LEMONS - COOLING DRINKS, REMEDIES AND BEAUTY TREATMENTS

Handy Tips for Using Lemons

Lemons are exceedingly nutritious, and we can use them for things other than cooking. Here are some of the traditional uses for lemons and the leaves from the tree in Pakistan.

  Don’t throw away the peel, as for one thing you can get rid of any discoloured or rough skin on your elbows or heels by rubbing the lemon halves that you have squeezed into them.hhhjjj

   Mix the same quantities of lemon juice and salt, shake the mixture and use it to remove stains from cloth, including white clothes and tablecloths.

   Mix ¼ tsp of salt with 1 tsp lemon juice and rub it onto your teeth to whiten them. If you also rub this mixture onto bleeding gums, it will stop this problem.

   If you want your hair to shine, after washing and rinsing your hair, add some lemon juice to a little water, rub this onto your hands and run them through your hair, leaving it to dry naturally.

   If you have eaten burning hot food and have mouth blisters, put 1 tbsp lemon juice in 1 glass of water and rinse this around your mouth.

   If you have bad breath or a wound in the gums, mix1 tbsp lemon juice with 2 tbsps rose water and rinse your mouth with it - spitting it out and not swallowing when you have run it around your mouth for a while.

   If you have a sore throat, or hoarseness, mix 3 tbsps lemon juice which you have heated first, with a tbsp honey, and take some on a spoon and suck it over the course of a day.

  For this remedy you need four types of salt and dried lemon peel. You dry the peel in the shade, and when it has dried you grind it to a powder, and mix it with table salt, black salt, sea salt and lake salt (sambar in Urdu). Store this in an airtight jar and take a pinch after you have eaten so that you don’t suffer from indigestion or other stomach problems. This is very good for those who suffer with stomach pains in the lower abdomen region which lead to either constipation or diarrhoea.

Pakistani Lemons

  If you have a stomach pain, take the same weight of black peppercorns and fresh lemon leaves, grind them together and mix in water, and the pain will be relieved very quickly.

  When you get bitten by an insect such as a mosquito, rub lemon juice into the affected area to stop the itching and prevent lumps forming. You can also cover yourself in lemon juice to prevent being bitten.hhhhhhjj

  To prevent wrinkles and signs of aging of the skin, maze equal quantities or lemon juice, rose water and glycerine and put this on your face at night before you go to sleep. Wash it off as normal in the morning.

   If you have had a particularly hard day and need to get rid of the sweat and dirt, put 2 tbsps lemon juice in the bath and it will help remove the grime and body odour.

   Peel some lemons and break them into natural segments, then thread yarn through each piece and hang them to dry in the sun. When they are completely dry grind them to a powder then mix this with 4 times the weight of sugar or sugar and salt, and store the mixture in an airtight jar. Take a pinch after each meal to aid the digestion and make the stomach strong and healthy. It will stop nausea too.

   If you want a glowing complexion, mix 3 tbsp of milk with 1 tbsp lemon juice, and put it on your skin with cotton wool. Wash it off after half an hour and feel your skin glow.

  Of course if you cut a fruit such as an apple which discolours quickly on contact with oxygen, you can coat it with lemon juice so that it keeps its colour.

   Benefits of Skanjveen

Skanjveen is not just a refreshing drink but it has health benefits too as it can help those with jaundice and stop sickness and diarrhoea. If you want to prevent yourself getting these problems, drink one glass in the morning and one in the afternoon, and to make this drink more effective use misri rather than normal sugar.    

How to Store Lemon Juice

In a sterilized glass jar or bottle with a tight fitting lid, pour in lemon juice to almost the top, then add 1 or 2 tbsps of almond oil to cover the surface of the lemon juice. 

When you want to use the lemon juice, the oil will separate and should be poured into something clean. Use as much juice as you need to then put the almond oil back on top of it and make sure the top of the jar or bottle is securely fastened once again.

How to Make Lemon Sharbet

This will help you if you are on a weight loss diet, and is very refreshing on sweltering hot days, as well as cooling the body internally.

Ingredients

1 kilo sugar

½ litre fresh lemon juice

Method

Put sugar in a pan and add one glass of water to make a syrup. Stir well over a low heat until when you take a spoonful of the syrup and let it fall from the spoon it falls in one line. Then add the lemon juice, stir well and when the liquid boils remove it from the heat.(Don’t over heat or it will become sour.)

Let this cool and when cold bottle it and store for later use.

To drink: - 1 glass of water to 1 tbsp lemon sharbet over ice.

If you are on a weight loss diet, drink one glass every morning instead of breakfast.

This has Taste and is a Treat.

