QUININE AND GIN AND TONIC TREE: MEDICINAL BENEFITS, USES AND HISTORY OF CINCHONA TREES

CINCHONA TREE OR QUININE TREE GENUS CINCHONA

As the prototype for the drug aspirin is found in the willow bark, so quinine, the antidote for malaria was discovered in the cinchona trees, of which there are around 38 species. The tree is native to the South American continent and was widely used by the Incas for chills and fevers, including malaria. The Spanish conquerors discovered the uses it is said when the Spanish  Governor’s wife, the Countess of Cinchona got a heavy bout of malaria in 1638 and the Incas were prevailed upon to supply their antidote.  The ground bark of the “quinquina” tree to be drunk in water was the first “Indian tonic water”, although this was later credited to British Indian Army officers in India in the 19^th century. They began to take their quinine with their gin and soda water in 1825, at the cocktail hour and because of the tonic quality of the quinine, it was known as ‘gin and tonic’ still favoured by the Brits today. By then trees were cultivated in India.

  The botanical name of the tree became that of the Spanish countess, and Jesuit priests took the remedy to Europe where malaria was common. However, protestant Europe was sceptical of Jesuit offerings and it was not immediately accepted as a cure. This was also because the barks of all types of tree in the genus were not effective enough to bring about complete cures.

  The trees can grow up to 100 feet, and are evergreen, with red, pink or white flowers which are covered with silky hairs. They are now cultivated in South America and India and the Indonesian island of Java. They are members of the Rubiaceae family of plants which means that they are related to coffee and the Kadamb tree.

  The trees were successfully cultivated in India and by 1867 they were doing well. It was from India that trees were sent to Java and now Indonesia produces most of the world’s quinine supplies.

  The bark is called Peruvian bark by some and has a long history of use in Europe as it was officially mentioned in the London Pharmacopoeia of 1677. Today the bark is used as a tonic, an antiseptic and in sun lotions. Quinine can now be produced chemically which is good news for the Cinchona which is now harvested in a sustainable way, with the bark from the tree and root branches taken from trees that are between 6-8 years old. By the end of the 19^th century the bark from the tree was so much in demand in the West that the trees were severely depleted almost to the point of extinction in South America. This is also happening to the Himalayan yew and many other plant species. Unfortunately we do not seem to learn from our mistakes.

  There are other uses for the bark of this tree, one being to help stop irregular heartbeats (arrhythmia) and to prevent the legs cramping at night. It has antifungal and antibacterial properties, and can boost the appetite and help the digestive system function normally. It has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for stomach cramps and dysentery among other ailments. In Venezuela it was used in traditional medicine as an anti-cancer agent. It is also used as insecticide and to repel insects.

  The native people of South America use the trees for many things including oral problems and an infusion of the bark is a good gargle for sore throats.

  Luckily this species of tree has been saved from extinction, mainly because it was cultivated in places other than its natural habitat and so the depleted stocks in its original habitat were left in peace to replenish themselves.

 

 

HOW TO MAKE PIZZA WITHOUT AN OVEN: TASTY EASY RECIPE

TASTY HOMEMADE PIZZAS AND CALZONE

If you don’t have an oven for any reason- your old one is broken, the oven door doesn’t shut properly, or you are on a camping trip, then you can still make a delicious pizza. The ones you make yourself are usually more to your taste than the ones you can get delivered, as only you know what your individual taste is.

  Try this recipe for a pizza without an oven and see what you think. You can make your own topping or filling for calzone and experiment with different cheeses. With this recipe we have used processed mini-cheeses and other processed cheese, but clearly a good piece of Cheddar would be ideal. However you can use whatever cheese comes to hand.

Ingredients

Dough

250 gr plain (fine) flour

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp yeast

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup hot water

Filling

150 gr cheese

1 onion cut into thin rings

1 tomato cut into slices, seeds removed

1 green pepper cut into rings

6 black olives stones removed and sliced

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

½ tsp salt

½ tsp dried oregano

1 tbsp olive oil

1 egg, beaten

Method

Put the yeast and sugar in a cup and pour the hot water over them. Leave this for 10 minutes.

Mix the salt with the flour and sprinkle drops of the oil in the mixture. Rub the flour through your palms so that the oil is well mixed in.

Add the water with the yeast and salt in it and knead the mixture into dough. Add more water if necessary.

Cover the dough with a cloth and leave to rise for at least 2 hours.

Divide the dough into 4 equal parts.

