China Bayles' Book of Days (8 page)

And sometimes (my personal philosophy here) we grow a plant because it teaches us something. Spleenwort teaches us that appearances can be deceiving and that we can be wrong (sometimes dead wrong) when we try to reconstruct the facts so that they fit our theories. If for that reason alone, I’m glad to grow spleenwort in my garden and to know how it got its curious name.

But please, don’t use it to treat your spleen. It’s not toxic, but it won’t work, and it might keep you from searching for the treatment you need.

Lerne the hygh and marvelous vertue of herbes. Know how inestimable a preservative to the helth of man God hath provyded growying every day at our handes.

—MASTER JHEROM BRUNSWYKE, 1527

JANUARY 31

January is National Candy Month. We can’t let the month end without a few herbal candies!

Herbal Candies

For centuries, herbal hard candies and similar confections had an important medicinal use: to make the herb palatable and to deliver it slowly to the area to be treated—especially important for the mouth and throat. Strong teas were brewed from the herbs, sugar was added to make a syrup, and the syrup was cooked into a candy that could be held in the mouth until it dissolved. Some herbs have a long tradition of this sort of use: horehound, as a treatment for coughs and sore throats; licorice, for mouth ulcers and sore throats; ginger, for upset stomachs; peppermint, for digestive difficulties.

TRADITIONAL RECIPE

1½ cups strong herb tea
4 cups sugar

Mix sugar and tea in large saucepan. Without stirring, heat to 300°F on a candy thermometer or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms hard, brittle threads. Pour onto a greased cookie sheet and let cool. Cut into pieces before it completely hardens. Store in an airtight container.

CONTEMPORARY RECIPE

3 ¾ cups white sugar
1½ cup light corn syrup
1 cup water (or herbal tea)
1 teaspoon flavored extract (peppermint, orange, etc.)
½ teaspoon food coloring (optional)
¼ cup confectioners’ sugar for dusting

In a medium saucepan, stir together the white sugar, corn syrup, and water. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until sugar dissolves, then bring to a boil. Without stirring, heat to 300°F on a candy thermometer or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms hard, brittle threads. Remove from heat and stir in flavored extract and food coloring, if desired. Pour onto a greased cookie sheet, and dust the top with confectioners’ sugar. Let cool, and break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

Candied horehound is made by boiling down the fresh leaves and adding sugar to the juice thus extracted, and then again boiling the juice till it has become thick enough to pour into little cases made of paper.

—LADY ROSALIND NORTHCOTE, THE BOOK OF HERBS, 1903

FEBRUARY 1

Candlemas Eve.
End now the white-loafe and the pye,
And let all sports with Christmas dye.

Kindle the Christmas Brand, and then
Till sunne-set let it burne,
Which quencht, then lay it up agen,
Till Christmas next returne.
—RICHARD HERRICK

The equinoxes and solstices divide the year into quarters, while other celebrations mark the “cross-quarters.” Today is Imbolc, the first cross-quarter day of the Celtic year, celebrating the goddess Brighid. Other cross-quarter days: Beltane (May 1), Lughnasadh or Lammas (August 1), Samhain (November 1).

Brighid’s Day

Brighid (Bridget) is the Celtic goddess of poetry, healing, and metal crafting. Traditionally, hers was a feast of purification and new beginnings. Candles were lit on this night and on the following day, then saved to light the next year’s Yule log.

Ruby Wilcox celebrates Brighid’s Day by making a special herbal candle for this purpose, which she ceremoniously lights on Candlemas Eve. Here are the supplies you’ll need to make your own.

BRIGHID’S CANDLE

a pillar candle
votive candles in the same color as the pillar candle
empty, clean metal can
pan
small paintbrush
several kinds of dried and fresh herbs and flowers:
leaves of bay, sage, fern, rue, thyme, germander,
boxwood, costmary
blossoms of violets, lavender, pot marjoram, chive,
hyssop, tansy, feverfew
seeds of dill, coriander, fennel
essential oil to scent the candle
ice pick or similar sharp-pointed tool

Melt votive candles in the metal can, placed in the pan of water over low heat. Lay out the herbs and plant material you’re going to use, either randomly or in a pattern. Use the paintbrush to dot melted wax onto the pillar candle where you want to apply an herb. Place the herb or flower on the wax and hold until fixed. Brush a thin layer of wax over the plant material. Continue this process until you like what you see. Brush a thin layer of wax over the pillar candle to cover and seal the herbal material. To scent your candle, heat the ice pick and drill five holes around the wick. Drop 2-3 drops of essential oil into each hole.

Read more about making candles:

The Big Book of Candles: Over 40 Step-by-Step Candle-making Projects
, by Sue Heaser

Creative Candles
, by Chantal Truber

FEBRUARY 2

Today is Candlemas Day.

If Candlemas day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight;
But if Candlemas day be clouds and rain,
Winter is gone, and will not come again.

—TRADITIONAL ENGLISH WEATHER RHYME

Blessed Beginnings

The Catholic Church assimilated the pagan purification festival by linking it to the purification of the Virgin after the birth of Christ, “the light that brightens the darkness.” Worshippers brought their year’s supply of candles to the church to be blessed by the priest in a special Candle-Mass.

