AGAR-AGAR - THE VEGETARIAN GELLING AGENT: PRODUCTION, USES AND HEALTH BENEFITS OF AGAR-AGAR

AGAR-AGAR, GELIDIUM AMANSII

Agar-agar is vegetarian gelatine, made from a red seaweed. The best is thought to come from Gelidium amansii, although it can also be extracted from other algae such as those in the genus Gracilaria lichenoides which is found off the west cost of the USA and parts of the Asian coast. Other red algae used for agar-agar are those of the Pteroladia genus. Gelidium amansii is notable for the spiky projections which come from the main branches of the plant.

  A jelly made from agar-agar flavoured with lemon used to be food fit for invalids in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, although now it is usually not used in medicine. It does have use as a mild laxative however, as it plumps up in water and in the gut, so can help to remove toxins, fats and sugars from it. You can mix it with fruit juice or milk for this purpose, and shreds of it are better than powder. It will work similarly to isphagol or plantain.

  Agar-agar can retain moisture, and so is used in the laboratory as a solidifying component of bacteriological culture. It is used in the food industry and like annatto and gum Tragacanth has an E number, E406. It is used in the food industry and can be found in canned meat products, as well as in medicines and cosmetics. It is also used in dentistry and in the brewing industry where it is used to clarify beer and wines. You can also find it in ice cream and in salad dressings, as it is used as a thickening agent.

  It is believed that the Dutch brought it to the attention of other European nations, after they had taken it from Japan to their colonies in Indonesia, as they had “open ports” in Japan in the 17^th century. The Japanese and Chinese are believed to have been the first people to develop agar-agar from red seaweed.

  Now it is made in Australia, the US, Japan, New Zealand and Russia. After the BSE (mad cow disease) it became more widely used as it is a safe alternative to jelly or gelatine made with parts of the cow.

  As you would expect from an algae, it is rich in iodine and trace minerals, as are laver bread and bladderwrack. You can buy it in transparent strips or powder and use it for aspic jelly. 

DRAGON TREE -ONE OF SEVERAL PRODUCERS OF "DRAGON'S BLOOD": HISTORY, USES AND HEALTH BENEFITS OF THE DRAGON TREE

DRAGON TREE, DAEMONOROPS DRACO

This tree is native to Sumatra, Borneo and Malaya, and is a palm, a member of the Arecaeae family along with the toddy palm and others. Its main claim to fame is that it provides us with Dragon’s blood which is a resinous substances exuded from its fruit. This tree has catkin-like flowers which are followed by fruit which are pointed cherry-sized berries, with a coating of a reddish resin when ripe. It is this that produces Dragon’s blood. We have few pictures for this tree as other trees bearing dragon’s blood are more popular it would seem, some form the Canary Islands, one from Yemen but this one is of Asian origin.

  The resin is steamed from the fruit or the fruit are boiled, but the resin made in this way is deemed inferior. It used to be used in medicine for its astringent properties and was used against diarrhoea and syphilis.

Dragon' blood resin

  Dragon’s blood comes in tear shapes or in sticks, which were packed in leaves and strips of cane. Today however the tree is over-exploited and used to make rattan furniture and to make Dragon’s Blood ink which is used for witches seals and talismans. It is also used as a body oil and for incense.

  In traditional Chinese medicine it is used to control bleeding and pain, and to improve blood circulation as well as to promote wound healing and tissue regeneration.

  It is also used in varnishes (violin varnish) and was used in China to colour the surface of writing quality paper to make banners and posters for weddings and Chinese New Year.

  This tree is the main source of commercially harvested Dragon’s Blood.

  It gets a mention in this blog site because there has been research conducted into it, and it seems that it has exhibited antimicrobial and antiviral properties in vitro. It contains benzoic acid which has antiseptic properties and dracorhodin extracted from its fruits has been reported to induce human melanoma cell death, again in vitro. Research is still underway to reveal the secrets of the fruit and new flavonoids have been isolated from it, although their properties are still unreported. Although it is early days yet, scientists hope that it may have promising uses against cancer.

KIDNEYWORT ( PATHAR CHAT): HEALTH BENEFITS AND USES OF KIDNEYWORT PLANT

KIDNEYWORT, NAVELWORT, (WALL) PENNYWORT, UMBILICUS RUPESTRIS, PATHAR CHAT IN URDU

This plant is called Pennywort because of the shape of its leaves which are coin shaped with an indent which makes them look as though they have a navel. The names Navelwort and kidneywort also refer to the shape of the leaves, although, Culpeper the 17^th century English herbalist also says that they are good for the kidneys, hence the name.

