Showing posts with label Herbal. Show all posts

I decided to put my class information into a digital guide by posting it to my blog. My class first began with how to make lip balms, so we will start there.

Summary

The balm we’re going to create here is a simple and effective base recipe and we’ll turn this one into a lip balm. Since beeswax isn’t exactly tasty, we can add an essential oil for flavoring. It also smells nicer, too.

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A Brief Outline on the Use of Herbs in Medieval Period

Culinary plants and herbs were grown for use during the summer and were preserved to add to winter fare. Herbs and vegetables had to be harvested in quantity and preserved, usually by drying, to last through the long and arduous winter months. Some herbs were able to withstand winter in the ground and provided a yearlong bounty.
Winter savory, some oreganos, garlic, and chives are often able to grow through all but the harshest winter conditions. Other plants, such as basil, curry, lavender, coriander, tarragon, sage, and rosemary had to be harvested and dried. Herbs were usually dried in bundles hung in a cool place with good airflow for 2-3 weeks.
Meats were heavily seasoned with herbs, not because the food was going bad (although this certainly helped if the meat was towards the end of its keeping time…) they were heavily seasoned because that’s what the popular thing to do was.  The wealthy were typically able to support an herb garden capable of handling heavily spiced food at every meal and if the wealthy were doing it, well, the rest of the population would want to follow suit, of course. 
Medicinal herbs, such as all heal, feverfew, lavender, sage, peppermint, goose grass, tansy, dandelion, and boneset, were grown and dried for use during the winter. Herbs could be preserved dried for up to a year without losing their potency, or they could be powdered or added to fats to create ointments and pastes.
Willow bark, garlic, and some other medicinal herbs and plants could be harvested throughout the year. All heal, feverfew, and willow were used to break as well as prevent fevers. Lavender, sage, and peppermint were considered digestive aids. Goose grass and boneset were believed to be good for healing breaks and well as cuts and lesions. Dandelion was considered a purgative and diuretic.
The most important reason for the herb garden was for its medicinal purposes.  A bad harvesting season with herbs could be the difference of life and death for some people.  Herbs were used in many ways: putting the powder in broths and stews to consume, steeping them into a tea, leaving the leaves whole and placing them on affected areas, combining them with animal fat to create a salve to apply to the affected area, etc.  We use a lot of the herbs they used today like using lemon, chamomile and honey for sore throats and coughs, peppermint used in digestive aids and calendula (marigold) to be used for bruises, rashes and abrasions - you’ll find a lot of very high end baby products on the market today include calendula oil in their ingredients (especially the “natural” products).  These herbs made for health were also used as preventatives.  It was believed then that illness traveled through bad smells.

The following plants were the principle herbs used by the villagers of Villandry, France in Medieval Europe. They are still grown at Villandry in the traditional medicine garden on the grounds. 


Click hyperlinked text for more detail.

• Angelica: Phytosterols,  No. 1 herb for women, PMS, expectorant, antispasmodic.
• Chamomile: Abrasions, carminative, anti-ulcer, anti-arthritis, anti-acne, respiratory.
• Fennel: Carminative, lactagogue, mild menstrual stimulant, treat diarrhea, cramps.
• Feverfew:  To treat migraine headaches (prophylactic), treat arthritis, psoriasis.
• Garlic:  Is anti-cancer, antibiotic, anti-microbial, heart disease protection.
• Hollyhock: Immunity, fevers, dysentery, diarrhea, laxative, sore throats.
• Lavender: Anti-stress, brain stimulant, vasodilator, antiseptic, spasms, sleep aid, headache
• Lemon balm: Cooling, relaxing, anti-stress, vasodilator, colds, flu.
• Lovage: Sedative, warms, diuretic, expectorant, spasms, anti-microbe, calcium sparer preventing kidney stones and PMS.
• Mint: Carminative, antiseptic, muscle spasms, warming, cooling, stimulating.
• Mullein: Upper respiratory infections, bronchitis, congestion.
• Rose:  Bark and floral tea stimulating tonic to treat dysentery, kill worms, eye wash.
• Rosemary: Anti-inflammatory, improve brain circulation, hypertensive, headaches.
• Spiderwort: Root: laxative, kidneys. Aerial: insect repellent, bites, stings, wounds.
• Wormwood: Bitters, anti-inflammatory, stimulant, antidepressant, worms, insecticide.
• Yarrow: Warming, hypotensive, anti-inflammatory, diarrhea, styptic, immunity.

As I was cleaning up my apothecary this evening, I remembered something I've taught in classes before... herbs are better stored in glass bottles, not plastic bags! It will help to retain their freshness, their scent... their very essential oils. So don't lose potency in your hard grown, picked, and dried plants... place them in glass, I said to myself.  Hey! That's easy enough. For when you do what I do, you tend to collect jars that would be perfect for this or that, and have several on hand.

Well, things were going pretty well until I got to the really big jar and placed my rose petals inside. Great, there's no lid for this one. Well, that's alright! I also learned about the way people used to cover their jars. That's right - with waxed linen covers. So what did I do next? Well, I grabbed the linen scrap lying on the floor and some beeswax and ... yep, figured I'd create a guide to the process as I went along, so here we are!

• Beeswax
  First, you'll need some beeswax. It doesn't matter what format you bought it in, but it will need to be small enough to melt down at this point. So grate it, shave it, chunk it up, or however you can best manage it. Maybe you're lucky and you bought it in pellets.
• Next, the easiest way to do this is on a stove. So let's head to the kitchen.
• Now, you're going to need a skillet. Something about the size of cloth you're wanting to cover is going to be easier to work in.
• And for the best trick, some aluminum foil. This is to line your skillet!
• Just in case things get too hot, have a grease splatter screen handy.
• A utensil (fork is fine)
• Preferably, go ahead and have something ready that you want to put the cover on when we're done here.

Ok, melt the wax in the foil-lined skillet on medium to low heat. Don't do this on high heat or the splatters will be so bad they'll sound like popcorn. If you get it too hot, don't worry, just put the cover on and turn down the temp a bit. You'll want to let all the wax melt completely, turning clear, before moving on to the next step.


Step 2, put your cloth in. Use your fork to help all of the cloth make contact with the melted wax, turning it over and moving it around until you feel like it's all set. Raise the cloth up out of the pan (holding it over the pan - it drips!) and excess wax will pool to one side if you tilt the pan, making it easier to finish any uncovered areas. If you find you didn't melt enough wax, it's ok! Just add more and continue until done.


The wax layer won't look white until you let the cloth cool, but when you feel ready just lift the cloth out of the wax and let it drip into the foil. As it cools you'll see the waxy look.  When it stops dripping, and feels like you can touch it without hurting your hands, place it over the container you wish to cover.




The best part about cleanup is you can just leave the wax in the foil and store it away until next time after it has cooled, which takes hardly any time at all.



Now, while the cloth is still warm and flexible, just shape the cloth over and around the opening. As the wax dries, it will keep whatever's inside in, and other stuff out, pretty darned well!


No wonder this stuff is thought of as the waxed paper of the middle ages. I think it's even better, though, because of how you can just warm it back up (even just a little hand warmth is enough) and move the cloth somewhere else, and it will form to it just as easily. (Place over opening, cover with your hand, holding it around where you want it to go. It will listen, and stay.)

Must write down my ideas to be sure I remember them later.  What a busy time of year. Finishing up A&S project work, preparing for Thanksgiving, and then it is time for Magna Faire!  Thank goodness I will have some vacation days off to tinker.

