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Posted on 11:45 PM by Wanto and filed under
By Ace Sydney
It is the tender foliage and non-woody top parts of the plant that are used, either fresh or dried, as seasoning. The specific name of this herb is derived from the Greek word apinthion meaning undrinkable, for it contains bitter principles which taken in excess are undigestible and may even have deleterious effects. What is harmful in excess, however, may often be beneficial in small doses. This is true of kitchen herbs in general and of wormwood in particular.
Mugwort is used as seasoning for roast meat, especially pork and mutton, as well as roast goose and duck. It is sprinkled on the meat before cooking, but sparingly. In Spain it is used to flavour onion and vegetable soups as well as fish and fish soups. It is also good in salads. Mugwort is easily grown from the seeds (achenes) even in poor soil. As a rule, however, this is unnecessary for it may be found growing wild on waste ground and by the wayside.
Nowadays woodruff is well-known as an essential ingredient of the German `Maibowle'. This is prepared by steeping the young shoots in Rhine wine to which brandy and sugar or a piece of orange peel are sometimes added. The first record of this magical love and restorative potion, then called 'May wine', was made by a Benedictine monk in the year 854.
The common barberry is a spiny deciduous shrub up to 2 m (6 ft) high with upright branches and yellow flowers. When insects alight on the flowers they brush against the stamens. These curve inwards towards the pistil in the centre, thereby pollinating the plant. The fruits are bright red, fleshy berries that ripen in September and often remain on the shrub until late winter.
Nowadays it is a relatively rare shrub in the wild because it is a host plant of one stage of the life cycle of grain rust (Puccinia graminis) and thus not welcomed by farmers in the vicinity of grain fields, where it is systematically eradicated. This will doubtless soon lead to the disappearance of its sour, pleasantly astringent berries, which are used, the same as rowanberries, to flavour compotes and tarts, as well as piquant sauces for game and roast beef.
The renowned Hortus sonitatis of medieval days recommends sweet woodruff for the treatment of all illnesses caused by heat' because 'drops of clew remain long !won this plant'. The dried top parts were already used in those days to give garments in the wardrobe a pleasant fragrance and continue to be used for that purpose to this day.
Mugwort is used as seasoning for roast meat, especially pork and mutton, as well as roast goose and duck. It is sprinkled on the meat before cooking, but sparingly. In Spain it is used to flavour onion and vegetable soups as well as fish and fish soups. It is also good in salads. Mugwort is easily grown from the seeds (achenes) even in poor soil. As a rule, however, this is unnecessary for it may be found growing wild on waste ground and by the wayside.
Nowadays woodruff is well-known as an essential ingredient of the German `Maibowle'. This is prepared by steeping the young shoots in Rhine wine to which brandy and sugar or a piece of orange peel are sometimes added. The first record of this magical love and restorative potion, then called 'May wine', was made by a Benedictine monk in the year 854.
The common barberry is a spiny deciduous shrub up to 2 m (6 ft) high with upright branches and yellow flowers. When insects alight on the flowers they brush against the stamens. These curve inwards towards the pistil in the centre, thereby pollinating the plant. The fruits are bright red, fleshy berries that ripen in September and often remain on the shrub until late winter.
Nowadays it is a relatively rare shrub in the wild because it is a host plant of one stage of the life cycle of grain rust (Puccinia graminis) and thus not welcomed by farmers in the vicinity of grain fields, where it is systematically eradicated. This will doubtless soon lead to the disappearance of its sour, pleasantly astringent berries, which are used, the same as rowanberries, to flavour compotes and tarts, as well as piquant sauces for game and roast beef.
The renowned Hortus sonitatis of medieval days recommends sweet woodruff for the treatment of all illnesses caused by heat' because 'drops of clew remain long !won this plant'. The dried top parts were already used in those days to give garments in the wardrobe a pleasant fragrance and continue to be used for that purpose to this day.
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