  Formerly the Latin name for this plant was Cotyledon umbilicus-veneris, kotyle meaning cup in Greek, umbilicus, navel and veneris of Venus in Latin, so named because ancient herbalists believed that the plant came under the rule of Venus. It is also called Umbilicus pedulinis. It is a member of the Crassulaceae or stonecrop family of plants, which makes it a relative of the houseleek (Sempervivum tectorum) and orpine (Sedum telephium). The leaves look a little like those of the nasturtiums grown in so many gardens around the world. Despite the name Pennywort this plant is no relation to the Indian Pennywort, (Centella asiatica), although this plant is found in parts of Asia where it is used to heal callouses on the feet. The leaf juice is used for this purpose.

  Kidneywort is found in Europe and in western parts of Britain, in Wales, the Clyde Islands in Scotland, and western England, as well as Ireland. It extends through to North Africa from the Mediterranean. In strong sunlight, the flowering tops of the plant can turn red.

  The leaves are edible, but best eaten in early spring or winter, when they have a fairly pleasant mild flavour. They can be cooked or put raw in salads, but are best left alone at other times of the year as the taste is stronger and less pleasant.

  The leaves are used medicinally and have mild pain relieving properties and can be put on scratches too in order to stop the stinging pain and they are also used to put on minor burns and scalds. The juice of the leaves and an extract from the plant was used to treat epilepsy and this use was revived briefly in the 19^th century.

  Nicholas Culpeper has this to say about it in his “Complete Herbal” written in the 17^th century.

 “Government and virtues: Venus challenges the herb under Libra. The juice or the distilled water being drank, is very effectual for all inflammations and unnatural heats, to cool a fainting hot stomach, a hot liver, or the bowels: the herb, juice, or distilled water thereof, outwardly applied, heals pimples, St. Anthony's fire, and other outward heats. The said juice or water helps to heal sore kidneys, torn or fretted by the stone, or exulcerated within; it also provokes urine, is available for the dropsy, and helps to break the stone. Being used as a bath, or made into an ointment, it cools the painful piles or hæmorrhoidal veins.

 It is no less effectual to give ease to the pains of the gout, the sciatica, and helps the kernels or knots in the neck or throat, called the king's evil: healing kibes and chilblains if they be bathed with the juice, or anointed with ointment made thereof, and some of the skin of the leaf upon them: it is also used in green wounds to stay the blood, and to heal them quickly.”

  As it is a member of the stonecrop family it likes to grow in moist, rocky places, so have a look for it next time you are in such a place!

THE CORPSE FLOWER - WORLD'S LARGEST KNOWN FLOWER: HISTORY AND USES OF RAFFLESIA ARNOLDII

THE CORPSE FLOWER, RAFFLESIA ARNOLDII 

The Corpse flower is so named because its scent is reminiscent of that of rotting meat, which attracts the carrion flies that pollinate it in its natural habitat in the tropical rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo. It is a weird plant as it is rootless, stemless leafless and nonphytosynthetic. There was some debate as to whether it was in fact a flower of a fungus and after having its DNA sequenced it was still up for debate. It has been placed in the Euphorbiaceae family- the spurge family of plants along with poinsettia, the castor bean tree and the yucca or cassava, although it is perhaps better placed in its own unique family of Rafflesiaceae along with the other twelve known plants in the same genus.

  The plant is a parasite which grows in Tetrastigma leucostaphyllum a vine which is related to that of the grape. Successful pollination of the flowers is rare and they only open for about five days. The good news is that because of ecotourism and the financial benefits the plant brings to local inhabitants, it is protected by them, but the bad news is that the human disturbance caused by avid sight-seers is causing fewer flowers to bloom in the areas in which they grow. The flowers can measure a metre across and the largest ones can weigh up to 15 pounds which is approximately seven kilos. It is the largest known single flower in the world, which is why it attracts so much attention. The other flowers in the genus are smaller.

  The corpse flower is the symbol of Borneo and figures on stamps and tourist items. All the species in the genus are either threatened or endangered species because of loss of habitat. In traditional medicine the flower buds of this plant are used as aphrodisiacs and to bring pain relief during and after childbirth.

  It is believed that they have not been successfully cultivated outside their native habitat unless the vine in which they grow has been transplanted, although there have been several efforts to cultivate them.

  The first Westerner to have discovered and made notes of this genus was a French explorer Louis Auguste Deschamps (1765-1842). He was captured by the British on his return voyage to France in 1798, when Britain and France were at war. His notes were confiscated and were only rediscovered in the National History Museum, London, in 1954.

