Published in Healthy Options Magazine July 2009

Tucked away in my memory lies a happy scene which we probably all share: a patch of bright yellow and orange nasturtium flowers surrounded by their round dollar leaves. Squatting down you reach out and pick the long funnel off the back end of the flower and suck out the nectar, “Ummmm yummy,” you say as you reach out to pick another one and give it to your younger sibling (nephew, grandchild, daughter), “try that.” You watch the expression of happy surprise on the face of the child as they eagerly reach out and pick their own colorful nectar filled funnel. This simple act has occurred for generations around the globe ever since the colorful nasturtium flower was first brought back to Europe from their native habitat, the Andes. Very easy to grow and a wonderful companion plant for gardeners, the zesty Tropaeolum majus quickly circumnavigated the globe and can now be found in every country.

The multicolored flower we know as nasturtium is said to have gotten it’s name from the family Nasturtium which is a genus of the Brassicacea (cabbage) family. Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) is the edible plant of this family and contains the same mustard oil (Benzyl isothiocyanate), which causes the tangy taste in the nasturtium flower. The properties and therapeutic uses of these two plants are therefore very similar. One difference is that the bright colors of the flowers also contain the powerful antioxidant anthocyanin, which we have heard a lot about over the past couple years as a highly effective free radical scavenger and cancer preventer.

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Rose Hips on the Tree of Life written for Healthy Options Magazine June 2009

–Recipe for Rose Hip Soup–

Unlike people, roses probably do not consider themselves as having a purpose in life. But if a rose bush did have a mission, I expect its greatest sense of achievement would come from creating, not just a whole lot of beautiful flowers, but the grand array of round, red rose hips which come after them.

Elder Woman

When days are short and cold, most of us enjoy reading by a fire, legs tucked under a blanket, sipping hot rose hip tea to protect ourselves from unwanted viruses. Fortunately, the frantic Christmas shopping that consumes the shortest days of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, are not an issue in New Zealand, and we can take full advantage of this sacred time for going within and nourishing our roots. Winter is the traditional story-telling season, when the old folks share their wisdom with tales that allow the listener to gain various perspectives into their life experiences, as they process the year’s events.

My grandparents died when I was young so I missed their stories. But, I am fortunate to have a tangible way to connect with my Mormor (mother’s mother in Swedish) through her cookbooks, recipe clippings and the notes she added in the margins. One of the items I found scrawled on a scrap of paper was Nypon Soppa (Rose Hip Soup), which remains a Swedish favorite today. The preferred rose used is the dog rose (Rosa canina) but the rugosa rose (Rosa rugosa), which have large, flavorful hips, are also commonly used. These wild roses are packed with vitamin A, B3, E, D, C, K, lycopene, bioflavonoids, as well as the minerals calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, silica, magnesium and sodium. The dog rose hips have the highest amount of Vitamin C and bioflavonoids, and also contain proanthocyanidin glycosides which are antioxidants currently being tested for their effectiveness in assisting with cases of osteoporosis. Other uses for these happy red fruits include boosting the immune system, as a powerful painkiller and inflammatory, easing digestion and assisting the kidneys, circulatory system and heart.

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Refreshing recipe for Fenugreek and Fennel Salad

Fenugreek: (Trigonella foenum-graecum) called methi in the Ayurvedic tradition, has been a trusted friend of mankind for a long time, perhaps even before crops were cultivated. It is widely used in Ayurvedic medicine and cooking, which dates back at least 4,000 years. The Ayurvedic philosophy of life comes down to us from the mysterious but sophisticated culture that flourished in the Indus valley and worshiped the Mother goddess. Fenugreek is especially renowned, in this tradition, as a warming digestive herb and galatagog.

An interesting property of fenugreek is it’s affinity for certain wild yeasts, which are beneficial to the digestive tract as well as being useful in the fermenting process of making traditional dosas or idlis, by attracting wild yeasts to the batter. Fenugreek is a great adaptogen, and its supportive function in the intestine cleans out impacted matter in the mucous membranes while adding a protective gum of it’s own to the walls of the intestine. The mucilagins in fenugreek (galactomannans) stimulate production of fluids, which also flush allergens from the respiratory tract, making it useful for treating bronchitis and congestion. It also reduces fevers and relieves inflammation. These gentle properties of both the seed, sprouts and the greens of fenugreek, are vital for modern urban dwellers. In fact, according to the Ayurvedic tradition, these properties also help with arthritis by cleaning out toxins accumulating in the fluids around the joints.

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Published in the column A Flirtation With Herbs in Healthy Options Magazine, New Zealand, April 2009

I was away for much of the summer, helping my sister with her newest addition to the family. As a result, my balcony garden didn’t do so well. My spaghetti squash died, my nasturtiums were killed in an aphid infestation, my calendula was ravaged by fungus and the coriander bolted. I managed to harvest about twelve tiny, incredibly delicious tomatoes, but my bumper crop was coriander seeds. Even so, there wasn’t enough to cover even a weeks worth of cooking (I love coriander), but it was fun hanging out with those clusters of gleaming green balls bouncing on the breeze in the sun amongst a delicate backdrop of frilly coriander leaves and lacy white flowers. I have a couple seeds in my mouth as I write this and the flavor is much fuller than any store-bought coriander seed I have ever tried. I have been adding them to homemade kimchi and bread. I now think of the coriander seeds as what they technically are: nutrient powerhouses and flavor-packed fruits (Fructus coriandri) not simply a dry spice.

