China Bayles' Book of Days (74 page)

In a skillet, toast seeds until golden brown (about 2 minutes) stirring frequently. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. Melt butter in the skillet and sauté onion and garlic until translucent. Stir in okra and turmeric. Reduce heat to low and cook 15 minutes, or until tender. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Serves 6.

Learn more about celebrating Kwanzaa:

Complete Kwanzaa,
by Dorothy Winbush Riley

DECEMBER 27

Why do we like it so much? We only want it for its bite—and we will go to India to get it! Who was the first to try it with food? Who was so anxious to develop an appetite that hunger would not do the trick? Pepper and ginger both grow wild in their native countries, and yet we value them in terms of gold and silver.

—PLINY, NATURAL HISTORY, FIRST CENTURY CE

Peppercorns

Some people say that if there’s only one spice in your kitchen, it should be pepper, for it adds the greatest flavor to the greatest variety of dishes. And they may be right. After all, Rome was ransomed with pepper (Attila demanded 3,000 pounds), people have died for pepper, and oceans were crossed in pursuit of pepper—a highly valued spice.

PEPPER TIMES THREE

There is only one pepper (
Piper nigrum
), native to India but now grown widely throughout the tropics. Three different peppercorns are produced from this plant.

• Black peppercorns have been valued for centuries as a medicine: a treatment for impotence, an appetite stimulant and digestive, a cure for nausea and flatulence, and an antidote to poison. They are harvested green and left to dry for a week or more, shriveling and hardening. Black peppercorns have the strongest flavor, and are best when freshly ground. Also used whole in pickling spices and soup stocks.

• Green peppercorns are picked green and freeze-dried. They have a fresh, clean flavor, suited to poultry, vegetables, and seafood.

• White peppercorns are allowed to ripen on the vine, producing a large berry with a loose outer shell, which is removed. White pepper is regarded as having a richer, more complex flavor; it is used in light-colored dishes, in sauces, and on grilled poultry.

Here’s an easy recipe that will introduce you to the variety of pepper flavors. Super with vegetables, great with fish and poultry.

PEPPER BUTTER

½ cup butter, softened
3 teaspoons freshly ground peppercorns, black, green, OR
white (if mixing, 1 teaspoon of each)
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons fresh minced parsley

Grind the peppercorns to a medium coarseness (easy in a mortar and pestle). Add to softened butter. Add garlic and parsley and mix. Place in a small dish, cover, and refrigerate at least one hour before using.

[Pepper] doth assuage the fits that ague make
If that you use thereof before you shake.
—ENGLISH LORE

DECEMBER 28

If a man beareth with him one twig of this wort, he will not be terrified with any awe, nor will a wild beast hurt him; or any evil come near.

—THE HERBARIUM OF APULEIUS PLANTONICUS

Wortcunning

Wortcunning is an Anglo-Saxon compound:
wort
means plant or herb;
cunning
means knowledgeable or wise. Hence, someone who has wortcunning is wise in the way of worts, which are grown in a
wortyerd
—literally, herb-yard.

And what are the worts? Those who have studied the leechbooks (the healing manuals), tell us that the Anglo-Saxons had names for, and used, at least 500 plants. More than a hundred of these were specifically called worts, although they were all worts, technically speaking. Here are a few, selected, with their descriptions and a few quotations, from that rich bouquet of herbal lore:
The Englishman’s Flora
.

• Motherwort,
Leonurus cardiaca.
Also known as “womb plant,” used in difficult childbirth.

• Mugwort,
Artemisia vulgaris.
Magical herb, used to keep off the powers of evil. “Whosoever goeth any distance and he bear this herb with him he shall not be weary in his going.”—
Agnus Castus,
1425

• Sneezewort,
Achillea ptarmica
. Tastes hot and sharp, causes a flow of saliva.

• Soapwort,
Saponaria officinalis.
Used as a cleansing herb.

• Figwort or pilewort,
Scrophularia nodosa.
Used to treat “figs” or piles.

• Bairnwort, daisy,
Bellis perennis.
Known to all children, or “bairns.”

• Woundwort, yarrow,
Achillea millefolium.
Used to heal wounds made with iron.

• Birthwort,
Aristolochia clematitis.
Resists poison, encourages conception, helps delivery.

• Bishopwort, water mint,
Mentha aquatica
. Strewn where feasts and banquets are made.

• Casewort, Shepherd’s purse,
Capsella bursa-pastoris.
Its seed cases are easily broken.

• Lousewort,
Pedicularis sylvatica.
Thought to be the source of intestinal parasites in animals.

• Pennywort or naval wort,
Umbilicus rupestris.
The leaves look like pennies.

• Saint-John’s-wort,
Hypericum perforatum.
“If it be putte in a mannes house there shall come no wycked spryte therein.”—
Banckes’ Herbal,
1525

More Reading:

The Englishman’s Flora,
by Geoffrey Grigson

St. John’s wort, St. John’s wort,
I envy whosoever has thee,
I will pluck thee with my right hand,
I will preserve thee with my left hand,
Whoso findeth thee in the cattlefold,
Shall never be without kine. [cattle]
—GAELIC WORT CHARM

DECEMBER 29

The Popular Poppy-Seed

For millennia, poppies (
Papaver somniferum
) have been cultivated for their black, nutty seeds. (This is the same species that yields opium, but the seeds are non-narcotic.) While it’s easier to buy the seeds in the grocery, it’s more fun to harvest them yourself, from your garden—and have the flowers to enjoy, as well. A 5-foot row of plants will yield about a half-cup of seeds.
⁷
Harvest the seed capsules as they ripen and keep them in a paper box (a shoebox will work). When they’ve dried, pour the seeds into a shallow pan and pick out the debris. Store the cleaned seeds in a lidded jar in the refrigerator. Wonderful as a sprinkle on baked goods, delightful on fruit salads.

