[Sca-cooks] medicinal recipies

[Stefan li Rous]

aibhilin commented:
<<< I have not tried this one but I have worked with edible camphor.   
make sure
you get it from a good East Indian shop and tell them it is to eat.   
They
will make sure you get the right stuff. There are several different  
ways to
process campor, and some should not be ingested.>>>

Ummm. Yes, looking at the comments on processing camphor, it does  
sound like you want to make sure you get the stuff processed to  
ingest if you are going to use it in food.

There are a number of comments on camphor in this Florilegium file,  
including the message I've included here.

gums-resins-msg   (32K)  8/31/03    Period use of plant gums and  
resins. Myrrh,
                                        mastic, frankincense, camphor.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/PLANTS/gums-resins-msg.html

-----
[Submitted to the Florilegium by: "Philippa Alderton" <phlip at  
bright.net>]
From: Gaylin Walli <g.walli at infoengine.com>
To: herbalist at Ansteorra.ORG
Subject: Re: HERB - 'syropp of ela campane'
Date: Wednesday, November 04, 1998 9:29 AM

Phlip asked:
 >Any ideas, folks?

This is how I would look at it.

'syropp of ela campane' would probably be a syrup of the plant
elecampane, often called Elfwort or Scabwort. The botanical of
this plant is Inula helenium (L.) I think. One of the major
constituents of the plant is the volitale oil "helenin" which
is sometimes called "elecampane camphor." Camphor, throughout
history, has been used to treat the symptoms of any of the
numerous kinds of arthritis, including rheumatoid arthritis.

An excellent write-up on Elecampane can be found in M. Grieve's
(OOP) herbal online at
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/e/elecam07.html

and this writeup includes pointers to period sources (including
Gerard, Culpepper, and others) which may be of use to the SCAdian
or recreator in tracking down the origins of the syrup's creation.

Jasmine
Jasmine de Cordoba, Midrealm, g.walli at infoengine.com
-----

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****