a half, full. I use about two quarts of berries for a gallon of cordial. If those lovely wild blackberries don't grow in your neighborhood, you can substitute raspberries or blueberries. The little wild blueberries will give your cordial a more intense flavor than the larger cultivated ones, but either way blueberries are relatively tough-skinned and you will need to macerate them - crush or grind coarsely - before adding the other ingredients.

Fill the jar to the top with equal parts of maple syrup and brandy. I usually use E&J brandy, but any decent variety of 80 proof brandy will do fine. As for the maple syrup, I like the dark, late-season Grade B syrup because it has the strongest maple taste and contains more minerals than the three lighter Grade A syrups produced earlier in the sugaring season. You can use whatever grade of maple syrup you prefer, but please make it real. Don't use the artificial stuff!!

Put the cover on the jar and shake to mix. Label, date, and leave the fruit to infuse for at least 10 days, and up to 6 weeks. Shake occasionally when you think of it. Strain out the fruit (marvelous over ice cream) and decant the cordial into glass jars or bottles. Keeps for years without refrigeration - but I guarantee it won't last that long!

Peach Cordial

 Cut unpeeled peaches in quarters, and add them to a wide-mouth glass jar. Pits optional. Fill the the jar with brandy, to cover the fruit. (I use E&J brandy, which has no preservatives,although as a child of the 60s it still galls me to buy Gallo...). Anyway, let it sit, shaking it up occasionally, until the peaches lose their color and start looking mushy. Then, depending on where you are in the season, you can either proceed to the sweetening stage or strain and pour the brandy over a new batch of fresh peaches (and pits) for a more intense peach flavor.

When you're ready to sweeten and bottle, strain out the fruit and add the ginger syrup -- a quart per gallon, or more to taste. Start with a basic simple syrup recipe -- 2 parts water to 1 part sugar (demerara is my preference). Add sliced, unpeeled ginger to taste. I like it HOT, so I use LOTS of fresh ginger -- at the very least a cup.

Simmer/boil for 15 minutes or so til it thickens up, let it cool with the ginger in it, then strain and add to the peach brandy. Decant to smaller bottles as needed.

Pear Cordial

 

Use the basic fruit/brandy/maple syrup cordial recipe with either peaches or pears (or any other fruit), using 1/2 fruit and the rest equal portions of brandy and maple syrup -- or more or less of either one depending on how sweet you like it. I always look out at yard sales for pretty little bottles to fill up with summer cordials for winter solstice gifts -- a little bit of midsummer in midwinter!

Kahlua Recipe, Susanna Reppert (therosemaryhouse.com)

 

2 C water

2 C sugar

1/2 C dry instant coffee (a dark roast is best)

1 fresh vanilla bean, chopped

1-1/2 C vodka

Slice open and scrape the vanilla bean into the water. The more you scrape/chop the bean the more flavor you will release. Boil the water, sugar and vanilla bean together for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and slowly add the instant coffee and keep stirring.

Allow to cool and combine this sugar/coffee/vanilla syrup with the vodka. It tastes yummy right away but improves and mellows as it ages. If you want a cleaner product strain out the vanilla particles. If you want an even smoother taste add 1 t glycerin to the finished blend. Yield: about 4 cups.

Tip: Drizzle over ice cream. Oh my goodness....

Tea Liqueur, Susanna Reppert

1 T good quality tea leaves, we like earl grey or darjeeling

1 ½ C vodka

½ C sugar syrup

Steep the leaves in the vodka for 24 hours only.

Strain, filter, and add sugar syrup. Ready in 24 hours!

It’s Berry Good, Susanna Reppert

 10 oz package of berries, strawberry, raspberry or any berry (fresh or frozen)

1 ½ C Vodka

¼ C sugar syrup

Steep berries and the juice in the vodka for one week.

Strain and filter.

Taste and add sugar syrup as needed.

Note: Many frozen berries are pre-sugared.

And some of my own personal favorites:

Elderberry Cordial 

 

1pint fresh elderberries OR 1 cup dried berries

1 pint 80 proof brandy

1 pint Maple syrup

3-5 cinnamon sticks

a few slices of fresh ginger

2 cardamom pods

the zest of one lemon

Put elderberries in a quart jar & muddle well.  Add cinnamon sticks.  Then add equal parts brandy & maple syrup until the jar is full.  Cover tightly.  Macerate for 6 to 8 weeks, shaking gently every few days.  Strain & bottle.

