SC - feverfew

[Donna Kenton]

marilyn traber wrote:

> Am with puzzlement, a balneo mariae is modernly called a bain marie,
> or
> in cooking a double boiler....?
>
> margali

Sort of, on a grand scale.  It's basically a brick "furnace" that they
used to distill herbs for medicine.  There's a lower chamber for the
fire, and above that, either water or sand (depending on what they were
processing) into which the pots would sit.  The vapors from the water
and herbs in the pot would rise, be caught, and condense, dripping into
another pot.

I have a horrible memory for what all the herbs were used for (have to
look them up), but I find the old techniques are absolutely fascinating.

Rosalinde
- --
Rosalinde De Witte/Donna Kenton * donna at dabbler.com *
http://www.dabbler.com/


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