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Comfrey: Symphytum officinale

Hedgerow herb: common

Parts used: Root and rhizome, leaf

Gathering: Dig the root in spring or autumn; the leaves can be collected all year round

Actions:

Astringent 

Demulcent

Expectorant 

Vulnerary

Indications: Comfrey is a powerful wound-healing herb effective both internally and externally.

Internally, Comfrey can be used to assist the healing of gastric and duodenal ulcers, hiatus hernia and ulcerative colitis. It is also a gentle and effectual remedy for diarrhoea and dysentery.

Where an irritable cough or bronchitis is present comfrey will be found to relieve the cough whilst helping expectoration.

A strong infusion of comfrey is useful as a mouthwash for bleeding gums or as a gargle for a sore throat.

Externally, comfrey is very effective when applied to bruising, sprains or strains. Superficial cuts and grazes can be treated very effectively with comfrey cream but care should be taken with deeper wounds as comfrey will seal the wound and any undetected deeper infection within the wound itself will fester and cause problems. It may be applied as a compress or poultice for any external ulcer, fracture or wound. It is very effective for the treatment of varicose ulcers.

Preparation and dosage: Infusion: a teaspoon of dried or a tablespoon of fresh herb to a cupful of water. Brew for 10-15 minutes drink a cupful three times a day.

Decoction: put 1-3 teaspoons of the dried root to each cup of water in a saucepan, bring to the boil and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes. This should be drunk three times a day. 

Tincture: take 2-4 ml of the tincture three times a day.

Folklore, History and Kitchen Witch Comfrey is a herb of Saturn largely because both Saturn and comfrey are strongly associated with structure. The generic name symphytum is from the Greek symphyo ‘to unite’ and refers to the herbs long-standing reputation for healing broken bones and repairing internal injuries.

The Greek physician Dioscorides (40-90 AD), a well-known military physician of his day, documented the use of comfrey in his herbal and prescribed it for healing wounds, broken bones, respiratory and gastrointestinal problems. No doubt Dioscorides had plenty of opportunity to make use of comfrey during his career with the Roman army. Pliny the Elder, ever the scientist, reported that boiling Comfrey roots in water produced a sticky paste which glued pieces of meat together.

The 16^th century the herbalist, Gerard, wondered at the virtues of comfrey in his Herbal.

In the 17^th century comfrey’s renowned medicinal qualities even found a place in theatre, Francis Baumont’s comedy The Knight of the Burning Pestle  (1607) mentions comfrey as a cure for broken bones, the script says:  ‘Go, get to your nightcap and the diet to cure your beaten bones, get thee some wholesome broth with sage and comfrey; a little oil of roses and a feather to 'noint thy back withall’.

In 1649 Culpepper reported in his Herbal that: ‘this is a very common but a very neglected plant. It contains very great virtues’. He goes on to give an enormous list of conditions and symptoms that can be treated with comfrey.

Comfrey can also be used as a high nitrogen fertilizer for the garden. To make a simple but rather smelly feed take 2 lbs of comfrey leaves to 2 gallons of water and soak the leaves in the water for 4 to 6 weeks. Use neat or diluted with an equal volume of water.

For a almost smell free feed stack several lbs of comfrey leaves in a drum with a 1-2 inch hole drilled in the bottom, place a container underneath to catch the drips. Wait 10 -14 days a thick dark liquid can then be collected over several weeks. Top up with fresh leaves to continue the supply. Use diluted at about a 1 to 15-part ratio i.e. 1 pint to 2 gallons.

Cayenne the wonder spice: Or Some like it Spicy

Cayenne: capsicum minimum

Garden herb

Parts used: The Fruit

Gathering: The pods should be gathered when they are fully ripe and dried in the shade.

Actions:

Antiseptic

Carminative

Rubefacient

Sialagogue

Stimulant

Tonic

Indications: Cayenne is a fantastic systemic stimulant. Its tonic effect is a specific for the circulatory system and as such it will regulate the blood flow. Cayenne will thus help to balance and fortify the action of the heart, arteries, capillaries and nerves. The master herbalist Richard Schulze reports that: "Cayenne should be a herb which everyone has in the kitchen, the bathroom and in the trunk of their car...because there is no other herb that moves the blood faster to the brain than cayenne.  ...It relieves the pain of angina pectoris by helping to get more blood to the heart muscle itself. And if a person has a heart attack, Cayenne is the surest first-aid remedy...I have had almost a hundred patients actually save their lives by using a tablespoon of Cayenne pepper in a glass of warm water and drinking it down fast." 

Cayenne has been shown to lower cholesterol and remove toxins from the bloodstream. It is effective in the treatment of cold hands and feet where peripheral blood flow is poor. Cayenne is also taken internally to shrink haemorrhoids.

When combined with tincture of myrrh it can be used as a gargle for laryngitis or as a general antiseptic wash on unbroken skin.

Externally cayenne is an excellent rubefacient when added to a liniment for the treatment of rheumatic pains, lumbago and numbness of the limbs. 

Preparation and dosage: Infusion: to ½ to 1 teaspoonful of cayenne add a cup of boiling water and leave to infuse for 10-15 minutes. Mix a tablespoon of this mixture with hot water and drink as required.

Tincture: take between ¼ and 1 ml of the tincture three times a day or when required

Folklore, History and Kitchen Witch: Cayenne falls under the dominion of Mars because of its bright red colour and its hot spicy nature. Actually, its name is derived from the Greek ‘to bite’.