  In the meantime the British botanist, Joseph Arnold (1782-1818) and the famous Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (1781-1826), who founded modern Singapore, came across the species when one was found by a Malay servant of theirs in Sumatra. Shortly after the find Arnold died of a fever, and Lady Raffles had suggested the plant be named after him. In the event, it was named after both men when it was officially described in 1821.

  The fruit which appears after the flowers have withered is food for ground squirrels and tree shrews which inhabit the rainforests.

  J. Hunt Cooke penned these lines after seeing a wax model of this flower at Kew Gardens, London, in 1877.

    “What strange gigantic flower is here

      That shows its lonesome pallid face

      Where neither stems nor leaves appear.”

A fitting description of this flower, one feels.

  

SOY OR SOYA BEANS - USEFUL SOURCE OF PROTEIN: HISTORY, USES AND HEALTH BENEFITS OF SOY BEANS

SOYA OR SOY BEANS, GLYCINE MAX 

In British English we say soya bean while in US English it’s a soybean, but they are the same thing. They originated in South-East Asia and were first domesticated in China sometime around 1100 BC. From there they spread to other Asian countries where they were cultivated by the first century AD (including Japan). The soya plant is a member of the Leguminoseae or Fabaceae family which includes lupins, kudzu or pueraria, liquorice, carob, peas, beans, chickpeas, indigo, alfalfa and broom to name but a few. Its wild ancestor is Glycine soja.

  The first European to describe and illustrate the plant was Engelbert Kaempfer, the German botanist, in his “Amoenitatum Exoticarum” published in Germany in 1712. He also gave a detailed description (some say the most detailed to date) of the process of making shoyu (Japanese soy sauce) and miso. Before this date six Europeans had written about soy food products, miso, soy sauce and tofu but they had not realized how it was made and were ignorant of the fact that the products were made from the soya bean.

  Shoyu was imported into Europe long before the soya bean, first by the Dutch in 1670 who supplied it to King Louis XIV of France for use at his banquets. It was a luxury item at that time, just as it had been when it was first introduced into Japan, centuries before. John Locke, the English philosopher, wrote that it was available at a London restaurant in 1679 and during the 18^th century soy sauce was popular in Europe, and widely used in Britain by the end of that century. The famous Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce had a base of soy sauce and was spiced up to market it as a different food item.

  The soy plant was grown in Botanical Gardens in France, The Netherlands and England as a curiosity only, during the 18^th century. We know that Benjamin Franklin sent some seeds to a friend of his in 1770, but they didn’t really come into their own until George Washington Carver took an interest in then and realized that they were a valuable source of oil and protein in 1904. He persuaded farmers to rotate their crops and plant nitrogen fixers such as peanuts and soya plants (also sweet potatoes) and then plant cotton in the third year and farmers were amazed to find that the next cotton crop was better than it had been for many years.

  Henry Ford had his scientists make strong durable plastic from soya beans and made a car entirely out of soya bean plastic. When the plant was first introduced into the American colonies by Europeans in 1765 it was called “Chinese vetches.” The soya bean has been one of the five main plant foods in China along with rice, wheat, rye, barley and millet for centuries, but the beans were fist exported to Europe only in 1908.Now soya oil is used for many purposes, in the form of flour it can be added to wheat flour and helps compensate for the lack of the amino acids, tryptophan and lysine in the grain flour. Sixty pounds or one bushel of the beans yields eleven pounds of oil and forty-eight of meal. The oil can be used as a green fuel and lubricant as well as for culinary purposes, while the lecithin extracted from the oil is a natural emulsifier and used to stabilize the ingredients of some food products, as it makes fat and water compatible, and can prevent cocoa butter and chocolate from separating for example. The oil is used in margarines, salad dressing and can be found in paints, varnishes and printers’ ink. The plants themselves have always been used as fodder for animals, so the whole plant is useful.

  Soy beans in our diet have many health benefits and the same is true of tofu, soy milk, tempeh and miso as these soya products contain isoflavones which can lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The cooking oil and soya sauce do not contain them however. Soy foods may be beneficial for menopausal and pot menopausal women as they can help maintain healthy bones and a healthy cardio-vascular system. They do not increase the risks of breast cancer as was previously believed, but on the contrary may help protect from it. They can also help to stabilize blood sugar levels and so are helpful to sufferers of Tye-2 diabetes. It is also believed now that they may boost the functions of the brain. Soy protein may also help protect against atherosclerosis by increasing the levels of nitric acid in the blood, which improves blood vessel dilation and inhibits damage caused by free radicals.

  The choline found in soybeans lessens chronic inflammation, while a sphingolipid in the beans, soy glucosylceramide may promote gastro-intestinal health and inhibit the formation of cancerous tumours.

