HERB - herbs of the week

[N.D. Wederstrandt]

 The following info has been taken from Herbs for the Medieval Household by
Margaret B. Freeman, pub by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979.
Herbs for Cooking
"Anise, page 3
(Pimpinella anisum), L.   Anise was a highly prized and rather expensive
flavoring for food in the Middle Ages.  In The Goodman of Paris it is
sprinkled on meat jellies along with bay leaves and cinnamon; it also
appears in a complicated recipe for preserves of nuts, honey and raisins,
with fennel, coriander and caraway.  'The vitue of this herb is thus,'
states Bancke's Herbal, 'it unbindeth the stopping of the liver and of
wicked winds and of great humours.'
	Anise is used today in liqueurs such as anisette and absinthe.  in
Latin countries, especially, the seeds flavor bread, rolls and cookies.
Aniseapprears in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia as a flavoring in medicines,
notably paregoric.

page 3 Basil (Ocimum basilicu, L.) Basil added flavor to many a medieval
dish.  In a fifteenth-century manuscript it is included among the herbs to
be grown 'for potage.'  In the Goodman of Paris it appears in a recipe for
'green pickle' along with hyssop, clary, marjoram, and sorrel. Discorides
warns against eating too much of it since it 'dulls the eyesight' and is
'hard of digestion.'  A strange use for basil is indicated in the following
excerpt from a medieval manuscript: "To make a woman shall not eat of
anything that is set on the table, take a little green basil and the dishes
are brought to the table, put it underneath them that the woman perceive it
not, for men say that she will eat none of that which is on the dish
whereunder the basil lieth.'
	Basil is a popular flavoringherb today, especially in tomato
dishes.  It appears in modern recipes for turtle soup and oxtail soup and
is good in omelates and salads.

Anyone with more imput on these two herbs please feel free to add.

Clare



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