DAISY - EYE OF THE DAY - A BENEFICIAL LITTLE FLOWER

COMMON DAISY, BELLIS PERENNIS

This daisy is common on lawns in Britain as well as in fields, woods and at the sides of motorways. It is a low growing plant with white petals that are often tipped pink, hence another of its names, “strawberries and cream.” In Welsh it is called Llygadd y Dydd or Eye of the Day, which is what Chaucer, writing in the 14^th century, calls it,

   “Well by reason men call me

     The Daisie, or else Eye of the Day.”

In the Dark Ages, when there were no citrus fruits such as there had been in Britain in Roman times, oranges and lemons for example, daisy roots and leaves in a strong decoction were used to prevent scurvy and conditions which resulted from lack of vitamin C. However the strong decoction made from daisies for this purpose needs to be taken over a long period of time to be effective. It is not necessary today when grapefruit, pommelo and other citrus fruits are in plentiful supply.

  Gerard writing in the 16^th century called it Bruisewort as it was used for bruises and sprains, as mallow is more commonly these days. He recommended it for “alle kinds of aches and paines,” for curing fevers and for inflammation of the liver as well as “alle the inward parts.” In 1771 Dr. Hill wrote that an infusion of the leaves was good against “Hectic Fevers” and we know that in the 14^th century daisy was used in ointments for gout, wounds and fevers. The leaves have an acrid taste and cows and other animals avoid them as do insects, so the infusion was also used as an insect spray.

  An infusion of the flowers and leaves was given to alleviate rheumatoid arthritis and liver and kidney problems. The distilled water made from the plant was used for inflammation of the liver and kidneys.

  This European daisy is invasive in North America where the indigenous daisy is the Ox-Eye Daisy. In the US the common daisy is regarded by the USFDA as generally regarded as safe and there is a possibility that it might help in the treatment of HIV. When used with Arnica montana or wolf’s bane it can help bruising and trauma, and also, when the 2 are combined it can stop excessive bleeding after a woman has given birth. However, not much research has been carried out on this common little plant.

   The daisy symbolizes gentleness and is a favourite flower of children who love to make daisy chains with them. In the past these chains were hung around young children’s necks to stop faeries taking them and leaving changelings in their places. The chain itself symbolizes the sun, earth and circle of life, so they must be joined when the chain is long enough to be worn around the child’s neck.

   People used to like to have daisies in the garden to keep malevolent faeries away from their homes. Daisies are often used by young people who imagine themselves to be in love, as they pluck the petals from the daisy one by one while saying “He loves me, he loves me not” until the last petal has been plucked, so showing whether or not the object of their affections returns their love or not. There are other superstitions with rhymes in different countries in Europe, but all have a sense of the prophetic power of the daisy.

  The great Romantic poet, William Wordsworth wrote several versions of “To a Daisy” and here is the first stanza of one: -

 

“In youth from rock to rock I went
 From hill to hill, in discontent
 Of pleasure high and turbulent,
 Most pleas'd when most uneasy;
 But now my own delights I make,
 My thirst at every rill can slake,
 And gladly Nature's love partake
 Of thee, sweet Daisy!”

 

 

HART'S TONGUE FERN - INFORMATION: BENEFITS AND USES OF HART'S TONGUE FERN HERB

HART”S TONGUE FERN, SCOLOPENDRIUM VULGARIS, OR ASPLENIUM SCOLOPENDRIUM (LINN) OR PHYLLITIS SCOLOPENDRIUM

The Hart’s Tongue Fern is native to Europe and there is a variety of it in North America, Phyllitis scolopendrium var.americana which is smaller than the European variety. It’s a member of the spleenwort family, Aspleniaceae and grows in Asia too and parts of North Africa, and prefers moist, shady places. It can grow in woods and along river banks, as well as in walls. I have a vague memory of the leaves not having a pleasant smell when bruised, and I avoided the fern as a child because I didn’t like the waxy feel of its leaves which are shaped like the tongue of the red deer, or so it was thought, hence its name. Perhaps I didn’t appreciate it because it grew on damp walls on buildings I didn’t particularly like, such as public toilets.

   It was known to the ancient Greek physician Galen (c 130-210 AD) who is deemed to be second only of the ancient Greek physicians to Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine. He used it in remedies for dysentery and diarrhoea because of its astringent qualities, in an infusion, made from 2 ounces of the leaves to 1 pint of water. This was later used by medieval physicians to remove obstructions of the spleen and liver.

  Dioscorides, writing his Materia Medica in 1 AD remarked that the leaves tasted bitter, and recommended it being drunk with wine as an antidote to snake bites and for diarrhoea and dysentery.

   The fronds can be harvested in summer and dried for later use. If dried, it can be made into an ointment for scalds, burns and piles. It was one of the five great capillary herbs along with the maidenhair fern which is a common house plant in often growing in pots in British bathrooms.