Thank you Lord William! He has helped me to realize what put  me off so much about the violet oil I created.  You see, I was concerned originally that perhaps something had not gone well because I did not dry the plants before making the cold oil infusion. However this was a common period practice, and is still done today. The risk for water being in the oil turning rancid is there. However with the freshly made oil spelling and looking exactly the same this much later, I know that it is not spoiled, it just smelled funny!  This is no different from plantain oil. It smells very pungent as well. And here's the key.  When you think of violet, you think of the delicate, yet strong, floral scent.  But oil is made from the leaves of the plant, not the flowers. So it smells nothing at all like the flowers.  And, here's the best part. It's not supposed to!  There is nothing at all wrong with my oil. I was just hesitant about it, not yet having any knowledge of such a thing. I have made quite a few oil infusions since then, both dried and fresh plants. I have learned about some herbs which would be best in a heated infusion, and some which are best done cold. And since I started making the infusions, I have made quite a few salves and balms with them, as well. I feel much, much better about this violet oil now.  ^_^

As an ongoing part of my Herbal guild work (SCA activity), I decided to start identifying the plants that surround me.  These things that are normally cut down as weeds have long since fascinated me but now I have found the purpose that drives me to identify them... the desire to learn their historical purpose.  This is a record of my findings.

Some of these, naturally, I will find are not herbs at all.  And some that I never knew were probably will be.

First you must learn to identify the plant by all its parts. Every stage of the plant's life cycle helps reveal secrets to its identity. So you must observe it from start to end.

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Carrot looking and smelling leaves
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I have already done a lot more with my herb garden this year than ever before, and the fun is just beginning.  I had started ramping up on the kitchen herbs last year but never used to do too good at gathering all the seeds or leaves before the season end on some of the plants. Roger gave me some plants due to his having to move which I vowed to tend well to!  And they are lovely.  The huge basil plant just started yielding seed so I'm gathering those. I'm drying and storing herbs too, not just seeds, like stevia, and some wild passion flower I found out back. Some of these will get turned into balms and salves... like the lavender, and lemon balm. Some of them will go the kitchen, like the thyme, oregano, basil, savory, and marjoram. A few plants I just don't know if they'll actually yield enough to do anything with.  Even if they don't, I'll scoop them up and move them indoors at season's end - rue, and parsley. But then there are others that are nice and full and ready now and I should start using in the kitchen right away!: texas tarragon (tastes pretty much the same as the original kind), the thriving parsley from Roger, and finally some chives. Not sure how the onions are fairing.

And yet others have been trying to get going, calendula and johnny jump ups, both making it but not yielding like I wanted, so that I could use them for some concoction or other.  But I will be patient. 

Of course too there's the cherry tomato plant and leeks we have been using, and the roma tomato that is just beginning to form fruits.

And then there's the late seeds I started. Lavender since only 1 actually grew in the 1st round, sage I thought I no longer had, woad I've never had but so thrilled to have strong sproutlings of on the 2nd try, more calendulas, and they're all shooting up quite well so far. Oh, and cilantro! I thought they weren't going to sprout.

And then there's the later seeds that can get sewn - lettuce, and fall calendulas. But since I started more calendula late, I will probably skip a third planting there.

Another link for the blog - here is the class I taught at Page School at RUM last weekend.  An introductory class to kids about herbs, and some things that can be done with them.  Designed to be variable in the teaching based on class turnout. I brought several herbs for smelling, and then using in the sachets afterwards.

I had to request a small fee for the class because I did need to pick up just a few supplies.  I was hoping I could supply them all from my own stock, and I almost did!  But not quite all were mine.  Mountain Rose Herbs has never let me down. ;)  The rose petals were gorgeous, and the orris root was nicely powdered. 

Guess what my next largess will be?  Yep, the supplies not bought and used all go to me, so now I get to play....  ;-)

I audited a class on Henna at Gulf Wars.  Somehow, I had no idea it was herbal, or just hadn't really thought about it, before the class.  Now I find it of interest and would totally do it!  Anyway, here are my notes.  I scratched them down inside my class booklet so I thought I should put it all out somewhere it made more sense, so I can remember later.....

First, there are 3 terps (contain terpinol) that darken the colors: cardamom, lavendar, and tree tree oil.
Also added are lemon juice (no pulp!), sugar (it binds it), for darker stain, and of course the henna powder.


Mixed together, this should be about the consistency of stiff mashed potatoes. 
As you stir your mixture together, just add henna powder to thicken it if needed. 


It takes 24-48 hours for the color change to occur.  The dye will change, and this change varies based on every person's individual body chemistry.

The henna is applied with either jacks or cones.

You can add essential oils.  Make sure it's the real body-grade essential oil, not fragrance oils. A bit of something calming like lavender soothes the subject.

You can freeze leftover mixture for up to a year!  Just store the finished cones.  You can always reconstitute them all together later and have a nice batch of henna ready to use.

Where to get good quality henna?  www.thehennapage.com
hennapages.com has good info.
It should be a fine powder, soft is desired.  It should NOT be black henna.  This is not real.
"Black" henna is PPD and should be avoided!!!
*Side note, henna powder is soothing to the skin! You can add it to soap and prevent razorburn!

You can apply henna to non-skin, too!  You can paint with it.  Add some food coloring to the henna for colors.  Apply Mod Podge over it when finished to seal and protect it.

Now, to put henna art on a person.  Place the arm or subject you're working on upon a pillow.  This gives the part stability, plus you can move it around more easily as needed.

You can put henna in your hair and it makes a beautiful natural stain.  It's also incredibly strengthening and makes hair soft and smooth.  Leave in hair 4-5 hours and apply heat.  It repairs damage, helps strengthen, and also helps with dandruff.  Real henna will end up black/brown to blood red, purple, chocolate, orange....

It will last 1-3 weeks on skin, 4 months on hair.

I hate that I missed out on the distillation class at Gulf Wars last year. I've been waiting until this year (almost here!!!!) to get the chance again. Well as luck would have it I found myself with something to distill so I had to grab a crash course courtesy of Google. Yes, I could have just frozen the rose petals and tried it later, but what fun would that be? It seemed like the most interesting thing to do with the petals so I went for it.

So I set up a kitchen-equipment method and tried it. But then I read that roses are hard to distill due to the heat damaging the delicate oil, plus you would need a TON of petals to actually extract an amount of any significance, I decided to go with a rose water instead. It's actually quite easy to do and I'm sure I'll be scooping up petals by the handfuls this summer from the front yard to continue making rosewater! The main difference is I added some water so that the petals would not be burned. The result is of course that there is water mixed in with the oil.


There isn't too terribly much of the liquid, as I just used the roses I had on hand.  And these were the last of the batch that Master Garreth gave out to all of the ladies on Valentine's day (wasn't that sweet!). 


As I was pouring out the liquid, I noticed a lovely reddish pink tint in the bottom of the pan and just knew I couldn't let that lump of petals go to the trash can. What else could I do with them?  Well, Google my friend once again helped me out. I could not really do a dye without some alum. But I sure could make Rose Beads! In fact, due to the heat and the liquid, the process is already underway quite nicely, from the sounds of it.

So yes, I took the lump and threw it in the blender. It smells like potpourri and it looks like a smoothie! Flower blend, anyone? No? Okay then, on with the next step. It has to hang out like this for 3 days so I'll have to revisit this topic later.

With the knowledge learned from William Ismead's class, and using the measurement guidelines I found from Jadwiga Zajaczkowa's Making Herbal Preparations, I have successfully put together 3 different flavors of lip balms, and also some healing salves.

Lip Balms
The balms are simple: olive oil, beeswax, and something to flavor it. The oil could be infused, but the flavor comes from essential oil which provides benefits as well as the flavor.

Grapefruit - it's refreshing, stimulating, and even protects damaged skin.
It can cause skin irritation if exposed to constant sunlight after application. There are no other conflicts to note.

Peppermint - freshens breath, relieves painful skin; also nourishes and cools.
The aroma can help alleviate headaches, stress, congestion, athsma, and coughs.