Coriander is one of the first herbs I knew of, my mother used to grow it with dill, sweet corn and peas, occasionally a pig would get into the yard and us kids would go tearing out of the house to chase it out, squealing and snorting in terror, before it dug up our garden. My parents were missionaries, so we grew up in a village in Papua New Guinea that had lots of pigs. We later went to boarding school in Penang, where everyone seemed to eat coriander/cilantro on everything.

I was therefore quite surprised to find there are people who find the smell and flavor of coriander revolting. I remember the discovery well. I was working at Mudbrick Vineyard, out at Waiheke Island, our Sous Chef at the time was from England. He was revamping the menu and we were making a tomato, lemon-grass and coriander broth for green-lipped mussels. As I started to load in the coriander he said, “Go easy on the coriander, most people can’t stand it.” I couldn’t believe my ears, from my perspective this confirmed my preconception that the British palate was dull and unadventurous. I secretly added more when he wasn’t looking.

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I remember the first time I had a chance to get to know wild fennel. It was growing tall and wild behind an empty lot I walked through every day on my way to work at an Italian restaurant in the Viaduct harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. It’s funny to look back on that period in my life and realize that I have a clearer memory of the walk to work than the job itself. This is simply because those fennel plants were so delighted to have me walk through them every day. I inhaled in their aromatic sunshine on the way to work in the morning and felt supported by their feathery touch on my way home at night, exhausted. Fennel also grows tall and vibrant on the hills of Wellington, where I lost myself in fragrant forests of fennel and laid on my back looking up at the golden umbels and the busy orgasmic humming of the bees collecting the fennel nectar.

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is not native to New Zealand, Canada, the US or many of the places it grows so exuberantly. It naturalizes easily (especially if native plants are first cleared to create fields) and has followed European colonizers all over the world. Every part of the plant is used as food and medicine. Whenever fennel is introduced to a culture sooner or later it ends up being used for support and balance, especially for digestion and nerves.

The first time I remember eating the crisp fennel bulb, also known as the Florence bulb, (different than wild fennel, which doesn’t produce a large root) was while cooking in Auckland during America’s Cup 2002. We served a refreshing side salad of freshly sliced fennel, vine-ripened tomatoes, olive oil, fresh basil, fresh lemon juice, black pepper and salt. The salad was simple but really hit the spot, unlike the crazy kitchen it was prepared in. The head chef had a heart attack just as opening night dinner kicked off, spilling a bucket of tomato sauce everywhere as he collapsed coming out of the chiller. He might have avoided such an event if he had been an avid fennel salad eater.

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I developed a deep respect for turmeric the last time I was in Myanmar (Burma). Not paying close attention to where I was putting my feet, I had stumbled on a hole in the sidewalk while walking the streets of Yangon and sprained my ankle. Several Burmese friends advised me to paste my ankle with turmeric and water and wrap it up. It quickly reduced the inflammation and I was soon tripping down the streets again.

I began asking everyone I met about turmeric and marveled at the multitude of ailments that it is used for. Everyone agreed that turmeric was a good friend of women — for young women wishing to improve their complexion, regulate their menstruation and give them that virginal glow — but it was especially important for women right after childbirth.

An enthusiastic and romantic young man told me how he had lovingly hand pounded the fresh dried root, mixed it with pure forest honey from the Shan States, rolled it into pellets and dried it in the sun for his wife in preparation for the arrival of his baby. Burmese women take these turmeric and honey pellets orally every day and paint their bodies with the paste of turmeric and water for about 40 days following childbirth. The turmeric is said to heat their bodies and cause them to sweat, purifying their blood and improving their circulation, making them fresh and new-born themselves, while at the same time protecting them physically, emotionally and spiritually during a sacred and vulnerable time.

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Originally published in Healthy Options, July 2004, New Zealand

Perhaps the oldest seed utilized by man, sesame has been used for thousands of years as medicine, food and to light lamps. Although the first written record of sesame is 3,000 BC, Assyrian mythology gives sesame a role in the origins of our world. In this legend, the gods drank sesame wine the night before the earth was created. This tiny seed, which explodes from its pod when mature, is also called the seed of immortality and is considered to be good luck. It was the first plant used for its oil. In China the oil was originally burnt and used as ink. Some people think it wasn’t used as food until much later.

The sesame seed, Sesamum indicum, from the Pedaliaceae family, is well known throughout many cultures and has been valued as food and medicine alike. As sesame is a rare seed that contains high quantities of methionine and tryptophan as well as other amino acids. It is a perfect match for grains and legumes to create necessary essential amino acid balance in vegetarian diets. It is interesting to see how this little seed is eaten in deliciously complementary combinations across many cultures:

• In the Middle East, it is often used in a mixture of spices, herbs and nuts called za’atar or dukkah and eaten with bread and olive oil, or it is made into tahini and eaten with falafels and hummus.
• In Japan, the black sesame seed is ground and mixed with salt and used as a nutritious seasoning for rice or noodles called gomashio.
• In Myanmar (Burma), it is added to salads or served at the end of the meal in a unique pickled tea salad.
• The Chinese usually toast the seeds before grinding them into a paste, which is added to stir fried vegetables. Alternatively they press the flavorful oil from the toasted seeds and drizzle it over noodles or vegetables before serving.
• In India, among other countries it is made into halvah and eaten as a desert, they also use cold pressed untoasted sesame oil for cooking.

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