THE GARLIC

When I plant my first seed of Garlic in spring I am very well aware that it will grow in a real treasure of health for my family. For thousands of years before us the people already knew that Garlic was a cure for many diseases, because in that time they didn’t had any other medicine.

 

In my childhood Garlic was a real winner against roundworms and other parasites in the body. Even today I am eating it regularly. Usually I make myself a Garlic puree. I mash four to five cloves of Garlic, leave it for a few hours in water (meanwhile I mix it a few times), then drink it.

I use Garlic for rinsing wounds, especially infected ones. I mash Garlic and put it into boiled or distilled water. With this mixture I disinfect many wounds.

With Garlic I also treated corns and calluses, warts and acne. I made myself a fresh porridge from mashed Garlic cloves.

 

Since I am in mid-forties I often have problems with cholesterol, that’s why I eat at least two cloves of Garlic a day. It protects heart and lifeblood.

 

It is excellent when I use Garlic for disinfection of painful throat. Through gargling the Garlic potion my pain disappear in almost three days.

Since I eat Garlic I have bad breath, I reduce it with eating some leaves of parsley or basil.

In the kitchen Garlic is indispensable, especially with salads and meat dishes. I most enjoy eating the Garlic sauces and its dressing for salads.

 

Garlic is available in stores through all year. When we are buying it we have to be careful to choose the fresh ones. The heads of Garlic must be hard and shouldn’t have growths. We should avoid Garlic that has grey colour and too much roughage. The best one is with the purple peel. If we have a chance we use fresh Garlic on the beginning of its harvesting season. We have to storage it in cold and dry space without light.

 

 

One advice: It is best when we mash raw Garlic with a mortar and pestle. If we want to have a little Garlic flavour in our ingredients then we rub the bowl with mashed Garlic.

 



THE WALNUT

Walnut grows everywhere around us, but we barely notice it. All that we know is that we can make a great Walnut cake and many other sweet goodies. Also it has many healing abilities but we don’t know a lot about it. Walnut was more appreciated by older generations.

In spring I gather young Walnut leaves and dry them in shade, but they must remain green as much as they could to maintain healing abilities. I gather green immature Walnuts from which I make drops for stomach. Leaves and Walnuts contain tannins, essential oils, citric acids, bitters, salts and many other healing substances.

Many times I make tea from Walnut leaves, this one is very appropriate for cleaning blood, immune system, skin diseases and hemorrhoids.

I recommend you to use Walnut tea together with camomile tea. Walnut tea contains many of tannins which are not recommended for people with sensitive stomach. That’s why you must mix it with other teas like camomile, linden, etc.

I remember that when I was a teenager, my aunt prepared me sliced immature Walnuts with raw butter. With it I lubricated my face, to reduce pimples. I also ate it when I had menstrual problems.

From sliced Walnut leaves and tree bark I make mouthwash, it works antibacterial.

From sliced Walnuts I prepare myself Walnut liquor. In liquor I put green Walnuts, sugar, lemon, cloves and cinnamon. Then I put it on window shelf for two months but not directly on sun. Then I pour it in other little bottles and put it in the basement. After a year I open it to drink it with the rest of my family.

I use Walnut oil for baking cakes, especially with the one that contain Walnuts, and sometimes at poultry and vegetables, there where the taste of Walnuts is matching with ingredients.

Walnuts are best to eat raw, I store them in dark airy space. I store Walnut kernels in a glass jar which must be closed very well.

After all that is obvious why chipmunks like Walnuts so much.

THE CABBAGE

It has been said that Cabbage is food for poor people and if you harvest it at full moon it has the most medicinal substances.

I mostly use raw heated and sour Cabbage. Fresh Cabbage has a lot of vitamin C. Cabbage in acidification excreted very much lactic acid, which prevents rotting processes in the human body. That’s why the excess material immediately eliminates from the intestines. Also the sauerkraut (sour Cabbage) prevents toxic substances to run from intestines into the blood, this affects the health and well-being.

I use Cabbage all year long, in summer and autumn I mostly use fresh Cabbage, in winter and spring I use sauerkraut. When I have headache or back pain, I lie down on fresh Cabbage leaves.

When I suffer from hoarseness I blend Cabbage leaves in food processor and add some of flower honey.  After consuming it I feel better.

Several times that I had stomach problems, I prepared myself fresh juice from fresh and sour Cabbage. I made juice from fresh Cabbage with the juicer, then I drank it for a month, three times a day of two decilitres, beside that I had a suitable diet.

In cold winter when vitamin C is even more indispensable, sauerkraut is the most convenient and healthy meal in any kitchen (it also doesn’t spoil that easy). Cabbage blends well with roast pork and Kranjska sausages.

Salad made from fresh sliced Cabbage with a little boiled, mashed potatoes and whole cumin provide a good companion to every main course and mixed salad.

The most important thing about cooking Cabbage is that you shouldn’t over boil it, especially when you want to use it as a remedy.

 



SAUERKRAUT STEW RECIPE

Here is a recipe for a very tasty stew from sauerkraut.

First I boil sauerkraut slightly, then I separately cook diced potatoes, I do the same with kidney beans (which can be bought canned), meanwhile all that is cooking I add some smoked bacon to sauerkraut. After that I separately make onion roux in a pan, I put chopped onion into hot oil and fry it, then I sprinkle a little flour on it and add tomato paste, after that I add some cold water (this process dissolve the sauce a little), cook it for five minutes and add it to the sour Cabbage. At the end I add one bay leaf and two crushed garlic cloves.

 

 

THE RED CLOVER

If people had as strong sense as animals have (deer, rabbits, etc.), we would eat Red Clover more regularly. At my young age I wondered why only deer like Red Clover so much. In past Red Clover was considered one of the best sorts of animal feed. I also remember that I spent most of the time on a meadow where I ate some Red Clover flowers, it tastes sweet and fresh. My mother had sown witloof chicory between Red Clover every year, which had really good taste.

About two decades ago I started to research about this plant and then I found out that  Red Clover is one of the oldest herbs. It contains everything from calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamins and flavonoids.

Red Clover is often used by women as a help in premenopausal period, it greatly reduces sweating, tiredness, irritability, hot flushes and lack of concentration. I made myself tea from it and drink it one cup after a meal.

I use Red Clover when I have problems with constipations. From its flowers I make syrup which helps to facilitate expectoration. Much better than any other herb I use it for inflammation of gastric mucosa and also to relieve stress.

 

Manyl times my lymph glands get painful and swollen, in that case I prepare an ointment by using fresh Red Clover flowers, on which I pour water and cook it on low heat for five hours, then I drain it and mix with the same amount of fat (oil, etc.).

 

 

Red Clover flowers I use for decoration of salads and vegetable side dishes.

Just as with other herbs you have to use (eating) Red Clover with caution, especially during pregnancy, breast and female reproductive tract cancer.

In the old times people said that woman who don’t have children and want to get pregnant, drank Red Clover tea every day to get pregnant faster.