Chocolate Cherry Cordial

 

2 pints pitted sour cherries

1/2 cup cacao nibs

1 vanilla bean

1 qt brandy

1 qt maple syrup

Muddle cherries in 1/2 gallon wide-mouth jar. Add cacao chips, brandy & maple syrup.  Stir well.  Put on the lid and wait.  This needs to age for 6 weeks.

Nectar of Venus Cordial

 

This beverage needs to be made up early in January for use mid- February, but it will be worthwhile. The flowers give it a beautiful deep pink color, and can be served with ginger ale and lime slices.

The following ingredients should be placed in a ½ gallon jar with a tight fitting lid that allows for shaking. Be sure to label and date the jar. Put out of sunlight while it sits for 1-6 weeks. Shake occasionally. All herbs and flowers are dry.

1 fifth of good quality vodka
½ c red rose petals

½ c hibiscus flowers
½ c rose hips

½ c spearmint
¼ c granulated orange peel

¼ c cinnamon bark chips

After sitting this mixture is ready to decant. Strain through fine cheesecloth or muslin into a pitcher large enough to also hold the additional 5 cups of Grand Marnier and simple syrup (below).

1 c Grand Marnier

4 c simple syrup made from 2 c water, 2 c sugar.

1 T either rose water or orange blossom water.

Add these ingredients to the vodka mixture and blend well. Allow this to rest for a couple of weeks so that the flavors can become well acquainted. Pour into beautiful bottles, cork, label, and enjoy.

Lavender Limoncello

 

Zest from 10 lemons

1 fifth vodka

1 cup lavender buds

3 cups sugar

4 cups water

First infuse the lavender in the vodka for 24 hours.  Strain.  If you leave the lavender longer, it gets too medicinal for my tastes.

Next, infuse the lemon zest in the vodka for one week, and strain.

Make a simple syrup with the sugar and water, boiling gently for 15 minutes without stirring.  Cool well, and add the infused vodka.  Allow this mixture to steep together for at least 2 weeks.  Serve ice cold.

Substitute rose geranium leaves for lavender buds for a real treat!

At this time of year, you can have some fun with the herbs and fruits available.  I hope you got some ideas from these recipes!

Advice from a New Herbie

As many of you know I have begun working with my mother and aunt in their businesses. It is a constant learning experience that I am grateful for and I am thankful that it there will always be something new around the corner.

I still consider myself a novice when it comes to all things herbal but I thought that my advice might inspire, encourage, maybe even advise others or at least give you a chuckle.

1.     Always, always, always wear garden gloves.

A well-worn pair of garden gloves.

I know some people are probably rolling their eyes because you can’t truly feel the dirt or the plants as they grow – or you may just think I am a wuss but I do have my reasons.

The obvious reason for wearing gardening gloves is to keep your hands clean. Before I had made a decision about purchasing garden gloves my aunt had told me a story of when she had unknowingly picked up a dead bird while weeding. I had gardening gloves by the end of the day.

I also prefer to wear gloves when working outside because it keeps all of the nettles, prickers, or anything else lurking in your garden beds from stinging. After enough childhood flashbacks of tearing into a jewelweed plant after stepping on nettles or hurriedly gnawing on plantain before slapping it on a mosquito bite, I knew it would be best to take a preventative step and just get the gloves.

And the great thing about gardening gloves is that you can take them off. Want to pinch mint leaves between your fingers? Take your gloves off. Want to feel your tomatoes’ firmness or harvest that pepper? Go ahead and take your gloves off. You can always put them back on when heavy duty planting or weeding is necessary.

2.     Prepare to have personal vendettas against woodland creatures.

Let me start this off with just saying Disney lied to all of us. Woodland creatures won’t help you clean your house or make a dress, they will only eat your entire tulsi crop or the five cherries your tree miraculously grew that year.

And they won’t stop.  Before I had begun studying herbs and gardening, I thought my family was a bit extreme about their gardening practices (see the blueberry cage). But now I understand.

So go ahead and put up the chicken wire around your veggies. Or grow companion plants to keep the insects from munching on your beloved herbs. Grow rue if you must. Whatever you can do to keep your garden growing, because that adorable bunny over there is only thinking about one thing, “I’m so going to eat that entire holy basil plant when you leave.” And it will. It’s a ruthless eating machine.

3.     Weed obsessively.

Now I’m not saying you should weed in the middle of the night if you can’t sleep (it would be nice and cool though) but if it’s a nice day out take some time to clean up one section of your garden. Whenever Mom and I do this we end up getting way more done than what we thought we would do and it always ends up looking amazing.

If your schedule is too busy for even that, simply weed around the plants you're harvesting to make dinner that night. If you make a variety of dishes that week, before you know it your garden will look much better on Friday than it did on Monday.

Don’t be afraid to recruit people as well. Do you have a friend who wants to start gardening but is scared to? Ask them to come over to your house once a week to help you garden. Offer advice and talk them through your garden. They’ll have hands on experience to start and you’ll have a well-weeded garden!

Well, that’s what I have to offer for now. Hopefully it will encourage you try that new recipe you’ve been eyeing on Pinterest, weed away all the clutter in your garden, or harvest all the herbs you can before winter hits!

Interesting theory, but...

There are several generally interesting and loosely held theories among herbalists.  One is the Doctrine of Signatures, in which plants resemble in some way the part of the body or organ for which they will be most helpful.  A quick example would be a walnut which, when cracked open resembles the brain and contains brain nourishing oil and nutrients.

Another theory has to do with the plants that show up of their own volition, seemingly seeking you out.  I attempted to find a name for this theory, but when one Googles, "when herbs show up on their own," it is all about drug testing, so that was no help at all.
I first heard about this during a conference over 20 years ago and truly wish I could remember the herbalist who gave the talk.  She had a serious disease and when poke weed grew ever closer to her door, she decided to try using it - with great success.

Over the years I've been involved in many discussions about how this works, if it works, etc.  Basically, we know plants have intelligence, but what other things influence the travel of herb plants?  Animals, birds, and weather are just a few.  I currently have poke weed trying to get IN my door, but at the same time raspberries, jewelweed, and poison ivy are fighting over the cellar window, so it's confusing.

In any case, there are hundreds of plants growing within 500 feet of my door.  Many I have invited or kidnapped, while even more wander in on their own.  Having been a field two decades ago, the native population isn't going anywhere either.

But here's the thing I notice; we are being inundated with relaxing, mood-elevating, nervine herbs.  Some were planted, some are wild, and most importantly they are all thriving.  The chamomile is a little of both, since a few plants were rescued from a construction site and have stretched and spread.

 The mimosa that sprouted in the middle of the back yard was a complete surprise.  The holy basil has resown itself, and the CA poppy was my own doing.  St Johns wort came up in two different places.

The passionflower started as a tiny sprig that I was sure had been too long ignored in the pot, and now it threatens to bully out several other cherished plants.  Motherwort lines one of the paths to my sister's house.

My generous neighbor has gone organic with oats and red clover.  I've never been able to grow borage since the bunnies seem to adore it.  This year Stephany Hoffelt talked about how the flower tincture is her go-to for alleviating sadness, and whammo!  My borage has sprawled all over the place as I gather the flowers daily.

This concerns me a little bit.  I'm really a pretty happy-go-lucky person.  Things have to be really bad or stressful to get to me.  In fact, as I dutifully dry or tincture these wonderful gifts, it is with a fair degree of certainty (and optimism) that I will not be using them, but instead they will go to others.
I know that because it is nearly impossible for me to stay awake past 11 pm, life is good, and I much prefer days that include a cat nap.  You can't just ignore good medicine, though.  Even if it is in smallish quantities, it must be harvested - just in case.

These kind of things would have been far more helpful when life was more like a roller-coaster.  Oh... I get it!  Maybe they are here for the younger folks living here!  Yes.  Let's go with that.

Monarda - It's About Time! TEH May/June '13

Monarda – It’s About Time!

 Jackie Johnson ND

 Editor:  The Wisconsin Herbalist

 www.thewisconsinherbalist.com

Monarda seems to be getting more attention this year.  As a 2013 Notable Native Plant, the Herb Society of America has brought it front and center as valuable North American Native.  For those of us who have respected and used it for years, it’s about time.  Not only is this a lovely plant, but  a versatile one as well.

Which is the lavender one; which is the red one are common questions? The red one, didyma and the lavender one, fistulosa are the most common among the seventeen species, fifty cultivars and countless wild hybrids referred to as Monarda.  The colors change slightly from region to region as well.  Our fistulosas are definitely lavender.  Others seem more pinkish.

You may recognize it by its more common names:  Bergamot, Bee Balm¸ Wild Bergamot, Oswego Tea or Wild Oregano.

This North American native is a member of the mint family, so beware, they are known to be non-invasively challenged if conditions are perfect.  Those “perfect” conditions, however, are quite common – they prefer sun but semi-shade is ok too.  They like nutrient rich well drained soil everyone talks about, but few of us outside of botanical gardens actually have.  I can attest to Monarda thriving in compacted clay soil, just by looking outside.

