Staff – Herbal Education

Malaysia’s oldest woman still giving advice on herbs, longevity

31Mar

By StaffNo Comments

Herbal Medicine, Wild Herbs

Malaysia’s oldest woman still giving advice on herbs, longevity

BUTTERWORTH: March 31, this year marks Annamah Abukutty’s 110th birthday, yet her age has not stopped her from contributing to society. Born and raised in Thachambadi, India, Annamah brought along her knowledge and wealth of experience in Indian traditional herbs when she migrated to then Malaya before the start of World War II. Annamah currently resides in Batu Gajah, Perak with some of her descendants, comprising four children, 17 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Her son M Subramanian, 73, said that despite her age and disability, villagers around her residence and patients have been visiting her to seek health advice and her wisdom in longevity. Apart from herbal medicine, he said people used to seek her services in midwifery, reflexology and tattooing. Read more at Fre...

How Herb Gardening Can Save Home Cooks a Ton of Money

29Mar

By StaffNo Comments

Gardening

How Herb Gardening Can Save Home Cooks a Ton of Money

Spring begins for me when I start planning, preparing, and planting my garden. I live in a duplex and only have space for a narrow raised bed and a few containers, so I have to be deliberate in my plant selection. I'm also not known for my gardening skills; my family looks with pity upon most of the plants I bring home, knowing they probably won't last long. That said, I have found several herbs that even I can keep alive. And the benefits of growing an herb gardenmake these aromatic plants well worth growing: they don't need much room to thrive, you can easily use them in your cooking, and herbs taste so much better when they are fresh-picked. But you may not have considered that an herb garden can also save you money. Read more at Yahoo.

Sleep Series: Natural Remedies That May Help You Sleep

24Mar

By StaffNo Comments

Herbal Medicine

Sleep Series: Natural Remedies That May Help You Sleep

Sometimes catching zzzs can be a real challenge. Luckily there are a few safe natural remedies on the market that may help you rest. Most experts estimate that anywhere from 30 to 60 million people experience some level of chronic sleep disturbance in their lifetime. It’s natural and normal to have trouble sleeping when things are stressful, difficult, and you have a lot of anxiety. Add in disruptions to light, temperature, and even what we eat and drink before bed, and there are any number of different factors that can keep us from getting a restful night’s sleep. While more serious sleep problems should be addressed by a medical doctor who might be able to prescribe well-known sleep medications like Ambien and Ativan, these medications can and often do have serious and significant side...

Mistakes You Are Making With Your Kitchen Herb Garden

17Mar

By StaffNo Comments

Gardening

Mistakes You Are Making With Your Kitchen Herb Garden

As people have spent an extended period of time at home this past year during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, home cooking has become increasingly popular. At the same time, people are trying to limit trips to the grocery store, so it's difficult to stock up on fresh herbs. It can also get expensive very quickly. Using fresh herbs is great, because they add amazing flavor to different foods, and can help bring a dish full-circle. They also make eating at home a little more special. They can kick your meals up a notch both in taste and presentation. Plus, when you're cooking, it's fun to head over to your adorable kitchen herb garden to cut off just what you need. So grow your own herbs right on your kitchen windowsill, and add a bit of sunshine to each plate ... and hopefully your day ...

How to treat seasonal allergies with wild herbs

15Mar

By StaffNo Comments

Wild Herbs

How to treat seasonal allergies with wild herbs

Last night I went to the grocery store to get some medicine for my daughter. She started experiencing symptoms of seasonal allergies last week, so I started giving her an over-the-counter antihistamine. More recently, she’s been experiencing sinus pressure, a runny nose and an upset stomach. My guess is she has a mild sinus infection. So I was in search of an expectorant and nasal decongestant without an antihistamine because we had already been using one and wanted to avoid using more than the recommended amount or an analgesic like acetaminophen because she had never had a fever. After about 20 minutes of scanning and comparing labels, I finally settled on a medication that worked as an expectorant, nasal decongestant and cough suppressant, knowing the medicine included to suppress...