According to a study at Hamilton University, to date, the oldest known records of peppers come from the desert valley of Tehuanacán, 150 miles south of Mexico City. Studies of seeds and fossilised human dung found in ancient cave dwellings show that the indigenes were eating peppers as early as 7,000 B.C. It is assumed that the first peppers consumed were picked from wild plants. It is thought that Peppers were one of the first plants to be domesticated in the Americas and it can be said with some confidence that they were first grown domestically between 5,000 and 3,000 B.C.

David Wolfe in his homage to cacao Naked Chocolate claims that Cayenne was a vital ingredient of the ritual Mayan chocolate drink because it intensified the efficacy of the brew by dilating the capillaries thus allowing the sacred cacao potion to reach the cells more easily.

The first westerners to document its medicinal uses were explorers accompanying Columbus on his voyages. Cayenne makes a brief appearance in Gerard’s Herbal of 1597 where it is called Ginne or Indian pepper. Gerard says ‘ it warmeth the stomacke, and helpeth greatly the digestion of meates’.

Culpepper seems terrified of the taste, feel and smell of cayenne it is almost risible to read his account. He says ‘they burn and inflame the throat so extremely that it is hard to be endured, and if it be outwardly applied to the skin on any part of the body it will exulcerate and raise it as if it had been burnt with fire or scalded with hot water. The vapours that arise from the husks will pierce the brain, by flying up into the head through the nostrils as to procure violent sneezings, and draw down abundance of thin rheum, forcing tears from the eyes, and will all pass into the throat, and provoke sharp coughing, and cause violent vomiting’ I think we can deduce that Culpepper was not a fan of spicy foreign foods.

In the 1920’s Kloss claimed the spice to be a veritable natural wonder drug and dedicated more pages to cayenne in his groundbreaking Back to Eden than any other single herb.

Recipes using Cayenne... 

Liniment

A liniment is an external rub to stimulate muscles and ligaments they are generally based in alcohol or cider vinegar. Liniments are best administered after a hot herbal bath to relax the body and open the pores. The main ingredient is usually cayenne pepper. The following remedy is just great for any aching joints or muscles as well as arthritic or rheumatic pain!

A Very Good Liniment

You will need

A saucepan with a lid

A couple of bottles to store

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons golden seal

2 teaspoons myrrh powder

1 pint of apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon of lavender oil

Method

1.      Place the cayenne, golden seal, myrrh and vinegar in a saucepan.

2.     Bring to the boil and simmer gently with a lid on for 10 minutes.

3.     When absolutely cold add lavender oil

4.    Pour unstrained contents into a bottle and use externally as needed.

Mama Lou’s Anti-flu preparation: (Very Spicy!)

I have often said that a shot of this flu mix feels like a shot of whisky. This similarity was confirmed and expanded upon whilst I was researching this book. I found the following in W.T. Fernie’s 1905 book Meals Medicinal: ‘Very remarkable success attends the use of Cayenne Pepper as a substitute for alcohol with hard drinkers, and as a valuable drug in delirium tremens; when full doses given repeatedly at such intervals as seem necessary will reduce the tremor, and agitation within a few hours, causing presently a calm, prolonged sleep; at the same time the skin will become warm, and will perspire naturally; the pulse will subside in quickness, whilst regaining fullness, and volume ; the kidneys also, and the bowels will act freely. For an intemperate person who really desires to wean himself from indulging in spirituous liquors, and yet feels to need some other stimulant in place thereof, at first Cayenne Pepper, given in essence, or tincture, mixed with that of bitter orange peel, will answer most effectually, the doses being reduced in strength, and frequency from day to day’.

When threatened by colds or flu take 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon full every half hour and hold on to your hat!

You will need

A cup boiling water

A cup cider vinegar

2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper

1½ teaspoons of salt

Method

1.               Mix cayenne and salt in a bowl

2.              Pour the boiling water on to the mix and allow to cool

3.              Once cool add the cider vinegar

A Mixture to expel worms

Drink 1 teaspoon of cayenne in tepid water 1 hour after evening meal before bed and one hour before breakfast

Raw Chocolate with cayenne

This is the most amazing thing absolutely out of this world. No wonder the Aztecs had such spectacular art. The cayenne (as you have learnt from the herbal section) increases the blood flow and stimulates the whole circulatory system. What better way to deliver the wonders of raw chocolate?

There are only two things that can go wrong - chocolate hates too much heat so you must use a Bain Marie to melt the oils and keep them just above body temperature and should any water enter the mix it will ruin the lot. Believe me its well worth the effort….

How to construct a Bain Marie or double boiler

Here’s how to make one for yourself out of a saucepan about a third full of boiling water with a bowl suspended over it and that’s it… just don’t let the flame lick up the side of the bowl and don’t let the bowl actually touch the water in the pan.

To Make a Simple Raw Chocolate You Will Need

A Bain Marie

A Mould of some sort (a dish will do but silicone is best)

Ingredients

½ cup raw cacao powder

¼ cup food grade cocoa butter*

¼ cup coconut oil

½ cup maple syrup (or ¼ cup maple syrup and ½ cup raw honey)

A pinch of cayenne pepper to taste

Method

For this recipe once the water in the Bain Marie has boiled the whole thing can be taken off the heat

Melt cocoa butter and coconut oil in a bowl over hot water (don’t keep the water on the boil as the oils melt just above body temperature and you don’t want to let them get much hotter than this)

1.               Sift cacao powder into a bowl

2.              Pour oils on to cacao

3.              Add remaining ingredients

4.             Stir well and pour into molds

5.              Refrigerate for about 30 minutes before eating

*Note for a harder chocolate add a higher proportion of cocoa butter to coconut oil so long as the total butter/oil remain at ½ a cup.