Herbal Remedies

Unsurprisingly, when you react to chemicals and man-made ingredients (like artificial preservatives) a lot, it doesn't matter where they are. In our food, our clothing, our beauty products, or very importantly, our medications.

This has proved to impact me quite a bit in the last few years. I grew up with chicken soup and taking extra vitamin C, sure, but otherwise, there was cold medicine, Tylenol, neosporin, and all those good, everyday kinds of drugs that make getting sick or injured a little more bearable.

Old drug ampoules look like the aftermath of a frat party, eh? (source)

They're all gone now. It's been 4 years now since I had an over-the-counter med, and the last one was benadryl that I was taking to try and stop an allergic reaction, which instead made it even worse.

So what the heck do you do when you have grown up in a culture that primarily uses over-the-counter medication for everyday ailments?

Making Tea

More information on brewing your own tea, both regular tea and herbal tea (herbal infusion).

(source)

Adding Sour to a recipe

There are two flavors I have a hard time acquiring: sweet and sour. Today, I'm just going to list what I've found for sour, for others in that situation.

Vinegar and citrus are what most folks use for sour. Vinegar is out for me right now, and citrus only in very small amounts, as I have a limited supply from a couple farmers. So, here's a few other things I've come across that may work.

Herb garden

A tiny slice out of my herb garden.

Messy, isn't it?

I show this because a lot of people have much tidier herb gardens and I thought I'd share the other kind. This is the kind where things are planted next to and among each other, sometimes due to space constraints and sometimes deliberately to help each other. It's got mulch that's made from the wild grasses and non-toxic weeds in my yard. Some of the herbs are deliberately left to go to seed to grow next year. But it's doing great, so far.

Herbs: Cilantro or Coriander

I'd love to make this a huge, informative post that has everything, but frankly, I'm too tired and it would take too long. So, the short and dirty version!

My cilantro, flowering

Name:
Cilantro or Coriander: same thing. Cilantro is more often the leaves, coriander the the seeds, but they are the same plant.

Herbs: My Herb Garden

Here's a list of what herbs I'm actually growing, which is, well, pretty much any herb I find and can manage not to kill in gruesome ways. Eventually, I'll try to have a list of foods that have blended well with various herbs, but right now, I'm still starting out in the realm of fresh herbs and food. I tend to throw everything together and see how it all falls out. :-)


Herbs and edible flowers in my herb garden:

How-to: Making Herbal Tea

Growing an herb garden is, IMO, one of the best things you can do for yourself in terms of adding a little flavor to your food and drink that you know is safe and allergen free. An unexpected benefit of having numerous fresh herbs is the ability to make some lovely herbal teas.

Now I'll be honest, I'm an herbal tea newbie. This is just not something I've drunk much of, so I don't have any particular expectations. However, I was surprised at not only how easy it is to make herbal tea, but how many herbs can be used in it, including many herbs typically found in even the smallest herb garden.

I'll mention specific herbs to use at the end of this post, but for right now, here's the basics of herbal tea making.