TIGER NUTS: MEDICINAL BENEFITS AND USES OF TIGER NUTS: TIGER NUT MILK RECIPE

TIGER NUTS, CYPERUS ESCULENTUS, CHUFA

Tiger nuts, from the Cyperus family have been with us for millennia. They were cultivated by the ancient Egyptians and found in paintings in the tomb of Rekhmire. In the tomb was an inscription detailing how to make small loaves of a mixture of tiger nuts and honey. This is that ancient recipe: - First of all a quantity of tiger nuts should be ground in a mortar until they are of the consistency of flour. Put this in a bowl with honey and mix to form a dough. Then put the mixture in a pan with a little fat and cook over a low fire until a firm paste has formed. This should smell toasted but not burnt. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool then take a little of the paste at a time and form into conical “loaves.” This was probably one of Rekhmire’s favourite foods and the recipe would have been written down so that it could be made for him in the next world.

   Cyperus esculentus loves to grow in marshy ground and is a member of the sedge family so it is a relative of Nut Grass. It is also known as Yellow Nut Sedge. Other names for tiger nuts include Earth almond and Zulu nuts. It is related to Cyperus papyrus which grew abundantly in ancient Egypt along the banks of the Nile, and from which paper was made. It is also related to Cyperus rotunda which grows in south Asia. The later has been used in the Indian subcontinent in medicine for centuries, as a remedy for all manner of ailments.

 Medical trials of this have shown that it has anti-inflammatory and immunostimulatory properties and it is useful in the treatment of atherosclerosis. This plant is known as motha or nagarmotha in Hindi and mustak or mustaki in Sanskrit. It has been proven to have potent antioxidant properties just like the tiger nuts from Cyperus esculentus, which come from Spain, and are cultivated in the Valencia area.

tiger nut crop drying

   Spanish tiger nuts have come under close scrutiny lately and it has been found that the oil obtained from them has similar properties to olive oil. This plant’s aerial parts look like those of rice or vetiver. Tiger nuts are also more nutritious (and I think tastier than peanuts). They contain minerals: - chromium, sodium, phosphorous, magnesium, manganese, iron, copper and zinc, and have a high vitamin E and C content. Apart from all these beneficial ingredients, they also contain all the amino acids and some of the B-complex vitamins. They are suitable for diabetics and can be eaten raw, roasted or dried.

   They have been known for 4000 years, and are not actually a nut but a small tuber, which is high in fibre, proteins and natural sugars. They are a good source of energy and have a rather curious flavour, which is a little like caramel, and this is perhaps more pronounced because they are chewy.

   Tiger nuts are grown from April through to September, the dried during September and October until they are finally harvested in November/December. Like rice they need irrigation on a weekly basis, and seem to be particularly well adapted to the climate around the Spanish Mediterranean coast. 

They are also grown in Egypt where they are used in perfumes, food and medicine. You may have had ice cream flavoured with them or biscuits. It has been shown that they can help prevent heart attacks and thrombosis and that they increase blood circulation, as they, as well as their Asian relatives have potent antioxidant properties. They can also help to decrease the risk of some cancers including colon cancer partly due it would appear to the high content of soluble glucose in the nuts.

   Keen anglers love tiger nuts as they are an excellent bait for carp. Another interesting fact about the Cyperus rotunda from Asia is that it is used to increase the size of female breasts! (So is imli or tamarind of course.) Cyperus esculentus is classed as a noxious weed in California and is on the B list there.

 In Ayurvedic medicine, rotunda is used for mental problems including psychosis, as an emmenogogue, for wound healing, for poor eyesight, to regulate body weight, improve digestion, for skin disorders, as well as for helping uterine contractions in child birth.

  Below is a recipe for a refreshing drink which has been made in Spain for centuries.

HOCHATA DE CHUFAS (TIGER NUT “MILK”)

Ingredients

250 gr tiger nuts

200 gr sugar

1½ litres of water

lemon rind, grated

1 cinnamon stick and a little cinnamon powder

Method

Soak the tiger nuts in several changes of water for 24 hours.

Grind the tiger nuts and then blend with the lemon zest in ½ litre of water.

Add the rest of the water and stir well, then strain through a layer of cloth.

Now add the sugar and cinnamon stick and keep stirring it until the sugar dissolves.

Put in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours and serve in glasses of crushed ice, sprinkled with a little cinnamon powder.

This has Taste and is a Treat.

SNOWDROPS: HEALTH BENEFITS PROVEN BY MEDICAL SCIENCE

SNOWDROPS, GALANTHUS NIVALIS

Snowdrops are native to Europe, and their original range extended from the Pyrenees to Ukraine eastward and from Germany and Poland through to southern Italy, Albania and northern Greece. They became naturalized in northern Europe including the British Isles.

