[Herbalist] Horehound....

[Wes Will]

>indicating spoilage, it's just...fermenting. I'm really tempted to
actually put
>a gas trap on it.

Go ahead, put a fermentation lock on it and let it go to completion.  Then,
let your worst friend or best enemy try it.

You're probably growing a nice culture of some strain of wild yeast, which
has a much-better-than-even chance of producing a truly nasty-tasting
concoction.

Higher alcohols.....hangovers.....<shudder>

On a related note, I've been kind of sitting and waiting for someone else
to bring this up.  Guess this is an opportune time.  No-one, when asked for
uses for horehound, mentioned

gruit.

Gruit was what was used as a preserving agent for beer, before the
wide-spread use of hops.  Hops use in beer seems to have originated in
Belgium, and spread rapidly.  It works well to preserve the brew, and it
doesn't taste bad.  (Some gruit recipes from the middle ages taste
positively VILE.)   It's also ludicrously easy to grow, being willing to
take over as much acreage (plus 10%) as you have for it.

Many of the more common ingredients, by the way, were mugwort and alehoof.
(Mug?  Ale?  hmmmmm.....)  One or the other of these has also been
mentioned lately on this list.  Spices included coriander (STILL used in
many varietal beers), cinnamon, and cloves.

Eoin Caimbeul