An Herbal Diary

<p>Sassafras is a richly nuanced medicinal tree that also has a distinctive place in the culinary world. Sassafras root bark is responsible for the flavor of root beer, but it is no longer used due to a Food and Drug...

<p >What makes a fruit or vegetable easy to find in grocery stores? While there are many answers to this question, a lot of edible medicinal herbs are not, herbs like nettles, burdock root and elderberries. To this...

<p >What makes a tree medicinal? The answer to this question depends on the medicine we are searching for. Especially in spring, trees can be medicine for our eyes. After the grayness of winter, glorious flowering trees...

<p >Plant energetics is a way to understand how a plant can affect the body through our senses and how it feels in the body. Energetics is subtle, but so helpful when choosing herbs. The difference between warming and...

<p >Pine trees are trees that are very familiar especially because of their long thin needles and pine cones. But they seem overlooked for their culinary and herbal remedy benefits. In this episode, I am back in my...

<p >Herbal teas are a lovely way to be creative and experience herbs on a daily basis. Brewing herbal teas can take on different forms and tastes, including juice-like creations when dried berries are used as the main...

<p >The Little Herb Saver:</p> <p >Lemon balm is like a blanket of peace, calming a nervous stomach, reducing anxiety, elevating a gloomy feeling, and providing relief for sleepless nights. That's a lot, but that's also...

<p >Lemon balm is soothing, calming and uplifting, whether fresh or dried its a pleasure to have and use. Lemon balm is such a gem that it deserves a a two part herbal monograph. Here in part 1, Dina focuses on lemon...

<p>Baking and herbs both calm my heart and mind. In today's episode, I am back in my kitchen baking scones with lemon balm infused heavy cream blended into the batter. Lemon balm is a delight to grow and the fresh...

<p>Rounding out my broth episodes with ginger provides the perfect example of how lovely tasting herbal tea can second as herbal broth which then infuses the food we eat with an extra layer of nourishment. Ginger is a...

<p>Could chicken soup be medicinal because of the plant and herbal ingredients?. Chicken adds nourishment but I propose the healing qualities are due to onions, thyme, bay leaves and pepper.</p> <p>Chicken Stock (from...

<p>Another form of kitchen alchemy and extraction: Kvass. This fermented beverage is refreshing and tangy. Using Kvass as broth may be unconventional but it is also uncommonly good, especially beet kvass used in...

<p>Join me in my kitchen apothecary as I make the easiest stock ever. Just garlic and water simmered together results in a versatile, flavorful and densely nourishing stock. It's perfect for making vegetable soup, rice...

<p>Chocolate begins as the seeds of Theobroma cacao, a tropical tree. After much processing, we are gifted cocoa powder which is in itself an herbal remedy, a delicious one at that. Come join me in this pop-up tea salon...

<p>The more I work with weedy plants from my yard and in my kitchen, the greater my confidence in them grows. Plantain is the perfect bridge for embracing the idea that plants growing around us are remedies readily...