The origin of the name Monarda is interesting.  A physician/botanist from Seville Spain, Dr. Nicolas Monardes (1493-1588), who incidentally never set foot in North America, named it after himself.  He authored one of the first books on the flora from the “new world”, but only after they were brought across the ocean for him to study in Spain.  It is said he thought the crushed leaves smelled much like the citrus fruit Bergamot (as in Earl Grey tea), and thus its most common name.

Monarda fistulosa is native to the Oswego New York area (western NY/Lake Ontario region) but can be found across most of North America (except, I'm told in California, Florida and Alaska).  Native M. didyma is more an eastern/central North American plant.  If you’re a zone person – think Zones 3 to 9.

Being a mint, it has a square stem and opposite leaves.  It can grow as tall as five feet, but most are around two to three feet.  The flowers are in bloom from June to September.

Propagation is best by root division in the early spring.  Most people who have them are happy to part with a few clumps!  Stem cuttings are also possible when the stems are about four to five inches tall.   My first clump came from the ditch down the road.  I was caught without my usual “truck trowel”, and dug with my fingers and opps, it came out with only a couple small roots.  That single plant with barely any roots spread to at least 1,000 plants over the years…..so they are easy starters.

Only the true species will grow from seed.  Germination is easy and takes from ten to forty days.  When the flowers turn brown, collect them for seed.  Seeds should be stratified before planting.  Stratification means mimicking the conditions the seed would encounter in nature.  In my case, this means a cold moist winter.  I usually collect them and store them in the refrigerator over winter – tagged with “MONARDA SEEDS - DO NOT EAT”.

You can test seed viability (of any seed) by placing 10 seeds in a wet paper towel and placing in a plastic baggie (not zipped closed but keeping it moist).  Check it every couple of days.  If 5 seeds sprout, your viability is 50%, eight means 80%, etc.  (Do this after you’ve stratified them.)  If none of your Monarda seeds sprout, you may have a sterile hybrid, or bad seed.  Doing this can save a lot of disappointment later.

To keep your Monardas healthy, clumps should be divided every three to five years.  Left in the wild, they move around by themselves.

Monardas attract bees, hummingbirds and butterflies.  Due to the tubular structure of the flower, bees sometimes have difficulty, but nature provides, and insects leave tiny holes for this purpose.

The native species are prone to powdery mildew.   Harvesting the leaves just before the flowers open is optimal, and younger leaves are more desirable.  Older leaves seem to taste more bitter, but drying seems to help with this. The flowers should be harvested in full bloom and before the mildew sets in.

Personally I think the red ones taste better and I use them as both a tea and sprinkle the petals in summer salads. In my experiences, the lavender ones seem to be more medicinally beneficial (but also good in tea and salads).

A Monarda claim to fame was its use as a tea substitute after the Boston Tea Party tea toss!   In the language of flowers, it symbolizes compassion and sympathy.

Culinary uses:   Leaves in lemonade, jams, jellies, meat flavorings.  I love to infuse the leaves and flowers in apple cider or champagne vinegar and use as a marinade for venison.

Historical medicinal uses:  Since there are several Monardas throughout North America, tribes incorporated it into daily living in different ways.  Some of their uses included:  colds, flu, upper respiratory, gas, diarrhea, nausea, fevers, and whooping cough.  Plains tribes poulticed boiled leaves for fungal infections.  Colds and chills were helped with a warm cup of tea; infusions were used for sore throats and externally as wound washes.  The mashed plant was placed on the forehead for headaches.  The leaves and flowers were rubbed on the body as an insect repellent; and externally the boiled leaves were used for muscle spasms.

 

It can be infused in honey for sore throats.  A steam was used to clear sinus.  It is delicious in oxymels and elixirs.

 

I work for the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin.  In our natural food store, Tsyunhehkw (meaning Life Sustenance, and pronounced “chan heck wa”) Monarda is a staple and has been referred to as #6 for as long as I can remember.  It is harvested in July, dried and put in the store for use as a tea for upper respiratory problems.

 

This is one plant you should harvest yourself; very few places offer it for sale.

 

Other uses:   Dried flowers retain their color and can be used in dried arrangements, craft projects, and in potpourri.

 

Herbal energetics of the plant are stimulating, spicy and diffusive.

