SWEET WORMWOOD, QING HAO - MEDICINAL BENEFITS AND USES

SWEET WORMWOOD, SWEET ANNIE, QING HAO, ARTEMISIA ANNUA (L.)

Sweet wormwood is a close relative of wormwood, (Artemisia absinthum), mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), southernwood, (A. abrotanum) and tarragon (A. dracunculus) to name but a few in the genus. They are all Asteraceae or in the daisy family of plants. Apuleius, who was a Berber living in what is now Algeria in the 2^nd century AD wrote that this genus of Artemisia got its name from the goddess of hunting, Artemis in Greek, Diana in Latin. He describes how she gave these herbs to Chiron the centaur who practised medicine, for the benefit of the human race. The herb centaury is named after Chiron.

  Sweet wormwood can grow to as high as 9 feet or 3 metres and rapidly grows as wide as 1 metre. It flowers in late summer and leaves should be harvested before these appear, to be dried for later use. It is native to south-eastern Europe and Asia and has been used for thousands of years in Chinese medicine. It can cause dermatitis, so if you go to gather it wear gloves. Its pollen is highly allergenic too so if you are susceptible to hay fever don’t go near it when it is in flower. Its essential oil has been used in the perfume industry but could be utilized more. It is not, as its name suggests as bitter as wormwood, but if you make a tisane of the leaves, you may want to add some honey or stevia leaves to it.

  It is naturalized in the US where it has been used in wreaths for its perfume, and n Europe it is cultivated both for its medicinal uses and to flavour vermouth.

  A poultice of the hot leaves can be used to staunch a nosebleed, as well as to stop bleeding from scratched rashes, and to help boils and abscesses to heal. You can make a tisane of the leaves 1 ounce of fresh leaves to 1 cup of boiling water and allow this to steep for 10 minutes before straining and drinking. This can be used for diarrhoea, colds, flu digestive problems and fevers. It can also be used as a wash on skin eruptions and cuts.

  The Chinese had been using Artemisia annua for 400 years to cure malaria, before research was undertaken to discover how this worked. The plant contains a substance named artemisinin and derivatives of it are artemether and artesurate which were also studied, and these have been found to work to cure malaria, out-performing drugs to which the parasitical bacteria which causes malaria has become resistant. In clinical trials 90% of malaria cases were cured by this means.

  Then scientists began to consider the possibilities of sweet wormwood and artemisinin as anti-cancer agents, and their hunches seem to be right, as in vitro it has killed off breast cancer cells and those of leukaemia. This ancient remedy was known to the ancient Chinese, but lost in time until in the 1970s and archaeological dig uncovered old herbal remedies among which was how to remove artemisinin from sweet wormwood to help cure cancer. It never ceases to amaze me how much we have forgotten.

HOW TO MAKE GREEK-STYLE PRAWNS AND MUSHROOMS: EASY TASTY RECIPE

GREEK-STYLE PRAWNS

I hadn’t had prawns since Thailand, so not for two years, until the other day when I found them in a hypermarket. There were fresh mushrooms too, which were another treat, and then I found the Halloumi cheese although Feta is preferable for this recipe, but never mind! To make straight Greek prawns omit the spices, and use Feta with more oregano and a wineglass of white wine. Greeks don’t use mushrooms either. Here, though is the recipe I cooked.

Ingredients

1 lb shelled prawns

3 oz Halloumi or Feta, cubed

½ lb mushrooms (khombi), stalks and skins removed and diced

1 large onion, finely chopped

3 or 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3 or 4 tomatoes peeled and roughly chopped

1 heaped tsp dried oregano

2 tsps cumin seeds

1 inch piece of cinnamon

1 bay leaf, torn to the vein, but intact

freshly ground black pepper

olive oil for frying

Method

Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds, ad fry for a minute, then add the cinnamon, onions and garlic, and fry until the onion is translucent. Stir so that the garlic doesn’t burn.

Add the prawns and stir. Fry until they have been coated with oil on all sides.

Now add the mushrooms which should soak up the remaining oil.

Add the tomatoes and wine if you are using, and the oregano, bay leaf and black pepper.

Cook for 20 minutes and then add the cheese and cook for a further 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Remove from the heat and serve with rice.

This has Taste and is a Treat.

BOG ASPHODEL ( MOOR GOLD ) - INFORMATION

BOG ASPHODEL, NARTHECIUM OSSIFRAGUM

The bog asphodel or bastard asphodel lives in swampy ground and loves the terrain of Ireland, where it is the flower of County Ross, Yorkshire and Lancashire in northern England. It also grows in other parts of the British Isles and is native to Western Europe. It is not a true asphodel, as its name, bastard asphodel implies, although it is a member of the lily family and distantly related to the other asphodels. It is a member of the Dioscoreales order of plants along with black bryony among others.

  In Welsh it is called Llafn y bladur or Scythe’s blade and also Gwayw’r brenin or King’s braxy (braxy is an acute usually fatal sheep’s disease caused by bacteria); in Irish Gaelic it is Sciollam na moná.

  The Latin name Narthecium comes from narthex which means (here) a tall umbelliferous plant such as fennel. Ossifragum is from the Latin meaning bone-breaker, and this name reflects the fact that people thought that eating the Bog Asphodel made cattle and sheep’s bones brittle and easily broken. We know now that this phenomenon was due to lack of calcium rather than because of the plant.

  The plant has yellow star-shaped flowers, with between 6 and 20 on one stem, which are followed by egg-shaped orange-red fruit which contain tiny seeds. It has two sword-shaped leaves. The plant can grow up to 40 centimetres or 16 inches tall. The fruit used to be used instead of saffron to dye hair and cloth, producing a pale yellow dye. In the Shetland Islands off the Scottish coast the fruits have been used as a substitute for saffron in cooking. The tradition of using it to dye hair gave rise to the name ‘maiden’s hair’ in parts of Yorkshire, where it was also called ‘moor gold’. John Wise from the New Forest in southern England, writing in the 19^th century called it ‘Lancashire Bog Asphodel’.

  It contains steroidal saponins as does Tribulus terrestris (puncture vine) which probably account for the fact that it has caused photosensitivity in Norwegian lambs. Eating the plant has also caused the deaths of cattle and sheep by causing liver and/ or kidney damage, so is best treated with care.

  However, it has potential human health benefits as it contains an antibiotic active aglycone which is being investigated.

  It is said that the Bog Asphodel has been used in traditional medicine to treat hernias, coughs, inflamed genitals, ulcers, and spasms when taken in a decoction with wine. The mashed root was also applied externally to affected areas. This treatment is not recommended of course and is for information only.

  

ASPHODELS, JACOB'S STAFF: HISTORY, BENEFITS AND USES OF ASPHODELS: SPONGY ASPHODELS RECIPE

ASPHODELS, ASPHODELUS RACEMOSUS AND OTHERS

Asphodels have always fascinated me since I read Homer and I bought many of them, which had been dyed through osmosis to blue, green and violet when I lived on a Greek island. Of course they also grow wild in Greece especially on the island of Crete where they have the yellow ones, Asphodelus lutea as well as the more common white variety,   A. fistulosus, which has leaves that give rise to its name of onion-leaved Asphodel. Asphodels are member of the lily family of plants, Liliaceae and although native to the shores of the Mediterranean and Central Europe are also in Asia.

Pakistani asphodel

  In Pakistan the rather straggly –looking asphodel (Asphodelus tenuifolius) is a common weed in wheat fields in the same way as the poppy and cornflower are in Western Europe. This one is native to Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

   The ancient Greeks planted Asphodels near tombs as they believed that they were a favourite food of the dead. Homer describes the asphodel meadows (άσφοδελόν λειμώνα The Odyssey 24:12) in Hades, the Greek Underworld and some have mistakenly thought that this was a happy place so have though that it was the yellow asphodels to which he was referring. However a closer reading of the text shows that he was talking of the white, somewhat ghostly asphodel, so William Carlos Williams, the American 20^th century poet got this right in his poem “Asphodel that Greeny Flower.”

   “Of asphodel that greeny flower

                        like a buttercup

                               upon its branching stem-

     Save that it is green and wooden

                        I come, my sweet,

                               to sing to you

                     …………………

     I had a good collection,

                        The asphodel,

                                             forebodingly

     among them.”

The flower had associations with Persephone, who was condemned to spend six months of the year in the underworld because she had been tricked into eating six pomegranate seeds while she was captive there.

  Hesiod clearly held the asphodel in high esteem as he wrote in his poem, “Works and Days”

    “Fools, they do not know by how much

      the half is greater than the whole,

      nor what great advantage there is 

      in mallow and asphodel.”

He meant that the mallow and asphodel were cheap, plain foodstuffs which had many health benefits, but the wealthy had no time for these foods as they considered them food only for the poor.

  The English Romantic poets and Milton misunderstood the meaning of Homer’s asphodels and in Paradise Lost book 9 line 1,039 Milton has this to say of the asphodel, implying that it was a flower associated with the sensual plants of hyacinth and violets:

  “Flowers were the couch pansies, violets, asphodel and hyacinth, earth’s freshest, softest lap.”

  In early English and French poetry the name asphodel was given to the flower we now call the daffodil.

  Asphodels can grow to around 3 feet tall and if they are cultivated it is for their roots, which can be dried and boiled in water to produce a mucilage which is something like reconstituted Gum Tragacanth (gond katira). The roots contain inulin, a starch and although the root contains some bitter substances, these are removed by boiling. Glue can be made from the bulbs by drying and pulverizing them and then mixing with cold water.

  The bitter roots have been used in traditional medicine to help remove obstructions which prevent the menstrual flow being normal, and they are also a diuretic and have antispasmodic properties.

  Asphodels are related to asparagus and asparagus racemosus, and scientific studies have found that the asphodel (racemosus) has antimicrobial properties which can prevent secondary infections occurring in cancer patients.

  The asphodel, along with horta (wild edible greens such as the mallow and dandelion) helped the Greeks survive the harsh years of the Second World War, as their starchy roots saved many from dying of hunger.

  Both Hippocrates and Dioscorides advocated that the asphodel roots should be roasted in the embers of a fire and then eaten mashed with figs and the shoot eaten fried; like a pakora.

  In Britain there is the Bog Asphodel, which is yellow, Narthecium ossifragum.

  Here is a Greek recipe for asphodel shoots, which is a kind of omelette.

SPONGY ASPHODELS

Ingredients

1 cup tender shoots, 1½ inches long

1 small onion, very finely chopped

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tbsps cream or evaporated milk

salt to taste

olive oil for frying

Method

Make a cut in the asphodel shoots and blanch them in boiling water for 2 minutes.

Mix the eggs and milk beating until well mixed.

Fry the shoots with the onion for a few minutes and then pour the egg mixture over them.

Cover the pan and cook over a low heat until the eggs are set.

Serve as you would an omelete.

This has Taste and is a Treat.