[Herbalist] Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.

[BJ of NZ]

 Hi

I'm doing a series of articles for my shire news
letter and thought if there some interest I might post
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Bea

Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme

These are the words of the chorus of an 1834 ballad
that describes a series impossible love tasks, or are
they recipe of an abortifictive?

 These four herbs are in common usage today, how would
they of been used in period and how could they be used
within the SCA today

“What is a herb?” asks Alcuin the English monk and
advisor to Charlemagne
“The friend of physician and the praise of cooks” was
the reply

Parsley
(also known as parcely, persely parceleye & perslie).
Parsley sweetens the breath & stimulates digestion

Petroselinium hortense, Hoff. Apium petroselinum
Carum petroselinium - Turnip rooted parsley
Petroselinum crispum neopolitanum 'SWEET ITALIAN'

 “Chawinge of the fresh grene Parceleye, doth cause
swete smelling breath- Thomas Hyll 1568


What can I tell you about parsley- currently its major
culinary uses are primarily, as a sprig used to a
garnish, secondly, a raw leaf, used as a salad
vegetable, or thirdly, its use as a sauce flavouring.
It can also be used in soups, stews, or with egg
dishes. For the best flavour pick and add to dish just
prior to dishing out, it is not a herb that requires
cooking.
Cultivation wise it is a frost hardy biennial, that
grows to a height 30 cm-1m and to a. width of 40
cm.-1m. Depending on the botanical variety.

“Hyll” repeats an idea of “Pliny the elder” (77ad)
that parsley leaves would be more “crisped”-that is
curled if “before the sowing of them [you] stuffe a
tennis ball with the seedes , and beat the same well
against the ground”.
I find that enough plants become self sown and curly,
with out additional help, but will collect a tennis
ball full this year, if any one wants to try the
period sport


In my opinion common curled parsley, should be used
for garnishing, while large leaf Italian, is better
for salads (Tabouleh) having a more intense flavour, I
find both bolt (to seed) in summer unless steadily
watered, but I’m quite happy for them to self sow,
sprouting in early autumn, providing me with a leaf
high in vitamin C and iron over winter

In Herbal medicine:
In a modern herbal Parsley is recommended to be eaten
raw or juiced and is used for its diuretic facility a
poultice may also be formed and applied at an early
stage of nursing as a softening agent
(I include the modern uses as a guide to safe currant
every day things you can do with parsley in an
encampment or society event)


In Period

Petresilinium is mentioned in Charlemagne’s lists of
herb ( Capitulare de Villis Imperialibus copy dated
872 AD) as are Salviua, Sage,  Ros marinu, Rosemary

There are sauces, broths, stews and soups that use
parsley leaves as flavouring
And it is recommended “manie use to eate them not
onely with flesh of fish, but also with butter in the
morning” it being convenient for the stomach-Thomas
Coghan,  The Haven of Health,1584

 And references to the use of its root
The leaves are pleasant in sauces with broth

 rootes
likewise

.if they be boiled in broth they be also
delightful to taste and agreeable to the stomacke.”
John Gerard, The Herbal 1597


Which brings us to Renaissance herbs which have
launched the variety 'BARTOWICH LONG’’ which has been
Selected for its nutty flavoured roots. It goes by the
botanical name Petroselinum crispum tuberosum     and
while the roots are growing you can still eat the
leaves. This is one you will find in my garden as soon
as I can buy it. At which point I will be
experimenting with the root, which are said to “add a
nutty parsley flavour when grated into salads or diced
into soups and stews.”

Symbolically it was linked to victory a “chaplet of
persley’ the prize of the “solemne tourney and sacred
games Nemei” Pliny, natural history 77ad (trans.
Holland 1601)
And its “smoke dryveth a-wey alle serpentis’-and all
other venomous beasts

Sources of reference have been
The illustrated Earth Garden Herbal KV Smith1994
Count Palantines seventieth century herbal
Herbal medicine. D.D.Buchman1993

so thats parsley

has any ne any additional thoughts  as to how it could
be used at SCA events


Beatriz de Sainteago


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