     Properties that have been associated with Monarda in the past:  Stimulant, Digestive, Diaphoretic, Carminative, Diuretic, Expectorant, Anti-microbial, Anti-spasmodic, Emmenagogue, Anti-Fungal

     Active Constituents:   Thymol – a strong antiseptic found in Thyme and often used in mouthwashes – although much of it is a synthetic now.  M. punctata  (Horsemint – more common in Eastern United States)  is said to have more thymol than thyme. 

      Research:        I located very little current research.   One source offered that it may inhibit herpes simplex.  Another stated there were 30,000 parts per million of the anti-oxidant that may prevent tooth decay, geraniol – even more than in green tea.

      Use for Animals:      I’ve used infusions for skin problems on my horses.  It also seems to be a fair flea repellent on dogs.  And neither the dogs nor the horses seemed to mind me using it on them.

       I hope you have wild Monarda living around you.  Remember only harvest what you know for certain has not been contaminated with chemicals, and leave enough to enable it to sustain itself and you for the years ahead.

       Since it’s a mint, you’ll want to dry it as quickly as possible and store in air tight glass containers.   A quick, easy and inexpensive way to dry herbs is to put them loosely in brown paper bags, mark the bag, put it in the backseat of your car and park in the sun.  It dries usually in one hot day and your car will smell great!

 

Have fun with your Monarda this summer!

A Train of Thought

I took a handful of days off recently.  Completely.  By that, I mean no computer, no smart phone. Not even a camera.  It included about 8 hours of travel by train.  The vacation itself was delicious, but the aspect that I want to talk about is that disconnection.  It was the first time in 4 or 5 years that I've been "out of touch" and it was wonderful.  It seems that all that connection to everyone stunts my thought process. 
Do you ever say to yourself, "oh!  that's a great update!" or "I've been scrolling for hours?"  Or when something happens, find yourself wondering what others are saying about it before fully coming to your own opinion?  I do.
During the course of a couple large writing projects over the winter, it became apparent that the internet is an escape.  It stops thought and zones one out.  It is necessary for business, but at the same time, there needs to be a limit.  As one of the few people left in the world (it seems) without a phone that acts as a computer, people expect instant answers, and I'm not certain, but it also seems that writing an email late at night is akin to calling someone in the middle of the night these days, since they are all set to notify the recipient. 
I really needed a break.

Sitting on the train, I was glued to the large window beside me. 
People who live near train tracks usually stop noticing the trains at some point, or at least stop noting that they are filled with people.  Most of my fellow travelers were engaged in conversation, or had pulled out electronic devices, so not everyone looks out the window, but there's a lot out there.  As someone who spontaneously makes up a story about every vignette I see, it was a busy, busy ride.  Why was that one man on a loading dock the only person visible along a block long factory?  Were all those kids in the backyard pool having a birthday party?  Why are all the work horses in the meadow today?  Is it too hot for them to work?  In the cities, people toss bags of trash right over the edge of their yards onto the tracks.  Is it ever picked up?  Do they get fined?  In the poor sections of town, how many people in the country don't know that kind of poverty exists?  Would they care?  That little boy riding his bike along the other track... do his parents know he does that?

On and on we ride.  I notice that the coarse gravel that lines the tracks and the embankments is filled with the glitter of broken glass.  It is that way in the cities and in the countryside, so I think maybe it comes from landfills. 
We stop in a town called Lindenwold.  I look everywhere, but there are no linden trees.

Eventually I start noting the plants as they fly by.  Close to the tracks they are probably sprayed, but I can see further back.  Close to the ocean, it is swamp grasses with shore birds of all kinds.  There are many bayberry shrubs, and I imagine that the birds eat the berries in winter.  Various sumacs and junipers become prevalent as we move inland, and over the last few days the pink mimosa blossoms have opened.  Salsify seedheads are everywhere, and when we stop at a small station, to my delight, a single parachute-like seed plays on the wind currents outside my window.  Bittersweet climbs everywhere and paulonia trees with their giant leaves line the banks.  Japanese knotweed is beginning to bloom in profusion.  Yellow mullein flower spikes are abundant, along with yarrow, juniper, daylily, bamboo, pine, toad flax and sweet fern.  In another week, drifts of jewelweed will be in bloom.  I wonder if it will be yellow or orange.

And then there is the milkweed.  Glorious, ready-to-bloom milkweed is everywhere!  I see it close to the tracks, and way off in the distance.  The deep pink flower buds are just about to pop, giving nourishment and a ready nursery to the monarch migration.

