China Bayles' Book of Days (14 page)

3-4 leeks
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cups chicken stock
4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tablespoon fresh minced thyme

1 cup half-and-half (you can substitute milk)
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped parsley and chives for garnish

Slice the root ends from the leeks, and remove the fibrous dark green tops (save for vegetable stock). Slice lengthwise, wash, and chop the leeks. Heat the butter or olive oil in a medium-size stock pot. Add leeks and onion. Cover and cook over low heat until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add potatoes. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until the potatoes are thoroughly cooked, about 20 minutes. Add thyme in the last 10 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat. Lightly mash the potatoes in the stock, using a masher or spoon. Stir in milk, and add salt and pepper to taste. Reheat before serving. Garnish with chopped parsley and chives.

Read about growing leeks and other alliums in your garden:

Onions
,
Leeks, and Garlic: A Handbook for Gardeners
, by Marian Coonse

If they would eat leeks in March
and mugworts in May
so many young maidens wouldn’t
go to the clay.
—TRADITIONAL

MARCH 2

About this time every year, the National Fiery-Foods Show is held, celebrating the authentic fire-power of the chile pepper.

It doesn’t matter who you are, or what you’ve done, or what you think you can do. There’s a confrontation with destiny awaiting you. Somewhere, there’s a chile pepper you cannot eat.

—DANIEL PINKWATER, “A HOT TIME IN NAIROBI” (IN CHILE
DEATH: A CHINA BAYLES MYSTERY)

Fire Power

It’s a mystery. How can an herb that causes an intense burning sensation, tears, and sweating be one of the most popular in America? And how can a plant that packs a painfully disabling wallop also lessen the disabling pain of arthritis, shingles, and herpes? Mystery or not, it’s a fact. The popular, painful chile pepper can knock you down—and pick you right up again.

The most fascinating feature of the chile pepper is its ability to inflict pain and create pleasure at the same time. This personality quirk is caused by a plant alkaloid called
capsaicin
(cap-say-a-cin), unique to chiles, which causes the sensation of heat. How hot? The chile pepper’s fire power is measured in “Scoville units,” named for the courageous taste-tester Wilbur Scoville. On the Scoville scale, a bell pepper clocks in at 0 units, a jalapeño at 5,000, and the fiery habanero at a blistering 300,000. Capsaicin itself is an inferno, measured at 15 million units. When you’re in pain (a natural consequence of eating a jalapeño), the nerve endings release a neurotransmitter called Substance P, which travels to the brain with the message, “Hey, I’m hurting!” In response, the brain releases neurotransmitters called endorphins, which produce the pleasurable sense of well-being that chile-heads call “the hot sauce high.”

Something similar happens when peppers are used medicinally. In an ointment, capsaicin has been shown to reduce arthritis pain and inflammation, ease cluster headaches, prevent herpes flare-ups, treat psoriasis, and alleviate surgical and burn pain. Dr. Roy Altman, of the University of Miami School for Medicine says: “The mystery is that it took us so long to figure out just how to use this stuff.”

The next time you pick a pepper from your garden or bring one home from the market, think of all its mysterious properties and marvel. Nature definitely knew what she was doing when she gave us the chile.

Read more about chiles:

The Chile Pepper Book: A Fiesta of Fiery, Flavorful Recipes
, by Carolyn Dille and Susan Belsinger

The Healing Powers of Peppers
, by Dave DeWitt, Melissa T. Stock, and Kellye Hunter

MARCH 3

I have eaten nettles, I have slept in nettle sheets, and I have dined off a nettle tablecloth . . . I have heard my mother say that she thought nettle cloth more durable than any other.

—THOMAS CAMPBELL, 1803

The Notorious Nettle

If you’ve been stung by a nettle (
Urtica dioica
), you probably haven’t forgotten the experience, and you may have avoided this notorious weed ever since. But over the centuries, the nettle has been a valuable wild herb.

THE GARDEN NETTLE

As liquid compost, nettles make a great fertilizer. Pick them in spring and pack them into a bucket with a lid, adding one-half gallon of water to each pound of nettles. Let sit for 2-3 weeks, stirring occasionally. Strain out the nettles and put them on the compost heap. Use the liquid as a fertilizer (1 cup nettle liquid to 10 cups water), on container and garden plants. In a stronger mixture (1 cup to 5 cups water), you can use it to spray aphids and black fly. The nettle itself is a food plant for butterflies.

THE MEDICINAL, COSMETIC NETTLE

Nettles have been used for centuries to treat osteoarthritis, eczema, prostate problems, and dandruff. The leaves contain a natural histamine that may be useful in treating allergies. And yes, it’s true that the leaves of the dock, which often grows companionably with nettle, contain chemicals that neutralize nettle sting and cool the skin. “Nettle in, dock out,” as the old saying goes! And nettle is said to make your hair shine and feel thicker and smoother. To make a hair rinse, collect 2-3 cups of nettle leaves (wear gloves!). Cover with water in a nonreactive saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain and cool for use as a rinse after washing your hair.

THE EDIBLE NETTLE

The nettle is an excellent source of calcium, magnesium, iron, and vitamins. The young plants have been used in soups, stews, and as a spinachlike vegetable. In Scotland, oats and nettles were cooked as a porridge, and nettles were used to flavor and color cheese.

THE FIBER NETTLE

The nettle contains long, pliable fibers that can be spun and woven to make smooth, supple nettle cloth, or cooked and processed as paper. The leaves are used to make a green dye; a yellow dye is made from the roots.

Read more about this valuable herb:

Healing Wise
, by Susun S. Weed

Nettles
, by Janice Schofield

Cows fed on nettle give much milk and yellow butter. Makes horses smart and frisky. Stimulates fowls to lay many eggs . . .