Candlemas continues the celebration of new beginnings. It was a day to prepare the fields for new plantings and to bless the fields to ensure a good harvest. In England, the holiday greens were taken out of the house, and if even a leaf was left behind, it was unlucky. “Out with the old, in with the new” is the theme for Candlemas. It’s a good day to make commitments, renew pledges, and plant seeds for new growth.

In your herb garden, celebrate this day of new beginnings by turning over a piece of earth and repeating this ancient Anglo-Saxon plowing charm:

Whole be thou Earth
Mother of men.
In the lap of God,
Be thou growing.
Be filled full of fodder
For fare-needs of men.

Or plant some seeds of annual herbs in pots on a sunny windowsill, for later transplanting into your garden or deck containers. Some good choices: chives, dill, basil, cilantro.

Read more about the transition from Pagan to Christian cultures:

The Goddess Obscured: Transformation of the Grain Protectress from Goddess to Saint
, by Pamela Berger

About Candlemas Day
Every good goose should lay.
—TRADITIONAL LORE

As long as the sunbeam comes in on Bridget’s feast-day, the snow ends before May-day.

—TRADITIONAL LORE

FEBRUARY 3

St. Blaise is the patron saint of sore throat sufferers. Today is his feast day.

Good for the throat: Honey, sugar, butter with a little salt, liquorice, to sup soft eggs, hyssop, a mean manner of eating and drinking, and sugar candy. Evil for the throat: Mustard, much lying on the breast, pepper, anger, things roasted, lechery, much working, too much rest, much drink, smoke of incense, old cheese and all sour things are naughty for the throat.

—THE KALENDAR OF SHEPHEARDES, 1604

Scratchy throat?

If you’re bothered by a scratchy throat, gargle with a strong sage tea (
Salvia officinalis
). Studies have found that sage has antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties. To make tea: pour two cups boiling water over 4 teaspoons dried sage. Steep 8-10 minutes. Gargle several times a day. Refrigerate the unused portion, and warm before gargling.

HOW OUR FOREMOTHERS COPED WITH SORE THROATS

• A poultice: The pulp of a roasted apple, mixed with an ounce of tobacco, the whole wet with spirits of wine, or any other high spirits, spread on a linen rag, and bound upon the throat at any period of the disorder.—
The American Frugal Housewife
, by Mrs. Child, 1833

• A syrup: Take of poplar bark and bethroot [lamb’s quarters,
Trillium pendulum
], each 1 lb.; water, 9 quarters; boil gently in a covered vessel 15 or 20 minutes; strain through a coarse cloth; add 7 lbs. loaf sugar, and simmer till the scum ceases to rise. —
Family Hand Book
, c. 1855

• A candy. Horehound lozenges are good for a sore throat.—
A Dictionary of Every-Day Wants
, by A. E. Youman, M.D., 1878

• A bedtime snack: Water-gruel, with three or four onions simmered in it, prepared with a lump of butter, pepper, and salt, eaten just before one goes to bed, is said to be a cure for a hoarse cold.—
The American Frugal Housewife
, by Mrs. Child, 1833

• A hot toddy and a cuddle: Before retiring soak the feet in mustard water as hot as can be endured. . . . On getting into bed take a hot camphor sling. [A hot toddy made with brandy or rum, honey, and tincture of camphor, (
Cinnamonum camphora
)] Rub the bridge of the nose between the eyes with a little oil. Cuddle in bed and sleep it off.—
Healthy Living
, 1850-1870, compiled by Katie F. Hamilton

Read more about early American medicine:

Early American Herb Recipes
, by Alice Cooke Brown

FEBRUARY 4

Carnival!

The weeklong festival that takes place about now offers Christians a chance to enjoy themselves (
carne vale
means “farewell, meat”) before the penitential season of Lent. The festival culminates on Shrove Tuesday, the famous Mardi Gras celebration. Pancakes are a traditional fare.

In Pecan Springs, Ruby always celebrates this ritual with a masquerade party (of course), and Sheila Dawson (who cooks as good as she looks) always brings Orange-Mint Crepes.

SHEILA’S ORANGE-MINT MARDI GRAS CREPES

To make crepes:

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1 teaspoon orange flavoring
¼ teaspoon mint flavoring
1 tablespoon minced fresh orange mint
¼ cup salted butter, melted

Garnish:

whipped cream
8 sprigs of rosemary
orange-peel curls

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and eggs. Gradually add milk, water, and flavorings, stirring to combine. Add the orange mint and butter; beat until smooth. Batter should be thin; if it thickens, add a few drops of milk. Heat a lightly oiled crepe pan or 7-inch frying pan over medium-high heat. Pour ¼ cup batter into the pan. Lift and tilt, using a circular motion, so that the batter coats the surface evenly. Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the edges are firm and the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Stack, separated with cling-film or wax paper. May be frozen. Serve rolled, with orange-mint sauce, a dollop of whipped cream, and garnish of rosemary and orange-peel curls. Makes 16 crepes. (Sheila says to tell you that it’s hard to work with this recipe when it’s doubled. If you’re serving a crowd, she suggests making the batter in several batches.)

To make orange-mint sauce:

1
cups sugar
cup unsalted butter
cup light corn syrup
¼ teaspoon mint flavoring
cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 tablespoon minced fresh mint