And there are wild roses.  Elderblossoms dot the landscape, growing low and wide in great numbers. 

At some point, I got bored.  Writing was difficult with the swaying and rocking of the train.  In my mind, I rewrote the lyrics to "City of New Orleans" popularized by Arlo Guthrie.  "Riding on the City of Atlantic, changing cars in Phil-a-del-phi-ay... Halfway home, we'll be there by evening...We'll be gone 300 miles til the day is done."  It wasn't great, but it amused me.  I got stuck at, "pass the paper bag that holds the ... soft pretzel?"

And I liked getting bored.  It made me think.

Then I got home and checked emails, saving them until I feel like I'm back.  I ran outside with a berry basket and picked a pint of blueberries just before lightning cracked nearby.  The router went out for a while on the computer.  The clocks stopped.  I must remember to disconnect more often.

Jul/Aug '14 issue of The Essential Herbal

 Subscribers are starting to receive their copies in the mail and the pdf subscribers got theirs on the 20th, so it's time to share the table of contents here on the blog.  It's a terrific issue, and we have plenty left.  To subscribe, visit The Essential Herbal website!

 

Field Notes

Some thoughts on sharing gardens with neighbors.

Black Strap Syrups, Adrian White

An interesting, little-used method to make syrups that are filled with vitamins and minerals.

Herbal Beverage Syrups, Stephany Hoffelt

Preserve the herbs and flowers so that you can drink them for months to come.

Oh Cover; My Cover: The “Skinny” on Herbs, Suzan Scholl

For such a large organ, we don’t think about our skin nearly enough.

Herb Crafts, Heddy Johannesen

A delightful mélange of crafts that will be fun to play with during the last months of summer.

Crossword Puzzle—Around the Garden, Tina Sams

A little something light to work in the hammock.

Mediterranean Diet—You Still Have Time to Garden for It, Jackie Johnson

A guide to one of the healthiest eating plans on the planet.

Rose Rosette, Jamie Jackson

Are your roses doing okay? Be on the look-out for Rosette.

Preserving Culinary Herbs, Sandy Michelsen

Several delicious methods of keeping the herbs that will empower you to savor and use them all year long—and plant even more next year.

Soap Connections, Marci Tsohonis

Marci shares some of the things she’s learned from years of soaping.

Elders & Herbs: Simple Skin Care from the Kitchen and Garden, Janice Masters

Some simple and nourishing kitchen skin soothers to use topically and as food.

Trial by Herbs, Molly Sams

After a life time of watching from the sidelines, it’s time to step up to the plate.

Roots to Dye For, Marita Orr

Natural dying can be very fulfilling and the roots are just about ready!

What is an Herbal Meat Rub? Marcy Lautanen-Raleigh

Wet or dry? What goes into them? Why? Well, Marcy will tell us and add a couple recipes as well!

Garden Highlights in Pictures

There will be several quarts of black raspberries!

Maybe this year the borage will reseed - like we hear others speak of.

An annual (here) milkweed for the butterflies.

Comfrey almost finished blooming.

First daylily.

Echinacea budding

elderberries forming

frilly henbit blooms above the chickweed and speedwell

horehound blooming

hyssop blooms are well loved by the bees (as are all of the blossoms in the garden)

jewelweed growing around the porch

lavender spikes are coloring up

we can't eat the nasturtium flowers fast enough

rose campion has been in every one of my gardens for the last 30 years

last year there was no St John's wort, but this year it is everywhere

In search of the perfect chicken salad

contributed by Molly Sams

Over the past couple weeks I have been craving chicken salad. While there are plenty of restaurants with good chicken salad, I have yet to find one that had everything I wanted. Some had cranberries but no walnuts, while others had walnuts but no spice. There was always something missing.

I first had chicken salad while I was away at college. During one of my study sessions at a local coffee shop, I decided to try something new. I was shocked when I found out the chicken salad I thought was only made in diners for the early bird special could actually be incredibly delicious. Since then I’ve been determined to find it again.

So Mom took on the task to make the perfect chicken salad. During one of the days I was away at class, she painstakingly prepared a chicken salad that had everything from cashews to cranberries, even nasturtium.

She succeeded.

And I had to share the greatness.

First you start with:

1 large chicken breast

1 C of water

1 sprig of rosemary

1 sprig of time

Roast for one hour.

Once the chicken is done roasting mix the cooled, cubed chicken with:

¼ C craisuns

2 ribs of celery, chopped

¼ C of sweet onion chopped

½ C of salted cashew pieces

1 hardboiled egg

After that it is time to add the herbs!

