AVOCADO FACTS:THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF AVOCADO: TIPSY AVOCADOS RECIPE

AVOCADO PEARS OR ALLIGATOR PEARS

Avocados are the fruit of the Persea americana tree which is native to the subtropical regions of the American continent. They are in the same botanical family as bay leaves.The name, avocado comes from the Aztec for testicle, ahuacatl, so called because of its shape and the fact that the Aztecs believed it was an aphrodisiac. It is actually a fruit with a large seed, which can be grown at home, if you persevere. You probably won’t get any avocados if you grow it indoors but it has attractive foliage and it’s fun for kids to watch it grow. You have to pierce the seed and put it over a bottle filled with water and wait for it to grow roots before potting it.

  It has been cultivated in South America and Mexico for at least 8,000 years and from there it was taken to the West Indies and the Philippines by Spanish explorers of the 16^th century. They also found that the seed produces a red fluid which could be used as ink, and some manuscripts written with avocado ink are still in existence.

   It later found its way to Mauritius, Singapore, the Indian subcontinent and Hawaii. Today it is cultivated in New Zealand, Australia, parts of the Mediterranean region, the Middle East and Africa. Now there are more than 500 varieties, but they all originate from the Mexican, Guatemalan and West Indian fruit.

   They are sometimes called Alligator pears because the skin of the fruit is knobbly like a crocodile’s skin, and these are either dark green or a brownish colour. If you buy an unripe pear they will ripen if kept in a paper bag with a banana. If you can, gently squeeze the top of the pear before buying to see if it is ripe. It should be a little soft.

  The avocado has the highest fibre content of any fruit and is packed full of Vitamin E which may encourage fertility in humans. The fruit juice has a higher potassium content than banana juice too. Avocado oil, obtained from the tree, the fruit and the seed, can reduce cholesterol levels and the avocado pear contains 30% of the good monounsaturated fats which may lower the risk of heart disease and cancer.

   Avocados contain lecithin which is necessary to combat cholesterol and can prevent arteriosclerosis. Avocado and soybean unsaponifiables are one of the current most promising arthritis remedies, although it is recommended that you take the oil in capsule form for this rather than just eat the fruit. In France these have been approved as a prescription drug and can be bought in health shops and online. However if you include avocados in your diet, you could be lowering the risk of getting arthritis in later years.
  Avocados in your diet can also help prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s and are thought to cure depression.

   If you pulp a fresh avocado and put it on your face for ½ hour before going to sleep, you will be helping to prevent wrinkles and smooth your skin, as the vitamins D and E stimulate the formation of collagen and saponins. If you have skin problems such as pimples or eczema you will find this a good treatment too.

  Vitamin E is also a powerful antioxidant, so an avocado is good for your heart.

  They are good to eat in salads with pomelo or grapefruit and other citrus fruit, although you should brush them with lemon juice as they turn brown when exposed to the air. The traditional use for them in Mexico is for guacamole sauce, which is really delicious, but below is an easy recipe, which makes a good starter.

TIPSY AVOCADOS

Ingredients   serves 4

2 avocado pears, sliced in half and seeds removed

Ruby port

Method

Pour the port into the cavities left from removing the seeds.

Serve immediately.

This has Taste and is a Treat.

MARSH MARIGOLD: KING CUPS: CALUTHA PALUSTRIS: HOW TO COOK MARSH MARIGOLD LEAVES

MARSH MARIGOLDS, KING CUPS, CALUTHA PALUSTRIS

Marsh marigolds or King Cups (Calutha palustris) have been growing in Britain possibly since the last Ice Age. The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon, mersa mear-geallia meaning marsh horse gold, and they are, as the name suggests, native to wetlands in Europe and North America. They look like huge buttercups and are nothing like the cowslip which is of the Primula family, although they are often called this in North America. They are also called Sponsa solis the Latin name referring to the fact that the flowers open and close as the sun rises and sets. The name Calathus comes from the Greek meaning goblet or cup and palus the Latin for marsh.

   They have been used for decorations and garlands in May Day festivals and in Beltane celebrations. They are associated with the strength of the Mother Earth goddess as well as the sun. These flowers were associated with the Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages (not the common garden marigold, calendula officinalis) and used to decorate churches; an example of the pagan rites being accommodated by the Church.

   The leaves can be cooked and eaten like spinach although they need to be boiled in fresh water several times as they contain helleborin. The flower buds can be pickled and used as a substitute for capers. If you use the leaves as pot herbs you need to boil them as before. The leaves can cause skin irritation, so be careful if you have sensitive skin. They were named plant of the year in Germany in 1999.

   Another name for the marsh marigold is verrucaria as they were used traditionally to get rid of warts.

  The whole plant used to be made into a tincture and given in very small doses to epilepsy sufferers and for anaemia. To make the tincture the whole plant must be picked when it is flowering, and then chopped and pounded to a pulp. Then you carefully spread it out on a cotton cloth and press it. The expressed juice should then be added to an equal amount of alcohol and steeped for 8 to 10 days in an airtight jar or stoppered bottle in a cool dark place. After that it should be drained and transferred to another clean bottle and stored in a cool dark place and diluted well before each use.

MARIGOLD: MARIGOLD FLOWER: MARIGOLD TISANE: MARIGOLD AND CHIVES EGG SANDWICHES RECIPE

MARIGOLDS, CALENDULA OFFICINALIS

Marigolds are fairly common in gardens all over the world, and the petals can be eaten. You can grow marigolds in window boxes and pots if you don’t have a garden, and dry the flower heads by spreading them on paper in the shade on sunny days, turning them several times a day. When they are dried store them in plastic bags and/or glass jars for use in the winter when you need cheering up. There is a superstition that you should only gather the leaves in fine weather after the dew has been dried on them by the sun.

    Even if you don’t use them as a medicine, they can make good additions to some dishes and can be added to pot pourris along with dried lavender flowers, rose petals and jasmine. The petals have long been added to soups for their heart-warming qualities as the marigold is said to heal the spirit and comfort the heart.

  You can make a tisane with 1 ounce of dried flowers to 1 pint of boiling water. Let the flowers steep for 5-10 minutes the strain and reheat if you like. Add some honey to taste. This tisane will help if you have a sore throat or gastric ulcers. This tisane taken three times a day will start the delayed menstrual flow too as it stimulates the uterus, so should not be taken if you are pregnant. This infusion will also help you perspire if you have a fever.

   You can also use this cold to soothe sprains and wounds and tired eyes or as eyewash if you have conjunctivitis (red-eye).

  The fresh juice squeezed from the flowers and leaves can be used to treat skin diseases such as eczema and there is a saying “Where marigold is, no pus will form.” This alludes to the its antiseptic healing qualities, as it is traditionally used to treat rough or chapped skin and lips, skin infections, cuts and grazes. If you are outside and have a bee sting, chew marigold leaves and put the pulp on the sting to take away the pain. If you are indoors you can blend the flowers with a little water. You can put this paste on a skin disorder or wound.

   Marigolds were mentioned by Shakespeare in his “Winter’s Tale”

     “The marigold that goes to bed wi’th’sun

       And with him rises weeping…”

In the 17^th century marigolds were used for headaches, jaundice, conjunctivitis, toothache and fevers; a conserve of the flowers and sugar, taken every morning with breakfast was believed to stop palpitations of the heart. Because of their colour the flowers were also used as a food dye for cheese. You van make a yellow dye by boiling the flowers to Gerard the 17^th century British herbalist writes of the marigold in this way: -  'The fruitful or much-bearing marigold, . . . is likewise called Jackanapes-on-horsebacke: it hath leaves stalkes and roots like the common sort of marigold, differing in the shape of his floures; for this plant doth bring forth at the top of the stalke one floure like the other marigolds, from which start forth sundry other small floures, yellow likewise and of the same fashion as the first; which if I be not deceived commeth to pass per accidens, or by chance, as Nature often times liketh to play with other flowers; or as children are borne with two thumbes on one hande or such like; which living to be men do get children like unto others: even so is the seed of this Marigold, which if it be sowen it brings forth not one floure in a thousand like the plant from whence it was taken.'

            Culpepper writes that it is a:

'herb of the Sun, and under Leo. They strengthen the heart exceedingly, and are very expulsive, and a little less effectual in the smallpox and measles than saffron. The juice of Marigold leaves mixed with vinegar, and any hot swelling bathed with it, instantly gives ease, and assuages it. The flowers, either green or dried, are much used in possets, broths, and drink, as a comforter of the heart and spirits, and to expel any malignant or pestilential quality which might annoy them. A plaister made with the dry flowers in powder, hog's-grease, turpentine, and rosin, applied to the breast, strengthens and succours the heart infinitely in fevers, whether pestilential or not.'

    The leaves can be used as a salad green and the juice from them is also said to be good for getting rid of warts.

    In Ayurvedic medicine marigolds are used for their antifungal properties to get rid of fungal infections such as ringworm, and to treat candida, conjunctivitis, eczema and minor burns, cleansing the system and stimulating circulation, as well as being used on cancer-type growths on the skin.

    In South East Asia it is believed to be lucky for attracting money so is well–liked by gamblers.

    If you are allergic to other members of the Asteraceae or Compositae family (daisies for example) then you might be allergic to marigolds, so before you use them test them on a small patch of skin before applying them to large tracts of skin.

    You can add dried marigold flowers to any other herbal tea or tisane for flavour and women going through the menopause can use the tisane as a uterotonic.

     It is wrongly believed that the marigold got its name because of associations with the Virgin Mary. Actually the name derives from the Old English, mersa-meargealla or marsh marigold.

    Add the petals to soups, as they are good with dried beans, lentils and meat based soups or chicken broth. Use the blanched leaves and fresh petals in salads and for garnishes and make tisanes with your sun-dried petals. Try the recipe below for a new twist on the ubiquitous egg sandwich.

MARIGOLD AND CHIVES EGG SANDWICHES

Ingredients

6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and mashed

3-4 tbsps mayonnaise

2 tsps Dijon mustard (or green peppercorn or wholegrain mustard)

1 handful fresh chives, shipped into ¼ inch lengths

3-4 spring onions finely chopped

small bunch of watercress trimmed and shredded

1 handful of marigold petals

salt and freshly ground pepper

butter or spread

slices of bread or pitta bread

Method

Spread the butter on the bread if you are not using pitta bread. If you are then you won’t need butter.

Mix all the other ingredients together but leave some watercress to one side to scatter over the mixture when it’s in the pitta packets or on the bread slices.

Make sandwiches or pitta packets and you have a meal on the hoof.

This has Taste and is a Treat.

WHAT IS ALSI? FLAX / LINUM USITATISSMUM: BENEFITS AND USE OF ALSI: HOW TO MAKE ALSI PINNI RECIPE

FLAX, LINUM USITATISSMUM, ALSI

Flax seeds were eaten by hunter-gatherers more than 8,500 years ago and grow all over the world. Because they have become naturalized almost everywhere it is very difficult, if not impossible to say where they originated. Flax seeds are known as linseed too, and flax was woven into cloth from early times. Cloth made of flax has been found in the tombs of the pharaohs, and the ‘fine linen’ mentioned so often in the Bible was woven from flax.

alsi wool

   The flax seed containers are called bolls (like cotton bolls) and when ripe the flax was pulled and tied into bundles then placed in water for a few weeks to separate the fibre from the stalks. It was then spread out to dry. In Teutonic mythology the plant was associated with the goddess Hulda, who first taught mortals how to grow, spin and weave flax into cloth.

 Its cloth made the “white sails” Homer describes in the Odyssey and Pliny wrote: - “What department is there to be found in active life in which flax is not employed?” He goes on (he is always a little verbose) “What audacity in man! What criminal perverseness! Thus to sow a thing in the ground for the purpose of catching the winds and tempests, it being not enough for him, forsooth, to be borne upon the waves alone.”

   In Mediaeval times flax was used for a multitude of purposes: - To make clothes, sails, fishing nets, thread, strong rope, strings for bows, sheets, sacks, bags and purses among other items. During these times it was believed that flax could protect people from witchcraft and sorcery. Bohemians believed that if seven-year-old children danced in flax fields, they would grow up to be beautiful.

   The ancient Greeks and Romans mixed the seeds with corn to make bread, but when people tried to make this in recent years the taste left much to be desired, and caused flatulence, and was not easy to digest.

    The oil-cake left after extracting the oil from the seeds used to be used for fattening up cattle and it also made good compost. If you grind this cake it is good for making poultices to be placed on the chest for respiratory problems. The crushed seeds or linseed meal as they are called can be mixed with mustard seeds too in hot poultices. These can be used to treat inflammation and ulceration and were commonly used for abscesses and other skin disorders.