Gardening expert reveals tip for growing herbs and it costs nothing

10Mar

By StaffNo Comments

Gardening

Gardening expert reveals tip for growing herbs and it costs nothing

There’s nothing better than cutting some fresh cilantro or rosemary from your own garden to enhance your cooking. If you've been thinking of how to create a herb garden in your outdoor space too, we've got a brilliant hack to help get you started. A gardening expert recently shared a tip to help your herbs plant strong roots so they can flourish. The hack costs nothing, as it makes use of the cardboard core of toilet paper to encourage healthy roots. In the latest Grow, Cook, Eat, Arrange podcast episode, garden expert Sarah Raven recommends using the cardboard core of toilet paper to train the roots when planting a herb cutting. ‘I use root trainers or cardboard loo rolls for shrubby herb cuttings like rosemary, thyme and sage,’ she says. Continue at Gardening Etc.

Spice it up! A guide to using herbs for cooking

8Mar

By StaffNo Comments

Herbal Recipes

Spice it up! A guide to using herbs for cooking

Cooking with herbs is an easy way to infuse a recipe with flavour. Many people have herbs in their gardens or on their kitchen ledge but don’t use them to their full potential. They are sometimes forgotten about and not much is done with their herb garden. So get picking, learn about drying herbs, and of course, get cooking. Head culinary artist from Granny Mouse Country House & Spar Theo Mannie, has shared below delicious recipes on how you can use herbs in cooking. Thyme infused panna cotta with gin berries Serves: 6 Ingredients 200ml cream 200ml milk 7g gelatine powder 3tbsp water 50g honey 1tsp vanilla extract 2tbsp thyme sprigs Gin berries 50ml Bombay Sapphire Gin 300g frozen raspberries 50g sugar 1tsp thyme 50g cucumber skin a...

4Mar

By StaffNo Comments

Herbal Medicine

Upgrade Your Immunity with Herbs

From New York Times best-selling author and natural-health expert Dr. Joseph Mercola, an illustrated guide and cookbook with smart strategies, cutting-edge research, and 50 delicious recipes to support immunity.For many of us, the COVID-19 pandemic has served as a wakeup call, forcing us to take a frank look at how well our immune systems could serve us during challenging times. Is your immune health up to par? Could it save you from a monumental threat? In this new book packed with up-to-the-minute information and illustrated with gorgeous photography, natural-wellness expert Dr. Joseph Mercola offers a powerful toolkit for strengthening immunity and supporting health. Read more at Penguin Random House.

Master Gardener: A garden worth dyeing for – an alternative use of herbs

1Mar

By StaffNo Comments

Gardening

Master Gardener: A garden worth dyeing for – an alternative use of herbs

The diversity of herbs is amazing. The Herb Garden in the Master Gardener complex located at 9020 Airport Road, shows many plants which are commonly known for their use in cooking plus many others that may be deemed useful as medicinal or ornamental herbs. Another fun and fascinating use for herbs, however, is as natural dyes for fabric, paper and beverages. To that end, the Herb group (lovingly known as the Herbies) are in the process of developing a Dye Garden which will contain plants that may be used in dyeing. The art of dyeing using natural plant material has been around since ancient times. Today, folks are trying to use fewer synthetic products and are opting for a natural method. The method of dyeing is a lot of fun, but it does require several steps. Read more at Houston Chroni...

Yaupon: The rebirth of America’s forgotten tea

25Feb

By StaffNo Comments

Wild Herbs

Yaupon: The rebirth of America’s forgotten tea

What if you were surrounded by tea and didn’t know it? In an age where tea is the most consumed drink on the planet after water and is expected to become an $81.6bn global industry by 2026, the possibility of living among an endless supply of ready-to-be-picked, wild tea might seem like a far-fetched dream. But across large swaths of the southern United States, such a reality exists. For those who know what to look for, what was once the most widely consumed caffeinated beverage in the Americas comes from a plant growing in plain sight, ignored by most, but deeply rooted deep in history and intrigue. Yaupon (pronounced yō-pon), is a holly bush indigenous to the south-east United States and happens to be North America's only known native caffeinated plant. Keep reading at BBC.