2 nasturtium blossoms

3 lemon verbena leaves

¼ c parsley

2 sprigs of thyme

1 small sprig of rosemary

1 chive blossom

Chop all fine and then mix well into the chicken salad and add one cup of mayo.

Afterward you should let chill in the fridge, buy some fantastic buns or even croissants and enjoy!

Sale - This week only!

Get your warm weather reading lined up. This week only, enter promo code SUMMER and receive 30% off all downloadable items (books, back issues, and classes). Excludes pdf subscriptions.
5/24/14 through 5/31/14
www.essentialherbal.com

All of our listed back issues and the following titles:
Wild Foods for Every Table
An Elder Gathering
Balms & Salves - How to and Recipes
Perfect Potpourri and Scented Crafts
Making and Using Herbal Vinegars
Blending Herbal Teas
Fairy Home Companion
Herbal Soaps from Scratch
Under the Sun
By the Hearth
and
the soap and balms and salves classes (may take a long time to upload, depending on your connection).

Be sure to look around while you're on the website.  We've got some great herbal supplies and gifts.

Wild Food Trends

I've been pondering this post for a few days after a conversation with friends, but this morning I saw a photo of 4 men with 3 wheelbarrows and a trash can filled with morel mushrooms, and it pushed me over the top.  I read that the mushrooms bring $50/pound in upscale natural groceries, and looking at the picture it was pretty clear the men were harvesting money, not food.
The other day I was reading about someone stumbling across a patch of ramps and harvesting most of the bulbs.

baby ramps emerging in spring

Having spent the last 20 years encouraging people to eat the wild fruits and vegetables around them, I have some very mixed feelings.  On the one hand, when wild eats get mainstream recognition it can raise awareness and stoke an interest in learning more.  On the other hand, it can create a trend if the food is considered 'upscale' or rare, sending people into the woods in search of gold with no regard to the delicate environment in which they grow.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if foods like dandelion, chickweed, and lambsquarters became all the rage?  What if the coolest restaurants decided to start serving purslane in a signature dish with a side of steamed stinging nettles and a dollop of ghee?  Maybe an amazing seafood sauce created from the rampant garlic mustard and wild onions?  Why do we only want that which we can destroy?

wild onions are everywhere

I know that I am very fortunate to have access to just the right kind of land to be able to grow all of the trendy wild vegetables.  We were gifted with a few shovels full of ramps several years ago, and they've spread beautifully.  We still only harvest the leaves, allowing the plants lots of time to get themselves situated.  Perhaps we'll never take the bulbs.
The only time I've ever found morels, there were fewer than a dozen, so we left them to spread.  I love all kinds of mushrooms, so can probably survive if I don't ever taste that specific variety.

To my way of thinking, learning about wild foods is sort of the opposite of what happens when an uncommon, short-seasoned delicacy becomes popular.
Instead of creating a pinpoint market for one or two vulnerable plants, why aren't we getting more to the point and enjoying all of the weeds rather than poisoning them in order to grow more soybeans and corn?  Why are we taking the quinoa from the people who have grown and lived on it for centuries when we have lambsquarters with very similar seeds growing wild and free here?
Marketing.  That's why.

young lambsquarters - YUM!

So while my personal social media feeds are filled with all sorts of delicious, nutritious, gorgeous wild food dishes - dandelion cakes, violet jelly, mashed burdock root, etc. - these things aren't getting the same adoring marketing from the media or the chefs that could be making a difference.  Wouldn't it be great to eat at a restaurant that focused on wild vegetables and fruits?  Now there's a trend I could get behind!  Imagine the appetizers, soups, salads, main courses and desserts that they could come up with while keeping costs low.  Imagine it.  Each week in the spring, summer, and fall the menu would reflect the growing season in that region.  In winter, they would serve what was preserved from that season, just as our ancestors did.

It's free food.  Is that the problem?  That it doesn't cost enough?  Whether you believe in climate change or not (and by now, that's sort of a silly question), learning to find nourishment around you is pretty important.  With the droughts that have hit the major food producing states in the last couple of years, we would all do well to look around, learn what is edible, and start trying it on the table.

Just as herbs belong to all of us, so do wild foods.  When an artificial need is created for just a few, they are taken out of the wild food realm, separated from that which wild food educators have been working for years to accomplish.  It doesn't make people more interested in investigating the plants around them, only serves to somehow rarify a few special plants.  Like truffles or ginseng, we create these crushing markets.

violet flowers and leaves are delicious and beautiful in salads, etc.

