Elderberry – Sambucus

September 17, 2022 by Jurgen

Elderberry (Sambucus Nigra) is used for its antioxidant activity to improve vision, boost the immune system, improve heart health and for coughs, colds, flu, bacterial and viral infections and tonsillitis. Elderberry juice was used to treat a flu epidemic in Panama in 1995.

Elderberry – Sambucus Nigra

Elderberries contain organic pigments, tannin, amino acids, carotenoids, flavonoids, sugar, rutin, viburnic acid, vitamin A and B and a large amount of vitamin C. Flavonoids, including quercetin, are believed to account for the therapeutic actions of the elderberry flowers and berries.

Elderberries have been a folk remedy for centuries in North America, Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa, hence the medicinal benefits of elderberries are being investigated and rediscovered. Elderberry is used for its antioxidant activity. Bioflavonoids and other proteins in the juice destroy the ability of cold and flu viruses to infect a cell.

People with the flu who took elderberry juice reported less severe symptoms and felt better much faster than those who did not.

– Black elderberry (Sambucus nigra) supplementation effectively treats upper respiratory symptoms: A meta-analysis of randomized, controlled clinical trials > https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Oxymel – Honey and Vinegar

May 13, 2022 by Jurgen

Oxymel is a mixture of honey and vinegar, depending on the desired effect different herbs (or flowers) are added. The word comes from Greek and means acid and honey. It’s a great way to preserve plants and herbs.

Oxymel was used as a remedy in Persian pharmaceuticals writings of the Middle Ages and it also was used earlier by Hippocrates.

oxymel

In 2012 a group of Iranian researchers published a paper relating to Oxymel in medieval Persia. The honey-vinegar mixture at that time came both pure on its own and in connection with medicinal plants.

To this day it is considered an invigorating traditional remedy. The researchers found over 1200 different Oxymel recipes for different indications ranging from digestive complaints to breathing difficulties …

According to the researchers, the basic historical recipe is very simple:

One unit of vinegar
Two units of honey
Four units of water
Add dried or fresh herbs of your choice
Boil until a quarter of the mixture remains
Skim off the foam, if necessary.
Oxymel is best known as an immune-stimulating tonic.

Month of the Cuckoo – Scairbhin

April 5, 2022 by Jurgen

Cardamine pratensis – Cuckoo flower

The Scairbhín na gCuach (skara-veen) translates as ‘the rough month of the cuckoo’ and refers to the period comprising the last two weeks of April and the first two weeks of May a few weeks often marked with changeable extremes of weather patterns.

People working the land and in tune with the seasons know this as ‘the hunger time’ of the year because they were busy planting and tending their crops.

They believed that the Scarbhin was nature’s way of ensuring the crop’s success by the initial unseasonal warm weather allowing seeds to germinate, a sudden cold snap would then harden off the young seedlings and the following wind and gales would distribute the pollen – and this all coincided with the return of the cuckoo.

Cuckoos overwinter in Africa.