—CONSTANTINE RAFINESQUE (1830)

MARCH 4

I turned to Ruby. “I’ve got a couple of salmon steaks I was planning to bed down in lemon butter and dill. Want to stay for dinner?”

“Offer I can’t refuse,” Ruby said promptly.

—THYME OF DEATH: A CHINA BAYLES MYSTERY

Better Butters

China Bayles uses herbed butters to replace regular butter in soups and sauces, on vegetables, rice and pasta, and broiled fish and poultry. Herbed butters can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks, or frozen. Use unsalted butter to permit the fullest herb flavor, adding salt and pepper later.

CHINA’S LEMON DILL BUTTER

1 cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
grated zest of 1 lemon

Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat, without stirring. Skim off any foam. Pour clarified butter into a medium bowl, leaving sediment in the bottom of the pan. Stir in dill and lemon zest. Keep warm until ready to serve. Wonderful on fish.

MARGE’S PARSLEY BUTTER

Indiana herbalist Marge Clark liked this butter because, she said, you can find fresh parsley in the supermarket, even in the dead of winter.

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup fresh parsley, minced
freshly grated black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced

Combine all thoroughly. Cover tightly and refrigerate up to 2 weeks. Good on any meat, fish, chicken, bread, or vegetable.

DRIED IS FINE HERB BUTTER

It’s March, and all you have are dried herbs. Don’t fret—this blend is almost as tasty as if you’d used garden-fresh herbs.

½ teaspoon lemon powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder (not salt)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried tarragon
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon dried chives
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Mix thoroughly, grind fine using a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder, and store tightly lidded, away from the light. To make butter, add 2 ½ teaspoons to 1 cup of softened butter.

Read more of Marge Clark’s herbal recipes:

The Best of Thymes
, by Marge Clark

MARCH 5

Today is the Egyptian festival honoring Isis, the Lady of Ten Thousand Names.

Isis of the winged arms was first daughter of Nut, the overarching sky, and the little earth-god Geb . . . From the beginning, Isis turned a kind eye on the people of earth, teaching women to grind corn, spin flax, weave cloth, and tame men sufficiently to live with them.

—PATRICIA MONAGHAN, THE BOOK OF
GODDESSES & HEROINES

Flax

Flax, like nettle, is an ancient fiber herb, its cultivation and use dating back to the beginnings of civilization. From flax (
Linum usitatissimum
) is spun linen, which is frequently mentioned in the Bible. In Egypt, coarse linen was the common domestic cloth, while “fine” linen was reserved for the wealthy. Mummies were wrapped in linen shrouds. Many tomb paintings of people cultivating and dressing flax and spinning and weaving linen thread have been found.

FROM FLAX TO FIBER

Preparing flax for spinning was a laborious process, and most of the work was done by women. The 2-3 foot stalks of this annual plant were cut green and soaked for several days to remove the outer casing, laid out on the flat roofs of houses to “ret” (rot), and then beaten to soften the long fibers and separate them from the pith. The fibers were combed, spun on hand spindles (the spinning wheel didn’t come along until the thirteenth century), and woven into cloth.

FLAXSEED FOR HEART HEALTH

Flaxseed (or linseed, as it is also called) has been used in medicine since ancient times. It was valued as a poultice for pleurisy, skin eruptions, tumors, and burns, and was used in cough medicines. Flaxseed itself (ground or whole) contains the antioxidant lignan, which may help protect against certain cancers. Flaxseed oil, containing alpha-linolenic acid, is highly unsaturated and heart-healthy. (Do not ingest industrial linseed oil!)

The seeds themselves have a nutty taste and are highly nutritious. Grinding them just before using preserves flavor and nutrition, but preground seeds are more convenient. Keep them refrigerated. Combine flaxseed flour with wheat flour for breads, quick breads, and pancakes, and sprinkle the ground seeds on cereals for additional crunch. Isis would be pleased.

Read more about flax:

Flax Your Way to Better Health
, by Jane Reinhardt-Martin

Get thy distaff and spindle ready and God will send the flax.

—TRADITIONAL SAYING

MARCH 6

There is a legend that bad fairies gave the blossoms of foxgloves to the fox that he might put them on his toes to soften his tread when he prowled among the roosts.

—MRS. M. GRIEVE, A MODERN HERBAL

The Mystery of Foxglove: A Love Story

It all started in the spring of 1768, in the English county of Shropshire, when Dr. William Withering rode out to make a house call on Miss Helena Cooke. Her illness confined the young lady to her home and required the good doctor to visit frequently. The two young people fell in love. He proposed marriage and she accepted.

Miss Cooke’s favorite occupation was painting watercolors of plants and flowers. As a medical student, Dr. Withering had found botany exceedingly dull and disagreeable, but his fiancée’s fascination with plants quite naturally charmed him. By the time they were married in 1774, Dr. Withering was as passionate about plants as was his new wife.

One subject of the doctor’s passion was the poisonous foxglove, known by its Latin binomial as
Digitalis purpurea
. The year after his marriage, the doctor acquired an herbal recipe from Mrs. Sutton, a Shropshire herbalist. She had been using the recipe, which contained foxglove and other herbs, to treat dropsy—the disease we now know as congestive heart failure. Although none of the authoritative herbals recommended the use of foxglove, Dr. Withering began to experiment with this powerful herb, administering it in different forms and dosages and carefully observing its effect on his patients. He learned that the plant increased the strength and efficiency of the heart muscle without requiring more oxygen. He also learned that the most reliable effects were obtained from the leaves of a two-year-old plant, gathered just before it bloomed.