More about herbs: Spice it right, part 3

Reader Lynn Carrigan asked for more information about herbs, especially as remedies. I see by my clip file that I haven’t touched on their medicinal uses since January. It’s high time I gave you some herb and spice defenses against summer colds and allergies.
 
Nettle is an antidote to pollens from trees and grasses as well as flowers. I start the day with a nettle capsule or two. I used to harvest the young, growing tops of nettle plants along the road. To avoid stings, I’d wear gloves and snip the growing tips of the plant with a pair of scissors. If I got stung anyway, there was usually wild dock growing nearby. Mashed into a paste, it’s an antidote to nettle stings. Now I keep a bottle of nettle capsules among my supplements.
 
You can get nettle capsules at Minglement or any health food store. At this time of year, I do a lot of sneezing, and blowing of the runny nose. One nettle capsule is usually all it takes to stop that. Antihistamines don’t work well for me. They dry up the runny nose too well, and I get a sinus infection.
 
The antidote to that is Tiger Balm, an excellent decongestant. It’s not always easy to find, though. Camphor is the main ingredient, but thanks to the FDA you can’t buy camphor oil anymore.
 
Suppose though that what you have is a real cold coming on, not an allerghy? Remember that cloves and cinnamon are both anti-bacterial and anti- viral. Make yourself a tea to stop the cold germs cold! Just simmer a cinnamon stick and a tablespoonful of cloves in a cup or two of water until the water turns brown. Keep a capped glass bottle of this Magic Potion on hand. At the first sign of a cold, put a tablespoonful or two of this basic solution into a mug and fill it with boiling water. Add a slice of lemon and a spoonful of honey. The lemon cuts phlegm and the honey soothes a scratchy sore throat.
 
Basil is another antibacterial. You will find dried, crumbled basil at Thriftway’s bulk herb section or at Minglement’s. Use it as a digestive and antibacterial tea or to flavor your chicken soup. Next year, plant some in April.
 
Feeling queasy? Basil and marjoram together make a tea that settles your stomach.
 
Ginger also calms a queasy stomach. It’s a mild painkiller, too. When traveling, I bring along a little plastic bag of sugared ginger in case of winding roads or rough air. They have it in the bulk section at Thriftway.
 
Sage was considered a universal cure-all until a couple of centuries ago. Back then doctors were few and knew little. The herb women provided the most effective remedies for people’s ills.
 
Herbs still work. To ward off colds and flu, put a couple of big pinches of dried, crumbled sage into a cup or mug and pour in hot water. Add lemon or lime juice and a little honey. Drink hot or cold. Sip to quell a cough. Sage is said to quell a fever, too. I have not had occasion to try it for that, but I’m glad to have sage on hand to flavor meat dishes and in case someone in the family gets a bad cold or high fever.
 
Pennyroyal is effective against fevers that nothing else will lower, but remember that it’s strong medicine not to be drunk when you have no fever. To get it, you will have to grow it yourself, or know someone who does and will share. The FDA took it off the market because some people ruined their kidneys by drinking pennyroyal tea often for pleasure, when not fevered. Dried, it keeps almost forever.
 
My favorite cooking herbs, readily available, are oregano, marjoram, sage, thyme, and kelp. Kelp augments the iodine/iodide in sea salt and nourishes the thyroid. A spoonful of the dried, crumbled sea vegetable, added to a soup or casserole or spaghetti sauce, provides a multitude of minerals.