  Writing in the latter part of the 16^th century Gerard says that they were a garden flower, and said “Nothing is set down hereof by the ancient writers, nor anything observed by the moderne” as regards their medicinal properties. However we now know that Gerard was wrong. The Bulbous Violet as the snowdrop was called then was mentioned in an old glossary dating from 1465, under the name “Leucis i viola alba” or the white violet, stating that it was an emmenogogue, used to regulate menstruation. It can also be found under narcissi in other old manuscripts and these say that it was a “digestive, resolutive and consolidante” so Gerard hadn’t done his homework too well.

   Snowdrops also go by the name “Fair Maid of February” which is when it pushes its head up through the winter snows, bringing with it the promise of spring and life and rebirth after the cold of winter. It was one of my grandmother’s favourite flowers as was the blue violet. Legend has it that when Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of Eden it was winter on Earth and snowing. Eve cried for the warmth of Paradise and God took pity on her and transformed some snowflakes into snowdrops to console her. Hence they are now the flower of Hope.

   The Druids traveled before they settled in the British Isles and it is possible that they knew of the healing properties of the snowdrop, as in Celtic mythology it is the flower of the Triple goddess, Brigit, goddess of poetry and inspiration, of healing and of the blacksmiths arts. She was the goddess of the New Moon and of flame hearth and the smithy. The Celtic nation of Brigantia was once in parts of Spain, Brittany and the British Isles, and as the snowdrop was native to Spain, the Celts would have known of it. Whatever the case, their healing was lost in the period of the introduction of Christianity and we may only now be beginning to rediscover what they knew of the healing powers of plants. A German legend says that snow got its whiteness from the snowdrop as it wanted a colour and god said it should ask plants and animals for some of theirs. Only the snowdrop was willing to share its colour with the snow and so it is white.

  It is believed that snowdrops were taken to the British Isles by monks from Italy, as they were grown in old monastery gardens.

   William Wordsworth wrote lines “On seeing a Tuft of Snowdrops” in 1819: -

  …these frail snowdrops together cling,

 And nod their helmets, smitten by the wing

 Of many a furious whirl-blast sweeping by”

And this “whirl-blast” seems to accurately describe the way Alzheimer’s patients must feel. It is perhaps apt that modern medical research has shown that galanthamine or galantamine, extracted from snowdrops may be able to help Alzheimer’s sufferers.

   A Russian pharmacologist visiting Bulgaria observed a peasant woman treating children with poliomyelitis with a concoction made from snowdrop bulbs, and was amazed when they recovered without any signs of paralysis. Later, in 1951, another Russian pharmacologist, Mashkovsky, discovered galanthamine in the snowdrop Galanthus woronwii and this has been used in Eastern Europe for the alleviation of neuromuscular ailments including neuralgia and neuritis. It enhances the neurotransmissions in the brain, so was used for poliomyelitis.

   Now in the West, snowdrop lectin (Galanthus nivalis agglutinin) from Galanthus nivalis is being studied for its potential activity against HIV. It is also a powerful insecticide. Galanthamine is used in the treatment of traumatic injuries to the nervous system too.

  It seems as though the humble snowdrop has a lot of health benefits for us that we probably hadn’t realized.

BLUEBELLS FAIRY FLOWERS: SUPERSTITIONS, USES AND BENEFITS OF BLUEBELLS.

BLUEBELLS, HYACINTHOIDES NONSCRIPTA

Bluebells are native to the British Isles and Ireland, although there seems to be a little confusion surrounding them. The “bluebell of Scotland” is the harebell, Campinula rotundifolia which is a completely different flower. This is usually a single flower on a stalk, but bluebells have many bell shaped flowers on a single stalk, and the native British bluebell has a heady fragrance. The invading species of Spanish bluebell is Hyacinthoides hispanica, which is easy to distinguish from the British variety as it doesn’t have a fragrance, has paler blue flowers, is taller, is more upright and has wider leaves. The British variety is now a protected species, under the 1998 Wildlife and Countryside Act so unfortunately it is illegal to collect them. However they were abundant in the woods where I grew up and there were no restrictions on picking them, although no one I knew ever uprooted them. This may have been because of an ancient superstition, which says that anyone who picks or damages a bluebell will die because they are fairy flowers. It was thought that the fairies rang the bluebells to call a fairy meeting and any human who heard the bells ringing would die, or fall under the enchantment of the fairies. In some parts of the country it was believed that you shouldn’t walk into a ring of bluebells because you would fall under a spell or die. They are sometimes called Dead Man’s Bells. When I was young I had no idea that they were a flower of doom, but knew them as fairy flowers, which was not something to fear.

