HERB - herb of the week

[N.D. Wederstrandt]

 Here's this weeks "herbs of the Week"

Sweet Bay, Laurus nobilis, L.  In the Middle Ages bay leaves flavored
soups, meat jellies and wines. Bay leaves boiled in water with orange peel
made a washing water for "the hands at table."  The leaves were also used
as a garnish. In a menu from "The Goodman of Paris" the first course
included "cooked Apples and large Provencal figs roasted, with bay leaves
thereon."  Bay leaves "being well smelling" were also "layde amonge
clothes."  "Bancke's Herbal" states that bay "is good to purge a man of
phlegm and of the choler.  It is good for a man that may not hear, for if
the juice thereof be put in his ears... it will heal it."  The "Grete
Herbal" adds that for colic "a bath made of bay leaves is good."  Also
"against the evil colour of the face...and against a manner of red things
that come in young folks faces... take new bay berries and put out the
husks and make fine powder and put it in honey and anoint or bathe the
face.	In modern times bay is used for flavoring soups, sauces, meats,
game, and fish, as well as most pickles sold on the market.


Borage, Borago officinalis, L.  When cooked the young leaves made "porray"
or greens.  The fresh leaves were and important ingredient in salads with
mints, sage, parsley, garlic, fennel, rosemary.  The beautiful blue flowers
were sometimes used to garnish custards, salads, and even soups.  Borage
was good for healing as well.  "Banckes Herbal"  states that it "will
cleanse the red choler of a man" and destroy abscesses "that be gathered of
the black choler."  Also "the water drunk with wine maketh a man glad and
merry."  Many writers refer to the cheering, invigorating effect of this
herb.  Fresh borage is used today for imparting a cucumber flavor to salads
and cold drinks.  In France a tisane of the leaves and flowers is much
esteemed for feverish colds.  Bees like the flowers, and in some parts of
this country is grown in large quantities as a honey crop.

Agrimony,  Agrimonia eupatoria, L.  This herb, "being beaten small when it
is green," says Dioscorides, "hath power to cure cuts." Bancke's herbal
states that it is especially good "to heal a wound that is hurt with iron."
It was likewise used for many ills, such as "inflammation of the eyes,
aching of the womb, bites of poisonous beasts, convulsions, warts, and
absent mindedness."  "For sleeplessness," write Crescentius, "bathe the
feet in the water in which it was cooked.  It helps."   Modern offical
medicine does not recognize these virtues.  Since agrimony contains a
certain amount of tannin, however, modern herbalists feel justified in
recommending its use as a home remedy for cuts and wounds even as in the
Middle Ages.  A decoction of the leaves mixed with honey and syrup of
mulberries is said to make an effective gargle for coughs and sore throats.
the whole plant yields a fine yellow dye.

	Information taken from Herbs for the Medieval Household.

Have fun and please comment.

Clare






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