  Soya beans also contain dietary fibre which can reduce the risk of colon cancer. Apart from the substances already mentioned above, soy beans are excellent sources of molybdenum, tryptophan, the minerals manganese, iron, and phosphorous as well as containing selenium, magnesium, copper, calcium, sodium and zinc. They contain the B-complex vitamins, B1 thiamin, B2 riboflavin, B3 niacin, B6 and folate. Soy beans are also sources of the vitamins K, A and C along with Omega-3 and -6 fatty acids, 18 amino acids,  and the isoflavone genistein which may help us stay thin, and which is generally considered to have anti-cancer properties. The beans are also excellent sources of protein and a good substitute for meat, at least occasionally.

  The whole beans are the best for our health, although tofu, soya bean sprouts, tempeh and miso also have some benefits. The beans can be cooked in the same way as chickpeas or borlotti beans, and the fresh green beans (called endamame) are particularly tasty. Unfortunately perhaps the USA is the biggest exporter of soy beans and their oil, and these are GM crops. As we don’t really know what the long-term health effects of GM food are as it has not been around long enough for valid research, it could be that soy beans may not be as healthy as they would appear at the moment. However it is probably true that if eaten in moderation they won’t be very harmful.

CINQUEFOIL- PROTECTIVE PLANT:HISTORY, HEALTH BENEFITS AND USES OF CINQUEFOIL

CINQUEFOIL, POTENTILLA REPTANS 

Cinquefoil is so named because it has five leaves (cinque=five and folia, leaves). It is also called creeping cinquefoil as it creeps along the ground on tendrils as do strawberries, and five-finger grass or five leaf grass. It is very closely related to Silverweed and is in the same genus Potentilla which implies the herb has strength and power; and is a member of the Rosaceae family which includes fruit trees such as plum, apple, apricot and peach among others.

  The plant has been associated with protection from witches, but has also been used in spells and “Witches Ointment” in the Middle Ages. In France, in Normandy and Burgundy there are examples of cinquefoil carved in churches dating from the 11^th century. In heraldry too Potentilla or cinquefoil is a symbol of strength and honour, power and loyalty. It is native to Europe and grows rather profusely in Britain. It makes good ground cover, but is an annoying weed, as it tends to invade lawns.

  In the Middle Ages in parts of Britain, it was used in a concoction for baiting fishing nets, along with the juice of houseleeks, wheat, which had been boiled with marjoram and thyme and the common nettle. The witches were supposed to have made their ointment with the delightfully named wolfsbane, this plant and smallage, along with the fat of recently dead children, dug from their graves all of which were added to well- pounded wheat. This gives a whole new take on the story of Hansel and Gretel!

  A protection charm could be made by picking a perfect five-fingered leaf on a Wednesday when the moon was waxing and then pressing it in a Bible (one of the heaviest books). The plant could be hung from the bed or door to protect the house and bring a restful sleep, and the leaves were thought to represent health or luck, power, wisdom, love and money.

  Its flowers are partially closed in dull weather and completely close at night rather in the same way as wood sorrel does and of course Tickle Me the sensitive plant.

  The plant has astringent properties so was used as a remedy for diarrhoea which makes sense because of its tannin content. Like silverweed the roots are also edible and can be boiled having, so it is said a taste similar to chestnuts or parsnips.

  Culpeper had this to say of the plant: -

   “It is an especial herb used in all inflammations and fevers, whether infectious or pestilential or, among other herbs, to cool and temper the blood and humours in the body; as also for all lotions, gargles and infections; for sore mouths, ulcers, cancers, fistulas and other foul or running sores.

   The juice drank, about four ounces at a time, for certain days together, cureth the quinsey and yellow jaundice, and taken for 30 days cureth the falling sickness. The roots boiled in vinegar and the decoction held in the mouth easeth toothache.

   The juice or decoction taken with a little honey removes hoarseness and is very good for coughs.

   The root boiled in vinegar, being applied, heals inflammations, painful sores and the shingles. The same also, boiled in wine, and applied to any joint full of pain, ache or the gout in the hands, or feet or the hip-joint, called the sciatica, and the decoction thereof drank the while, doth cure them and easeth much pain in the bowels.

   The roots are also effectual to reduce ruptures, being used with other things available to that purpose, taken either inwardly or outwardly, or both; as also bruises or hurts by blows, falls or the like, and to stay the bleeding of wounds in any part, inward or outward.”

  The ancient Welsh physicians of Myddfai had other uses for it and said: -

“A sterile woman may have a potion prepared for her by means of the following herbs, viz:—St. John's wort, yew, agrimony, amphibious persicaria, creeping cinque foil, mountain club moss, orpine and pimpernel, taking an emetic in addition.”

