Photograph by William Ng
Travel can be stressful — crowds of harassed people in confined spaces, whizzing round the world in airconditioned aluminium cigars with wings, exposure to bugs from exotic climes, jetlag, rude desk clerks, and no garden to wind down in.
Never mind, take some of your herb garden with you and it will do [...]
Matthias Grünewald’s famous painting depicting St Anthony’s agony
The ultimate cure-all of all time must be Galen’s Theriac — a true witches’ brew concocted by Roman herbalist Galen (130-200ad). Besides its opium base, it contained more than 70 ingredients, including dozens of herbs, minerals, bits of animal flesh, honey and wine.
The blender first had to [...]
Photography by Dan Zen
Perennial
Achillea millefolium
Family: Compositae
History
Yarrow has always been considered a plant of great power—and was used by the Chinese as a herb of divination.
In fact, the I Ching (The Book of Changes) is also know as The Yarrow Stalk Oracle.
Its name is said to derive from Achilles who was reputed to [...]
For maximum flavour in herb and spice salts, use only sea salt as a base — it has the finest flavour, and is without the additives of commercial salt.
To mix your own herb and spice salts grind together sea salt and aromatic seeds such as celery, fennel, lovage or cumin.
A basic recipe is [...]
This mild cleansing diet can take from 5 to 28 days, and is slow and very gentle toun-stress the gallbladder.