   Linseed is a common ingredient in cough medicines and has been used to treat coughs in traditional medicine since ancient times in many parts of the world including Europe and Asia.

  To make linseed tisane, you need an ounce of ground or whole seeds to 1 pint of boiling water. Boil the seeds for best results and allow the tisane to stand for at least two hours then strain before drinking. In India they add lemon grass and licorice root powder to this when it is boiling. Then add a few drops of lemon juice and honey to make it tastier. Take it by the wineglass full. It’s good for coughs and colds and infections of the urinary tract such as cystitis.

   Linseed oil mixed with an equal amount of lime water is called Carron oil and in India it is called Chuna Pani You can also eat boiled seeds with honey for respiratory problems or use roasted seeds ground to a powder. These are traditional remedies for the subcontinent.

 The oil is a laxative and can disperse stones and gravel from the kidneys etc. As a cosmetic preparation, linseed oil mixed with honey can remove facial spots.

   Flax seeds’ powder is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids and the alpha linolenic acid present in the seeds is beneficial for the general inflammation present in the morbidly obese, and can possibly improve atherosclerosis according to recent clinical trials. They also contain omega-6 fatty acids.

   There have been many claims for the efficacy of flax seed on a number of diseases, but they have not really been proved, because the body is not as efficient in converting ALA (alpha-linolenic acid) from flax, into eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) as it is in converting it from fish oils. So basically, although flax seed oil contains omega-3 and -6, the body may not be able to utilize it as well as it can those omega-3 and -6 fatty acids found in oily fish such as salmon and mackerel. Therefore it may not be as effective against chronic diseases such as heart disease and arthritis as has been claimed, in comparison with oily fish. However, the good news is that flax seed (but not the oil), contains lignons (a group of chemicals) which may play a role in preventing cancer.

   It is believed that diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids including ALA may lower blood pressure. There is 6 % mucilage (a slimy substance) in the seeds and traces linamarin (a cyanogenic glycoside) which has a sedative effect on the respiratory system, so you can take 5 – 10 grams of seeds whole or crushed, and soaked in water 3 times a day for bronchial problems. Do this for 3 days maximum. Children under 6 should not take flax seeds. Alternatively you can put crushed seeds on your breakfast muesli, but drink a lot more water than usual.

   Linseed oil is good for skin problems such as eczema and for menstrual disorders; take 1-2 teaspoons of crushed seeds or 2 teaspoons of freshly pressed oil a day for rheumatoid arthritis and atherosclerosis, also for disorders associated with the menopause, including hot flushes, and candida caused by vaginal dryness. An infusion of the whole plant, (bruised and boiled for at least half an hour) taken daily is good for constipation, liver congestion and rheumatic pain. It is also good for PMT symptoms.

   In traditional medicine on the Indian subcontinent the healers differentiate between oil from fresh seeds and that from roasted seeds. The oil from fresh seeds is used as a purgative and is said to be good for piles. Chuna Pani is made into a paste and applied to burns, and a few drops of the oil is put inside the penis for diseases such as gonorrhoea. To cure insomnia, alsi oil is mixed with an equal amount of castor oil and rubbed on the soles of the feet. The leaves and the bark are burnt and applied to all kinds of wounds, fresh or old. A sex tonic is made with 2 parts of alsi, 1 part safed musli, 1 part kali musli (Curculigo orchioidea) and 1 part semal musli (Bombax ceiba) taken in water and if you take it all through the winter its effects will last until the end of autumn. It is drunk in milk.

   The recipe below is given to pregnant women in Pakistan and to breast-feeding mothers, although medical trials and the evidence from these suggest pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers should not take flax at all. Be warned. However this is a nutritious, tasty sweet so here is the traditional recipe.

ALSI PINNI

Ingredients

250 gr flax seeds, dry fried then ground

250 gr wholemeal flour (atta) dry fried until brown

250 gr ghee (clarified butter)

200 gr jaggery or gur, pounded to a powder

100 gr mixed almonds, pistachios and cashew nuts, roughly pounded

40 gr raisins

Method

Heat the ghee in a frying pan and add the powdered gur; then when it is bubbling, add the flour and flax seeds. Stir over a low heat for 5 minutes.

Add the nuts and raisins and stir well to mix and fry for five minutes more. Then remove from the heat.

Allow to cool and then roll the mixture into small balls. Eat when you like.

This has Taste and is a Treat.