  You can make a decoction of the plant with 1½ ounces of the root to 2 pints of water and boil this until the liquid reduces by half.  An infusion can be made with 1 ounce of the plant by pouring a pint of boiling water over it and letting this steep for 25 minutes before straining and drinking. If you have used the flowering tops of the plant this is good for menstrual cramps and diarrhoea.

  Cinquefoil has even made its appearance in English literature and here is one reference to it by John Clare in his poem, “The Eternity of Nature.”

  “But flowers, how many own that mystic power,

   With five leaves ever making up the flower?

   The five-leaved grass, mantling its golden cup

   Of flowers – five leaves make all for which I stoop.”

  However, as yet the medical profession has done little research on this prolific little plant.

CORN COCKLE - ONCE A WEED, NOW RARE: HISTORY AND HEALTH BENEFITS OF CORN COCKLE

CORN COCKLE, AGROSTEMMA GITHAGO 

The corn cockle is a native of Europe and is believed to have arrived in Britain on the backs (possibly quite literally) of Iron Age farmers, as it grew among crops of grain such as rye, which seems to have been its favourite neighbour in Britain, wheat and barley. Like the red poppy and blue cornflower, it flourished in cultivated land. Now it is a very rare sight in the wild in Britain, but can be bought for gardens.

  It is a member of the pink family of plants so is related to carnations, cloves, soapwort (Saponaria officinalis) and the soapnut or reetha.  The seeds and roots of the plant contain saponins which are toxic and so should not be eaten. However leaching (soaking in several changes of water for a day or so) generally rids plants of their toxins. It is said that the leaves of the corn cockle may be eaten as a vegetable in times of famine.

  The plant was extremely common in agriculture land in Shakespeare’s time and earlier, and seeds have been found in cess pits at York and other archaeological sites in Britain. It has been suggested by some that the seeds were an adulterant of bread, which like ergot, a fungus, could have lead to debility and made the population in the Middle Ages susceptible to leprosy a common disease at that time. This was discussed in 1961 by Professor Harry Godwin and K. Bachem. John Gerard writing in the 16^th century said that the corn cockle was often to be found in bread which it spoiled.

  Culpeper has this to say of the plant in his Herbal of the 17^th century: -

  “This unprofitable guest amongst corn is of Saturnine quality, causeth giddiness of the head, and stupefies if it gets amongst the corn to be made with it into bread, and, howsoever taken, it is dangerous and hurtful; although some ignorant persons have mistaken it for the right nigella, or used it instead of yuray or darnel to the great danger of the patient.” (“right nigella” is nigella sativa from which we get kalvanji or black seeds)

  However the Welsh Physicians of Myddfai have it in one of their remedies for pneumonia, taken along with other herbs: -

“Let (the patient) take, for three successive days, of the following herbs; hemlock, agrimony, herb Robert, and asarabacca, then let him undergo a three day's course of aperients. When the disease is thus removed from the bronchial tubes, an emetic should be given him (daily) to the end of nine days. Afterwards let a medicine be prepared, by digesting the following herbs in wheat ale or red wine: madder, sharp dock, anise, agrimony, daisy, round birthwort, meadow sweet, yellow goat's beard, heath, water avens, woodruff, crake berry, the corn cockle, caraway, and such other herbs as will seem good to the physician.”

  It gets a mention in Shakespeare’s “Coriolanus” in Act III scene I when Coriolanus and other senators are discussing a recent gift of corn to the poor, and liken them and their ingratitude for the gift to the “cockle”

“Coriolanus: …In soothing them we nourish ’gainst our senate

                     The cockle of rebellion, insolence, sedition,

                     Which we ourselves have plough’d for, sow’d and scatter’d,

                     By mingling them with us, the honour’d number.”

 In the Middle Ages the seeds from the corn cockle were prescribed by the apothecaries of the time as a laxative and were more harmful than jamalgota. In folk medicine systems in Europe the seeds were prescribed for treating cancer and tumours, as well as for hard swellings of the uterus (apostemes). The saponins were responsible for the local anaesthetic uses of the plant, but the seeds cause acute poisoning if taken in large doses resulting in vomiting, vertigo, difficulties in breathing, diarrhoea and excessive salivation, amongst other symptoms. The seeds contain githagenin which can get rid of intestinal worms, but the plant is best left alone and admired as a garden ornamental. If you do plant these in the garden, they need support as they can grow quite tall and bend under their own weight, producing a solitary flower which is pink-purple at the top of the spindly stem.