Kitchen Medicine: Household Remedies For Common Ailments And Domestic Emergencies

I make no disguise of the fact that I’m a big fan of Hedgerow Medicine, members of the Mercian Herb Group are probably tired of my waxing lyrical about it when I give talks and demonstrations, and now there’s a new offering from the Seals. The new book is called Kitchen Medicine and in my opinion does for the kitchen what Hedgerow Medicine did for the hedgerow in terms of offering up new herbal remedies to try, and teaching the reader about the herbs available for use in their kitchens that they may not have considered to be remedies and what they can be used for. Offering information on over 60 useful food items you can find in the kitchen from Allspice to Yoghurt to help treat a variety of common ailments. You’ll also find medicinal uses for Chocolate, Salt, Bicarbonate of Soda and Vinegar, items that don’t usually spring to mind when the words kitchen and remedies are joined together.

Each entry follows the same format as Hedgerow Medicine with an introduction, description, cultural and historical facts, parts used and wonderful recipes to try. Readers are encouraged to begin keeping their own ‘receipt’ book which I think is an excellent idea. Being the proud owner of an old recipe book that belonged to my husband’s grandma, I can’t express how valued and treasured it is, turning the pages reading her little anecdotes and seeing the recipes she put together for her family gives a sense of tradition and continuity that is what herbal remedies are all about and we should be doing that with our own herbal preparations and passing that knowledge and wisdom on. Throughout the book you’ll learn how to make Herbal Vinegars, Honeys, Oxymels, Electuaries, Syrups, Infused Oils, Ointments & Salves, Skin Creams & Lotions, Poultices, Fomentations and Liniments.

As ever when I review a book that contains recipes, I always like to try a few for myself and so far we’ve tried and love the Aztec Cocoa, Coconut Chutney, Vegetarian Mulligatawny Soup and Bitter Orange & Chocolate Liqueur, although I confess to mixing some cocoa nib tincture I’d made after reading about it in James Wong’s latest book and the Seville Orange Bitters I made from Julies article on Seville Oranges in the HS Members Area earlier in the year when Seville’s were bountiful. I mixed both of the delightful tinctures together in a bottle and added the cardamom, followed by the honey, the resulting liqueur is delicious especially when you add a little cream as Julie suggests!

I love the Quick Reference By Ailment section at the back of the book, this isn’t included in Hedgerow Medicine and is a useful reference that lists the recipes suitable for treating each ailment and where you can find it in the book. With a recommended reading list that is comprehensive and covers Mrs Grieve to James Wong it’s easy to take what you learn from Kitchen Medicine and expand on that knowledge. Another book that I’ll be turning to time and time again.

The Medicine Garden by Rachel Corby
The Good Life Press, £16.95, ISBN 978-1-904871-58-3.

Written for those of us interested in using natural remedies, foraging for free, and for those that feel a spiritual connection with nature, wanting to use the herbal bounty that surrounds them to treat their family’s ills. Rachel encourages the reader to look at what is growing locally when it comes to treating their body with herbs. Proving that you don’t have to travel much further than your own back garden to find your medicine! Rachel Corby isn’t a herbalist, and she makes that clear at the beginning of the book, that said, as the opening chapter unfolds you understand why she is qualified to write about medicinal herbs, as you read about her experiences with herbs in her life, several years in a herb nursery, a herbal apprenticeship with Stephen Harrod Buhner in New Mexico, English village courses and encounters with shamans and medicine men in Africa.

With interesting chapters on Wild Food as Medicine and Preparations & Dosages you begin well prepared for the journey ahead, working through a variety of herbs each entry gives you facts and tips, the plants medicinal actions, gathering advice, directions for preparing the herb, cautions and contraindications and recipes and suggested uses. Black and white for the most part the centre of the book contains some beautiful photographs of some of the herbs featured in the book taken by Stephen Studd.

Rachel looks at herbs in your flower border, vegetable patch, lawn, hedgerows, by the river and in the woods and meadows; in the appendix you’ll find a list of common ailments and the herbs you can use to treat them. Written with the beginner in mind, the recipes and remedies in this book are easy to follow, I particularly like the ‘Healthful Cocktails’ entry that accompanies some of the herb listings, for example the suggestion to infuse primrose with lungwort and thyme for treating coughs, gives you other ideas for using the herbs and for making more than just simple remedies. Don’t buy this book thinking it to be an herbal remedy recipe book, it’s much more than that, it’s perfect companion for the person who wants to embark upon a herbal journey and form a lasting relationship with medicinal herbs.

Herbs For Pets: Second Edition by Gregory L. Tifford & Mary L. Wulff
Bowtie Press, £19.99, ISBN 978-1933958781

First published in 1999, this is a book I turn to whenever my pets are ill. This revised second edition contains the latest scientific information on hundreds of medicinal plants and natural therapies. The authors look at the Western, Ayurvedic and Chinese herbal practises, focusing on North American herbs, their applications and contraindications. Information is given on learning how to grow a variety of herbs that you can use to maintain the health of your pet naturally.

The first chapter covers the Principles and Practices of Herbalism and talks you through using herbs naturally, toxicity of plants and how to tell when you should go and consult a vet, the most common types of herbal preparations for animals as well as a list of the basic herbs to have to hand for your basic animal apothecary.

Don’t be put off by the fact that this is an American book, the information is within is just as relevant to us here in the UK and almost all the herbs contained in the books Materia Medica, such as burdock, calendula and chickweed grow readily in the UK, or if they don’t they are easily obtainable from a good herbal supplier.

Each herbs listed information includes its appearance, habitat, cycle and flowering season, parts used, primary actions, use, availability, most common medical use, propagation and harvest information. Cautions and comments are also given and each herb has its common and Latin names for correct identification.

The Herbal Repertory looks at many illnesses and disease that are pets can succumb to. Within this chapter are recipes for compresses, tinctures, tonics, oils, poultices, and salves that you can make yourself and use on your pet.