ORANGE POPPY-SEED FRUIT SALAD DRESSING

½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup sour cream or yogurt
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons poppy seed
½ teaspoon finely grated orange peel
1-2 tablespoons orange juice
Fresh fruits, cut up: your choice of pineapple, orange,
mango, melon, strawberries, grapes

In a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, sour cream, honey, poppy seed, and orange peel. Stir in enough orange juice for the consistency you want. Spoon over fresh fruit in stemmed glasses. Makes 1 cup dressing.

Seeds must be gathered in fair weather, at the wane of the Moon, and kept some in Boxes of Wood, some in bags of Leather, and some in Vessels of Earthenware, and well cleansed and dried in shadow. Others, as Onions and Leeks, must be kept in their husks.

—GERVASE MARKHAM, THE ENGLISH HOUSEWIFE, 1615

DECEMBER 30

After the day I’d had, I was ready to pamper myself. I lit a vanilla-scented candle, added lavender oil to a tub full of warm water, and climbed in. I leaned back and closed my eyes, letting the thoughts go, letting my body soak in the lavender-scented silence. After a long while I scrubbed with rosemary soap and a luffa, relishing its gentle rasping. When I toweled off, I pulled on a pair of silky pink pajamas—how long had it been since I’d worn anything but a ratty old tee shirt to sleep in?—and climbed into bed with an Agatha Christie mystery. . . .

—RUEFUL DEATH: A CHINA BAYLES MYSTERY

Indulge Yourself in an Herbal Bath

What a busy week! It’s been just as hectic as the week before Christmas, if that’s possible—and the upcoming weekend doesn’t look a bit relaxing. This evening, pamper yourself in a long, leisurely bath. With music, a scented candle, fresh flowers, and a plush towel, you’ll feel like a completely new person when you step out of the bath.

SKIN-SOFTENING MILK BATH BAGS

You can purchase exotic softening products or you can make your own and have the satisfaction of enjoying something you’ve crafted yourself. Sunflower seeds provide enriching oil; oatmeal softens; and milk makes your skin feel deliciously smooth. Indulge yourself!

MILK BATH BAGS

½ cup raw shelled sunflower seeds
½ cup oatmeal
½ cup cornstarch
1 cup dried nonfat milk powder
vitamin E oil capsules

In a food processor or coffee grinder, grind the sunflower seeds and oatmeal together until you have a smooth powder about the consistency of cornmeal. Stir in the cornstarch and milk powder. Divide into five single-bath portions (½ cup). To each, add your favorite essential oil or oil combinations and mix. When the scent pleases you, put the mixture into a snack-size zipper-top plastic bag, or in a reusable muslin bag. To use, add the milk bath as you fill your tub.

SOME AROMATIC COMBINATIONS

• For a relaxing bath: lavender and rose

• For a sensual bath: ylang ylang, patchouli, orange

• For a spirit-lifting bath: rosemary, bergamot, eucalyptus

• For an energizing bath: mint

Read more about bath pleasures:

Rituals for the Bath,
by Kathy Corey and Lynne Black-man

DECEMBER 31

A winter evening is the best of times to muse on plans for a garden, for like Bunyan’s
Pilgrim’s Progress
, gardening is then carried on “under the similitude of a dream.” The things we mean to have stand as we mean to have them, thrifty, beautiful, and a pretty tribute to our skill as gardeners; the things we have had, successes and less-than-successes, are something to go on from, are a part of garden history and our lives.

—HENRY BESTON, HERBS AND THE EARTH

New Year, Next Year

What could be better than planning next year’s garden on the last day of the old year? And if you’ve read all through this Book of Days and you still don’t have a garden, it is certainly the right time to begin! Of course, if you’ve gardened before, you will plan from experience. If you haven’t, here are some suggestions.

• Space. You don’t need a football field—a plot about 6 × 10 feet will give you room for 18-24 plants. Think small. You can always add on later.

• Outlook. Most garden herbs don’t enjoy shade. Give your plants a place in the sun.

• Soil and drainage. Ordinary garden soil is fine; you don’t need to add compost or amendments. If the soil is heavy or clayey, sand and small rocks will improve the drainage. Consider creating a raised bed with landscape timbers, bricks, or blocks. Most herbs don’t like wet feet.

• Plan to put the taller plants in the back or the center (if yours is a peninsula bed), with the shorter, more compact plants in front and at the edges. Give them plenty of elbow room so they don’t crowd their neighbors.

• Come spring, start with nursery-grown plants. Your garden will look like a garden sooner and you’ll have an earlier harvest.

• Choose herbs you’ll use. Some easy favorites: basil, chives, dill, fennel, lemon balm, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme. Spend some time reading about each plant and learning about the way it grows. Read back through this book and make a shopping list.

Plans should be made on the ground to fit the place, and not the place made to suit some plan out of a book.

—WILLIAM ROBINSON

Read more about herb gardening: