| Be Your Own Herbal Expert - Part 2 |  |
Herbal medicine is the medicine of the people. It is simple, safe,
effective, and free. Our ancestors knew how to use an enormous variety of
plants for health and well-being. Our neighbors around the world continue to
use local plants for healing and health maintenance, and you can too.
In your first lesson, you learned how to "listen" to the messages of plant's
tastes. And you discovered that using plants in water bases (teas,
infusions, vinegars, soups) - and as simples - allows you to experiment with
and explore herbal medicine safely.
In this lesson, we will learn how to make effective water-based herbal
remedies and talk more about using simples.
Tea for You?
Teas are a favorite way to consume herbs. Made by brewing a small amount of
herbs (typically a teaspoonful to a cup of water) for a short time
(generally 1-2 minutes), teas are flavorful, colorful drinks.
Herbs rich in coloring compounds - such as hibiscus, rose hips, calendula,
and black tea - make enticing and tasty teas. They may also contain
polyphenols, phytochemicals known to help prevent cancer. Since coloring
compounds and polyphenols are fairly stable, dried herbs are considered best
for teas rich in these.
Herbs rich in volatile oils - such as ginger, chamomile, cinnamon, catnip,
mint, lemon balm, lemon grass, lavender, bergamot, and fennel, anise, and
cumin seeds - make lovely teas, which are effective in easing spasms,
stimulating digestion, eliminating pain, and inducing sleep. Since much of
the volatile oils are lost when herbs are dried, fresh herbs are considered
best for teas rich in these, but dried herbs can be used with good results.
I enjoy a cup of hot tea with honey. But teas fail to deliver the mineral
richness locked into many common herbs. A cup of nettle tea, for instance,
contains only 5-10 mg of calcium, while a cup of nettle infusion contains up
to 500 mg of calcium. For optimum nutrition, I drink nourishing herbal
infusions every day.
Infusion for Me!
An infusion is a large amount of herb brewed for a long time. Typically, one
ounce by weight (about a cup by volume) of dried herb is placed in a quart
jar, which is then filled to the top with boiling water, tightly lidded and
allowed to steep for 4-10 hours. After straining, a cup or more is consumed,
and the remainder chilled to slow spoilage. Drinking 2-4 cups a day is
usual. Since the minerals and other phytochemicals in nourishing herbs are
made more accessible by drying, dried herbs are considered best for
infusions. (See experiment 2.)
I make my infusions at night before I go to bed and they are ready in the
morning. I put my herb in my jar and my water in the pot, and the pot on the
fire, then brush my teeth (or sweep the floor) until the kettle whistles. I
pour the boiling water up to the rim of the jar, screw on a tight lid, turn
off the stove and the light, and go to bed. In the morning, I strain the
plant material out, squeezing it well, and drink the liquid. I prefer it
iced, unless the morning is frosty. I drink the quart of infusion within 36
hours or until it spoils. Then I use it to water my houseplants, or pour it
over my hair after washing as a final rinse, which can be left on.
My favorite herbs for infusion are nettle, oatstraw, red clover, and comfrey
leaf, but only one at a time. The tannins in red clover and comfrey make me
pucker my lips, so I add a little mint, or bergamot, when I infuse them,
just enough to flavor the brew slightly. A little salt in your infusion may
make it taste better than honey will.
Having trouble finding herbs in bulk at your local health food store? Try
ordering online:
² Mountain Rose Herbs - http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/
² Pacific Botanicals - http://www.pacificbotanicals.com/
² Frontier Herbs - http://www.frontierherb.com/
² Garden Medicinals - http://www.gardenmedicinals.com/
Simple Messages
When we use simples (one plant at a time), we allow ourselves an intimacy
that deepens and strengthens our connections to plants and their green
magic. There are lots of interesting plants, and lots of herbalists who
maintain that herbal medicine means formulae and combinations of herbs. But
I consider herbs as lovers, preferring to have only one in bed with me at a
time.
When I use one plant at a time it is much easier for me to discern the
effect of that plant. When I use one plant at a time and someone has a bad
reaction to the remedy, it is obvious what the source of the distress is,
and usually easy to remedy. When I use one plant at a time, I make it easy
for my body to communicate with me and tell me what plants it needs for
optimum health.
I even go so far as to ally with one plant at a time, usually for at least a
year. By narrowing my focus, I actually find that I learn more.
Coming Up
In our next lesson we will learn more about the difference between
nourishing, tonifying, stimulating/sedating, and potentially-poisonous
plants; how to prepare them; and how to use them. In the following
installments we will explore the difference between fixing disease and
promoting health, how to apply the three traditions of healing, and how to
take charge of your own health care with the six steps of healing.
Experiment Number One
Make and drink a quart of nourishing herbal infusion made with stinging
nettle, oatstraw, red clover, raspberry leaf, or comfrey leaf. If you wish,
flavor it with mint. On the same day, make a tea from the same herb, using
dried herb. Compare and contrast the colors, flavors, and sensations.
Experiment Number Two
Make an infusion of stinging nettle, oatstraw, red clover, raspberry leaf,
or comfrey leaf, using one ounce of dried herb as usual. At the same time,
make a quart of "brew" using the same herb, but fresh, not dried. To make it
fair, use 4 ounces of fresh herb. After one hour of steeping, look at both
jars, taste and compare/contrast. Repeat three more times at hourly
intervals.
Minerals are released slowly into water. They darken the color of the water
and give it a dense, rich taste. Oil-soluble vitamins float to the top and
make a thin glaze of swirls.
Experiment Number Three
Buy, or grow, a tasty, aromatic herb, like ginger, peppermint, or rosemary.
For this experiment you will need one tablespoon of fresh herb, and one
teaspoon of the same herb dried. Place the fresh herb in a cup or mug and
the dried herb in another. Fill both to the top with boiling water. After
one minute, taste, smell, compare the teas. Wait another minute and compare
again. Then wait five minutes and try each one again.
Experiment Number Four
Make a tea with aromatic seeds - anise, caraway, coriander, cumin, fennel,
or fenugreek. Use a teaspoon of seeds in a cup of water. At the same time,
brew some using a tablespoon of seeds per cup. After a minute, taste, smell,
contrast. Repeat in five minutes, then in thirty minutes, then after an
hour, then after four hours. Teas and infusions of dried seeds are almost
the same.
Further Study
1. Drink 2-4 cups of nourishing herbal infusion for a month and see
if your health changes in any way. Best if you don't drink coffee or tea
during this month.
2. Choose a green ally to focus on this year.
3. Read Healing Power of Minerals by Paul Bergner.
4. Read about stinging nettle and oatstraw in my book Healing Wise.
5. Write out the botanical names of the herbs you used in making your
teas and your infusions.
Advanced Work
² Learn more about essential oils in plants. Grow several plants rich
in essential oils.
² Learn more about tannins. Make an oakbark infusion.
If you want to be your own herbal expert then you may want to start a
correspondence course! See www.susunweed.com for information on courses
available.
Susun Weed
PO Box 64
Woodstock, NY 12498
Fax: 1-845-246-8081
Visit Susun Weed at: www.susunweed.com and www.ash-tree-publishing.com
For permission to reprint this article, contact us at: lynpb@powerup.com.au
Vibrant, passionate, and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an international
reputation for her groundbreaking lectures, teachings, and writings on
health and nutrition. She challenges conventional medical approaches with
humor, insight, and her vast encyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine.
Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and enthusiastic lectures are engaging
and often profoundly provocative.
Susun is one of America's best-known authorities on herbal medicine and
natural approaches to women's health. Her four best-selling books are
recommended by expert herbalists and well-known physicians and are used and
cherished by millions of women around the world. Learn more at
www.susunweed.com
____________________________________________
RESOURCE BOX - Susun S. Weed
Be Your Own Herbal Expert - Part 2
by Susun S. Weed, author and herbalist. Write to: lynpb@powerup.com.au for
permission to reprint this article.
Visit http://www.herbshealing.com for 300+ pages of women's health articles,
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