Results for Category: Herb Talk
6 Basil Varieties & What You Should Know About Them
Few things compare to the fresh smell and flavor of basil pesto. Throw some basil leaves and pine nuts (or even less expensive almonds) in a blender with some olive oil, lemon, and salt, and you create a fragrant, herbaceous spread you can put on most anything. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water!…
How To Incorporate Hemp In Your Materia Medica
With hemp (Cannabis sativa) only just beginning to emerge on the forefront of herbal practice and scientific research, there is mu...
The Lure and Lore of HOPS: The 2018 Herb of the Year
Each year since 1995, the International Herb Association picks an Herb of the Year. This year that herb is hops (Humulus spp.). Be...
Maitake 101: A Valuable Mushroom (+ Maitake Barley Risotto Recipe!)
Early October in New England means many things: cool and sunny days, peak fall color, crisp apples, and icy cold cider come to mind, for starters. More obscure but no less exciting (for some of us)—it’s maitake time. Maitake what? Maitake mushrooms, also called hen-of-the-woods, or Grifola frondosa. If we’ve gotten enough precipitation in late…
7 Things You May Not Know About Passionflower
Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata L.) has a rich history of use here in the West. Not only has it been used by Native American tribes, early European settlers, and African American slaves, but its uses have varied over time, especially as the Eclectic physicians of the 19th and 20th centuries began to use it more and…
Adding Yarrow To Your Materia Medica
Yarrow grows freely in my gardens and I encourage it to do so, as much for its beauty as its beneficial uses. While the blooms hav...
34 Ways To Use Roses
Summer heat means decadently fragrant roses are in riotous bloom! What could be more lovely than the full blossom of a rose? Howev...
Who Else Wants To Learn About Spanish Moss?
For starters, Spanish moss is neither Spanish in origin, nor is it moss! Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) is actually an epiphyte, an “air plant” that grows hanging from tree branches, gathering its nutrients and water from the air. Although it’s native to Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean, it has become naturalized in…
All About Dandelion (For Your Materia Medica)
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is most assuredly a treasured plant in my local materia medica and is appreciated by herbalists throughout temperate regions of the world. Sadly, dandelion is not celebrated by all—due to its penchant to grow and blossom wherever it darn well pleases, it is loathed and poisoned by those who value a pristine…
Little-Known Ways To Use Lovage
If we were to walk back in time and enter a medieval medicinal or kitchen garden, in the back we would surely find a relatively un...