So... yes, that's a rant, I suppose.  Do me a favor.  Eat a violet today.  While you're weeding the garden, set aside a couple wild onions and use them in dinner tonight.  Saute some garlic mustard with a scrambled egg.  Just do it.

Herbalism and YOU

The terminology and dogma of herbalism are ever-changing.  I know I've mentioned this before, but when we started out several decades ago, there were relatively few people who were referred to as herbalists.  Everyone else considered themselves to be enthusiasts or as just being "into" herbs.  Now it has changed, and that's okay.  You're an herbalist, you're an herbalist, everybody's an herbalist!  In some dictionaries, the term is defined as one who studies herbs - so it's all good, and since there is really no legal definition in the US, it doesn't make a lick of difference.

Then there are the (apparent) rules.  There are many new ones, many of which are driven by the vastness of the internet and the many, many voices.  Some of those voices are harsh, critical, and exclusionary though, and that is a shame.  In some ways I suppose it's a good thing to have some homogenization of information, but in other ways it tamps down the creativity and freedom with which we approach the plant world.  However, when there weren't a million herbalists, there wasn't so much jostling to reach the top rung of the imaginary ladder.  That is creating a much less welcoming environment for those just starting to look around.  I'm not sure we would have been able to navigate all of this back when we first started.  We might have given up.

There are hundreds of different levels of herbalism, and all of us approach it on our own terms.  It seems that there is a lot of effort going on with people trying to pin down, label, and define a thing which is limitless and requires no boundaries.  I'm particularly bothered by some of the rules and absolutes that people throw around.  They are all well and good if one is living a pure and wholesome lifestyle, but seriously that is a very judgmental, myopic, and exclusive standpoint.  We get bound and entwined by surrounding ourselves with people most like us, and forget that there's a reason there's a whole aisle filled with various brands of white bread at the grocery store.  The oh-so-pure herbalist can chastise and look down on the rest of humanity all they like, but that sort of defeats the purpose in my opinion.

The goal as I see it, has always been to throw open wide the doors to herbs and welcome as many people as want to come in and learn that which is such a part of all of us.
 
You want to find some herbs that will help with a chronic illness?  Fine, you should not be shamed for using herbs like a pill.  I believe that almost all of us first come to medicinal herbs that way.  To hear some people talk about it, you'd think it was some kind of crime, but I'd be willing to bet they started that way too.  Allopathy has been our mindset for 50 years and if it takes a little time to learn about prevention, constitution, energetics and all the latest lingo - it's fine.  Hop onboard.

You use sugar in your syrups because maple syrup and honey are too expensive?  (insert any number of individual personal preferences that can be levied for or against one's practices here) Great!  Just get started.  Maybe in time you'll decide that you want to switch, maybe you won't.  We're glad to see you working with herbs in a way that is manageable for you.  Don't let other people make you feel like you're not doing it right because you're not doing it their way.

You don't get enough exercise or eat right, but you still want to learn more about herbs?  TERRIFIC!  Nobody has the right to judge your lifestyle unless they're walking in the same shoes - and even then we are all individuals with different wiring.  Maybe you're working too many hours and do what you can.  Maybe you're caring for someone who saps all of your energy.  Maybe you grew up in a family that considered fried chicken and fish to be health foods and vegetables were garnishes.  Who cares?  Come on in.

You can work with herbs in a tiny city apartment or a many-acred farm.  You can use dried herbs you purchased, or herbs you grew from seed in soil you amended with home made compost.  You can call it a dandelion or a Taraxacum officinale.  

 

You can learn to fix the typical household complaints and run of the mill first aid, or you can take pre-med courses in anatomy and physiology.  You can choose your own path.  There is no one right way - and that is truly a beautiful thing.

There are good reasons for most of the admonishments, so I'm not dissing them out of hand.  We should use Latin names for plants so that they aren't confused.  We should be learning all we can about how our bodies work and what we can do to strengthen them to prevent illness.  At the same time, we must appreciate that there are a million reasons why people come to herbs, and they're not all coming from the same place.  Those who have come before must be welcoming and inclusive, allowing each person to find their own comfort.  Nobody owns herbalism.  It belongs to everyone, and each approach is valid.

FINALLY... There are some real do's and don't's with herbs.  Just because they are natural, doesn't mean they are harmless.  Read books.  Experiment.  Learn from your mistakes.  Start small, one herb at a time.  Be comfortable.