  The mediaeval herbalists called it lingua cervina or deer’s tongue in their old herbals. Culpeper writing later, in the 17^th century says “It is a good remedy for the liver” and goes on to include its benefits to the spleen and “the heat of the stomach.” He continues: -

  “The distilled water is very good against the passion of the heart, to stay hiccough, to help the falling of the palate and to stay bleeding of the gums by gargling with it.”

  It has been used to ease gout, clear the eyes, heal fresh wounds (juice from the leaves) reduce fevers and to get rid of warts and pistules in early European traditional medicinal systems. It is mentioned in Michael Drayton’s (1563-1631) poem, Poly-Olbion, Song XIII, referring to its use for removing stones and gravel from internal organs, “hart’s tongue for the stone.”

  It has been the subject of some clinical trials which suggest that it may be effective for digestive disorders as Culpeper thought, and that it may increase production of urine as well as soften stools (as senna does) and it may stimulate the bowel to contract and empty (in which case it would be good for constipation and piles perhaps).

  The physicians of Myddfai had this recipe for remaining chaste, (not involving the chaste berry), presumably for a woman rather than a man.

  “If you would always be chaste, eat daily some of the herb called hart's tongue, and you will never assent to the suggestions of impurity.”

   Apart from having remedies for ailments, these old physicians also gave dietary advice and here is what they had to say for the

“Month of May. Do not eat sheep's head or trotters, use warm drink. Eat twice daily of hart's tongue, fasting. Take a gentle emetic. Use cold whey. Drink of the juice of fennel and wormwood.” It isn’t clear whether this refers to the herb or the deer’s tongue, but whichever, it wouldn’t have made much of a meal; an austere diet, to be sure, but one that was perhaps followed by the adherents of the physicians of Myddfai in Wales.

WATER SMARTWEED ( AMPHIBIOUS PERSICARIA) - USEFUL HERB: MEDICINAL BENEFITS AND USES OF WATER SMARTWEED HERB

AMPHIBIOUS PERSICARIA, WATER SMARTWEED, POLYGONUM AMPHIBIUM OR PERSICARIA AMPHIBIA

Amphibia persicaria is also known as Water Smartweed, Amphibious knotweed, and Amphibious bistort. It is a flowering plant in the knotweed family of Polygonaceae, and can grow in water as much as 8 feet deep, although it is found in much shallower water normally. The thick stems grow from the plant’s rhizomes and it has a cluster of pink flowers at the top of the stem (sometimes these grow to 3 metres long), which are 5 lobed and pointed. It flowers in the months of July and August, and then produces small, shiny, brown seeds.

  Native Americans used to eat the young shoots as a relish, and used it in medicine and as hunting medicine. They would use the flower heads as bait when trout fishing and the smoke from the leaves of the plant was thought to attract deer to hunters. A poultice of freshly gathered roots was used on mouth ulcers, and an infusion of the dried roots was given as a remedy for chest colds. Interestingly, Dioscorides, in 1 AD thought that the roots were useless. He attributed cooling and astringent properties to the plant and said that they were used in much the same ways as the persicaria that grows in fields. He used the plants as a diuretic, for excessive menstruation, to get rid of sores and their pus in ears, and boiled in wine for ulcers on the genitals. He put the leaves on fresh wounds, used them internally for burning sensations in the stomach and for herpes and other inflammations.

  Amphibious persicaria is native to both Europe and Asia as well as to North America. In other countries it has been introduced and has, in some of these, become a noxious, invasive species, taking over ponds and lakes.

  It is related to the Water pepper, and should not be confused with it. (Polygonum hydropiper)

   The Welsh physicians of Myddfai used it in remedies for fever, such as these two; -

   “The mugwort, madder, meadow sweet, milfoil, hemp, red cabbage, and the tutsan, all these seven herbs enter into the composition of the medicine required. Whosoever obtains them all, will not languish long from a wounded lung, or need fear for his life. Any of the following herbs may be added thereto, butcher's broom, agrimony, tutsan, dwarf elder, amphibious persicaria, centaury, round birth wort, field scabious, pepper mint, daisy, knap weed, roots of the red nettle, crake berry, St. John's wort, privet, wood betony, the roots of the yellow goat's beard, heath, water avens, woodruff, leaves of the earth nut, agrimony, wormwood, the bastard balm, small burdock, and the orpine.”

 “Another treatment for an intermittent fever: Take the mugwort, dwarf elder, tutsan, amphibious persicaria, pimpernel, butcher's broom, elder bark, and the mallow, and boiling them together as well as possible in a pot, or cauldron. Then take the water and herbs, and add them to the bath.”

The following was used as a cure for stones or gravel in the kidneys: -

“If the disease be gravel, make a medicine of the following herbs, macerated in strong clear wheat ale, viz. water pimpernel, tutsan, meadow sweet, St. John's wort, ground ivy, agrimony, milfoil, birch, common burnet, columbine, motherwort, laurel, gromwel, betony, borage, dandelion, little field madder, amphibious persicaria, liverwort.”