Friday, July 27, 2012
Both edible and medicinal plants were classified by their qualities in the Middle Ages. A given plant might be heating, cooling, moistening, or drying in its action on human bodies; the intensity of this action was expressed in degrees. An herb or foodstuff that was a little cooling was “cold in the first degree,” while a very cooling plant was classed as “cold in the fourth degree.” Above, left: Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) was a mildly cooling fruit, being cold and moist in the first degree. Pear (Pyrus communis) was more refreshing, being cold in the second degree and moist in the first.
The medicinal model inherited by the Middle Ages, based largely on humoral theory, was essentially a “cure by contraries” rooted in the idea that illness was the result of an imbalance of the humors???blood, choler, bile, and phlegm???within an individual. Plants and other substances were either warming, cooling, moistening, or drying in their action on human bodies, which were sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic, or choleric in complexion. Read more »
Tags: Fragaria vesca, Galen, Hippocrates, humors, Mentha x piperita, mint, pear, peppermint, Portulaca oleracea, purslane, Pyrus communis, Rumex acetosa, sorrel, strawberry, Tacuinum Sanitatis, Tillyard, William Turner
Posted in Medicinal Plants | Comments (1)
Friday, October 29, 2010
The edible weeds that grew among the cultivated vegetables in the medieval kitchen garden were also harvested and used as potherbs. Above, from left to right: purslane, a succulent weed of fertile soils, is a common weed in our own vegetable gardens; lamb’s quarters, also known as “fat hen,” is now a very common weed in the United States; Good King Henry is related to the nutritious lamb’s quarters and was cultivated as a vegetable. Photographs by Corey Eilhardt.
A weed is a plant you don’t want. An herb is a plant with a use. But many of the “weedy” species that are considered garden nuisances today were actually valued in the Middle Ages. Edible weeds growing in the kitchen garden, along with the cultivated vegetables, were used in pottage, a basic medieval dish. (For more on pottage, see last week’s post, “Colewort and Kale.”) Read more »
Tags: cabbage, Chenopodium album, Chenopodium bonus-henricus, dandelion, Good King Henry, herb, kale, lamb's quarters, leek, Portulaca oleracea, pottage, purslane, ribwort plantain, weed
Posted in Food and Beverage Plants, Gardening at The Cloisters, Medicinal Plants | Comments (4)