In a frying pan put half tbsp oil and swirl around the pan so that it is evenly coated. Take ¾ of the dough and spread it evenly in the base of the frying pan.

Put the pan over a low heat for 5 minutes so that the bottom of the dough is cooked. Remove from the heat.

Now turn the dough over and put ½ the cheese on the dough which has been cooked. Add the rest of the topping (but not the egg) and decorate it as you wish.

Roll out or flatten the remaining ¼ of the dough so that it will fit over the base of the pizza. Join the two pieces of dough with the beaten egg and leave for a few minutes so that it is joined well.

Brush the rest of the oil over the top of the dough lid.

Now put the pan back over a low heat and cook for 30 minutes, turning the pizza every five minutes so that both sides are cooked equally.

Now it is ready to serve. You can remove the lid and serve, or leave it on and eat like calzone.

This has Taste and is a Treat.

GLOBE ARTICHOKE - VEGETABLE QUEEN OF THE MED. HEALTH BENEFITS AND USES: GREEK ARTICHOKE RECIPE

GLOBE ARTICHOKE, CYNARA SCOLYMUS

There is some confusion in the names of the globe artichoke and the Jerusalem artichoke (arabee), the latter being an edible tuber, and the former a member of the thistle family, related to the cardoon and the milk-thistle. The botanical name “skolymus” means thistle in Greek. It has its origins in the Mediterranean region and is used in both Greek and Italian cuisine. It is fiddly to eat and prepare, although worth buying on the stem as this can be used in salads. In most countries, however, the stem is removed before sale. If you do manage to get a whole fresh plant, use the stems but discard the leaves as they are bitter. The leaves on the head of the artichoke are what are referred to on recipes.

  The plant can grow to 5 feet tall, and normally are around 3 feet high. They can be harvested in spring but are not available in winter months if they are grown in gardens.

  The globe artichoke was used in ancient Greece and Rome as food and medicine as it was thought to be liver protective and modern medical studies have borne this out. It arrived in Britain during the 16^th century and was grown in monastery gardens, although the Brits have not really adopted this vegetable in a big way. This may have changed since artichoke hearts can now be bought canned and frozen, making them more accessible.

The globe artichoke comes before the flower which is a huge, glorious thistle flower, so the artichoke we eat is the bud of the plant. If you don’t want to eat the artichoke whole, you can use the hearts as in the recipe below, and take the leaves off the globe, boil them for about 5 minutes and let them cool to use in a salad. Before boiling them, snip off the top of each leaf which might be thorny. You can also add the leaves to soups and stews.

  Stems should be par-boiled or blanched before eating, although they can be eaten raw and are good when drizzled with olive oil.

  The leaf extracts and extracts from the stems contain cynarin, which has been found to help lower blood cholesterol levels and to improve the functioning of the liver and gall bladder. This can help in the early stages of late onset diabetes.

  The globe of the artichoke is high in fibre and contains vitamins C and K, folate and some of the B-complex ones, as well as the minerals copper, magnesium and manganese. It also contains flavonoids and phenolic acids such as luteolin, and inulin which increases the body’s ability to absorb calcium and magnesium, regulates blood glucose levels and reduces cholesterol.

  Traditionally artichokes have been used to treat many ailments and have been shown to be effective against rheumatism. Dioscorides, in the first century AD recommended the mashed roots as a deodorant.

  Other uses have been for jaundice, loss of appetite, indigestion, flatulence, stomach pains, nervous complaints, oedema (they have diuretic properties), nausea, constipation, gallstones and liver problems.

  I love them in lemon sauce as prepared in Greece, and below is an adaptation of a Greek recipe which just needs the hearts, so canned or frozen hearts can be used. In Italy globe artichokes may be served alone with a sauce, or the hearts can be found in risottos or on pizzas, but they are especially good grilled with a selection of other fresh seasonal vegetables.

ARTICHOKE HEARTS AND VEGETABLES IN LEMON SAUCE

Ingredients

10 artichoke hearts

10 small shallots

1 lb small new potatoes, scrubbed

4-6 medium carrots, scrapped and sliced

250 gr fresh peas in pod, shelled

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 large onions, peeled and sliced

1 handful fresh dill, snipped

½ pint chicken stock (recipe)

¼ pint white wine

¼ pint fresh lemon juice

2 tbsps flour

olive oil

Method

Heat oil in a pan and fry the whole shallots, onions and garlic for 5 minutes, then add the sliced carrots, and potatoes, and fry for a further 5 minutes.