Healing Salves
The salves were also really simple. I decided upon a mix of my infused plantain oil, vitamin E oil, some dried chamomile, and lavender essential oil.
It would be ideal if I had allowed the dried herbs to simmer slowly in the oil for some hours then discard the powdered herb material after all the oil was poured off the top; however I took a different route. I did allow the crushed herb particles several minutes in the warm oil to ensure they were completely saturated. But then I went ahead and stirred them directly into the mixture. This won't hurt a bit but might leave a bit of sediment at the bottom. This is the only real downfall. I did try stirring two of them up after the mixture was cooling but it did not look smooth, pretty, and attractive like the rest so I left well enough alone! ;)  I believe that if the mixture could be slightly cooler before pouring up, the crushed herb particles could be stirred in and they would suspend properly.
So using the dried herbs straight is still a bit of a work in progress.  But I am still pleased with the salves.

Greetings fair readers,

I bring to you today further good tidings upon the virtues of Plantain. I must say that again I have practiced my own medicine. Yesterday while out picking more of these plentiful beneficial "weeds" from the side lawn, I managed to embed a piece of something right directly into my cuticle. Ouch! I couldn't pick it out right away so it got sore. I did remove it but it continued to get sore. So, this would lead me to believe that either the impailer had some type of irritant in it, or that fragments not visible to me are still lodged into the the delicate skin here, at either rate causing the skin to need to push this foreign matter out.

What helps speed this?  Drawing salve. And it's so easy to make!
I put just the direct plantain oil on my finger before bed under a band-aid, since I haven't prepared an ointment from it yet, and the soreness was SIGNIFICANTLY better by morning. :)
This presents the perfect opportunity to share a few notes about the next phase my experiments will be heading in, now that I have completed some balms.

"Once upon a time, a homemade drawing salve formed the cornerstone of a family's first aid chest. Everyone kept drawing salve for use on humans and animals alike. Homemade drawing salve consists of various healing herbs mixed into a beeswax and oil base." --Homemade Drawing Salve

"The purpose of a drawing salve is to rid impurities or small foreign bodies from the skin. Drawing salves are often used to remove splinters, bee stings and the toxins in boils, for example" --eHow

Prepare an infusion of plantain leaves and lavender flowers by placing the clean, dry herbs in a glass jar and filling it with oil. Plantain leaf is the active ingredient in the drawing salve, and lavender is an herbal antiseptic.

The base of your drawing salve can be made from one of two ingredients according to your preference: melted beeswax or melted vegetable shortening. Add 1/2 teaspoon of benzoin to each pint of salve after it has melted. This will act as a natural preservative.

You will blend your oil and base in a separate container. Mix them together well. You'll want the concentration to be about half oil and half wax or shortening. This will allow the salve to set when it cools without being so hard that it is difficult to apply to the skin.

While the salve is still warm and easy to mix you may wish to add a few drops of other beneficial essential oils. After all, this is one of the advantages of preparing your own homemade drawing salve. Add only two to three drops of each oil and mix them well.

After you have put the salve into its final storage container, it will stay fresh for weeks or months. Pay attention to the smell for indications that it has turned rancid. Apply it to the skin as needed by smearing it on the affected area and covering it with a bandage. The salve should work quickly to draw forth the infection, boil or splinter.

In order to submit my Magna Faire project, after talking with Alianore about the project and deciding where I was heading with this, I made the choice to do things in the right order -- not by making something then documenting it, which as Magdalena pointed out can be difficult to get documented properly. I used the documentation to determine what I needed to do with this project in order to really create this as it would have been in Medieval Period, which is really the whole point!  So, I am re-working the oil.

First I picked a nice batch of ribwort from the yard. Next I washed and dried it.

Then I tore it by hand and crushed it to bruise the leaves with a mortar and pestle.
 Then I placed the bruised leaves into a glass jar, NOT pressing them down but just to fill the jar.
(How nice that I picked exactly enough!)
 The last step at this phase is to pour olive oil into the jar, just to cover the leaves. Shake or tap to get the air bubbles out so that all leaves are in all contact with oil. 
 Cap the jar and wait a couple of weeks. You will know it's ready when it smells sort of like pepperoni!

At that point you just strain the oil through a cloth into another vessle, and it's ready for whatever you plan on doing with it next.  And then you will have an herbal infused oilve oil!