    Another superstition is that if someone wears a garland of bluebells they are compelled to tell the truth. Also if you are a young woman and can turn a single bluebell flower inside out without tearing or damaging it, you will win the one you love.

   The Daily Telegraph newspaper in Britain keeps a close watch on bluebells and got very excited in 2009 and again in may 2010 when white bluebells were found. I have often seen them growing along with pink ones and knew they were rare, although I hadn’t realized (because there were always a fair number of them) that a white bluebell occurs once in every 10,000. We had pink ones in the woods too and these are even rarer, I have since learned. In 2008 it reported that the bluebells had flowered a month early on the 3^rd of March, possibly because of global warming.

  Bluebells along with wild wood anemones, foxgloves, primroses, sorrel and dog violets indicate places where ancient forests (pre1600) once stood. If you have these in your garden, then it is likely that your house in built on ancient forest land.

   These flowers attract bees and butterflies, and the 19^th century poet laureate, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, waxed poetically lyrical about them. Here are some of his lines:

     “In the month when earth and sky are one,

      To squeeze the bluebell ‘gainst the adder’s bite”

And “The heaven’s upbreaking through the earth” was how he described the bluebell in flower, which it does normally around April and May. Juice from the bluebell stems was an old remedy for poisonous bites; the adder mentioned by Tennyson is the viper, the only poisonous snake native to the British Isles.

   Britain actually has 30% of the world’s population of bluebells, which grow in North America, North Africa, Western Europe, the Iberian Peninsula and Central France. They can also be found along the Mediterranean as far as Italy.

   The plant was first called Hyacinthus by the botanist Linnaeus, because of their resemblance to the wild hyacinth which meant that he associated it with the Greek myth of the youth Hyacinth who was beloved of Apollo the Sun god and Zephyrus the god of the West Wind. Hyacinth loved Apollo best and the jealous West Wind sent a quoit in the wrong direction while Hyacinth was playing quoits with Apollo, and he was killed by its blow. In his grief, Apollo caused a hyacinth flower to grow from the blood of Hyacinth and the letters Ai Ai (alas, alas) were written on it. The bluebell was called Hyacinth nonscripta because it was not written upon.

   In the language of flowers the bluebell means constancy, humility and gratitude and is a symbol of humility and gratitude.

  Traditionally the bluebell root was used as a styptic (which stops bleeding by contracting the bleed vessels and tissue) and diuretic, and also as a substitute for starch when huge white ruffs were fashionable (Elizabethan and Jacobean times). The bulb contains inulin and mucilage and trials are underway to teat the efficacy of the bluebell for the treatments of infections stemming from HIV and cancer treatments, but the trials are still in the early stages.

HOW TO MAKE SPICY APPLE SOUP: IDEAL FOR WINTER: EASY AND TASTY RECIPE

WINTER APPLE SOUP

A tasty soup to help ward off colds and flu as it has vitamins and minerals that boost the immune system.

  Broken rice is rice that has been damaged during hulling and so is cheaper than perfect basmati rice. It is commonly used in Pakistan as an addition to soups (as here) or for desserts. Ordinary rice can be used too.

   You can also add crushed roasted chestnuts or shelled walnuts to this soup for added flavour and nutrition when you add the rice.

 

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped finely

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

½ inch ginger root, finely chopped

1 apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped

3 tbsps besan (chickpea flour)

3 tbsps tomato puree (peel and chop a tomato and fry to a paste)

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

½ tsp garam masala

½ tsp ground coriander seeds

2 tbsps white vinegar

2 tbsps fresh lemon juice

salt to taste

2 tbsps butter

1 tbsp oil

2 glasses chicken stock

1 cup broken rice cleaned washed and soaked

6 glasses water

3-4 green chillies, chopped for garnish

Method

Heat the butter and oil over a low heat so that they don’t burn. Add the onion and fry until soft. Add garlic and ginger and cook for 1 min.

Add the besan and fry but stir so that it doesn’t burn.

Now add the tomato paste and the apple. Cook over a low heat for 5 mins taking care that they do not burn- stir well.

Add the chicken stock slowly and stir to mix completely. Then add the garam masala, coriander, black pepper and rice. Allow the soup to boil, and then add the vinegar, water and cook for 45 mins or until the mixture thickens.

Add the lemon juice and salt, garnish and serve.

If you want to you can keep this in the fridge until ready and just add a little more water and reheat.

This has Taste and is a Treat.