Add the flour and stir well, then slowly while still stirring, add the chicken stock and white wine.

Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for half an hour.

Now add the artichoke hearts, peas, dill, lemon juice and seasoning.

Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Serve hot or cold.

You can add more olive oil to this dish when you add the stock, if you want to.

Serve with fresh crusty bread or garlic bread.

This has Taste and is a Treat.

PECAN: THE ALL - AMERICAN NUT: HEALTH BENEFITS AND USES OF PECANS: BUTTERNUT SQUASH WITH PECANS RECIPE

PECANS, CARYA ILLINOINENSIS

As the Latinized form of the name Illinois suggests, pecans were first ‘discovered’ by European traders in that state, who named them Illinois nuts. They must have been planted there by the Native Americans who were eating them at least 8,000 years ago in the area of what is now Texas, according to archaeological evidence. They originated in the Mississippi river basin   Pecan nuts are a valuable source of protein and contain vitamins A, E and B-complex ones along with the minerals copper, zinc, potassium, iron, calcium, manganese and phosphorous. They have antioxidant properties, and contain good fats such as oleic acid. They are members of the hickory genus and members of the walnut family, Juglanaceae. In fact they can be substituted for walnuts in most recipes and vice versa.

  The name ‘pecan’ came from the Algonquin word pecane which describes the qualities of the nut and shell; ‘nut so hard that it requires a stone to crack’. The pecan trees are slow-growing that may begin to produce seeds (pecan nuts) after 6 years, but it may take longer. The nuts, which are technically seeds, take 6 – 9 months to ripen on the tree, and are obvious when the leaves fall in autumn. Then you will get a good crop of nuts one year followed by a much smaller harvest the following year. The trees attract butterflies and the nuts are avidly taken by gray squirrels, opossums, raccoons and other animals if people don’t get to them first. The pecan tree is the state tree of Texas.

   Thomas Jefferson planted pecans at Monticello and gave some to George Washington. The trees planted by these two presidents are now the oldest ones in Mount Vernon. The trees can grow up to 180 feet high and have spreading crowns of up to 120 feet, so providing as much shade as the bohar or banyan tree in the Indian subcontinent. The trees flower in April through to May with male catkins and female flowers on the same tree.

Pecans are now grown in Spain, Egypt, Israel, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, France, Australia and South Africa. Varieties of the pecan tree have all been named after Native American tribes, as after all the nuts were a staple for them in the past.

  Native Americans used a decoction of the bark of the pecan tree as a remedy for TB, and an infusion of the leaves and bark was used for dysentery and diarrhoea and externally for skin problems. The pulped leaves were put onto fungal infections such as ringworm to get rid of them. Charcoal from the tree was used to smoke meats. Milk can be made from the seeds and used to thicken soup, or to flavour corn cakes etc. Oil is extracted from the seeds and can be used on salads or in cooking in the same way as walnut or sesame oil.

  Research on lab animals has shown that pecans and the tree have properties which may reduce the risks or some neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, and may also reduce the risks of heart disease and cancer, but more extensive research is needed into the properties of the tree and the nuts.

  The wood from the pecan can be made into furniture, as it has much the same qualities as hickory wood and it can also be used for paneling and veneer. Perhaps the most famous use for pecans is pecan pie, which is made in many homes at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Pecan pie is as American as apple pie, but not as well-known in the rest of the world. However you can do a lot of things with pecans, such as adding them to biscuits, bread and cakes. Interestingly the first written Pecan Pie recipe dates back only to 1925, so perhaps it is a relative newcomer to US cuisine.

  The recipe below cam be made with blue cheese, such as a Blue Gloucester, Cheshire, or Roquefort and also could be made with Feta. I use Blue Stilton because I enjoy the taste of a really good one.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH WITH PECANS

Ingredients

2 kg butternut squash, halved, seeds removed,

   and cut into 1 inch cubes

3 tbsps olive oil

6 sprigs thyme (½ tsps dried) or ajwain

6 sprigs oregano (½ tsps dried)

4 oz pecans, crushed or chopped
4 oz Blue Stilton, crumbled
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 7 / 220° C / 425°F.

Put the squash in one layer on a greased oven proof tray and sprinkle the leaves from the herb sprigs over it, season and drizzle with the olive oil.

Put in the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes until the squash is tender.

Remove from the oven and transfer to a serving bowl, add the pecans and cheese and stir well to mix.

Serve with roast chicken or as a vegetarian dish with fresh crusty bread.

This has Taste and is a Treat.