The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Apple

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

Today, I tell you about the medicinal use of the Apple tree - the fruit, leaves, shoots and bark.  Apples have a fascinating history of medicinal use and, of course, they are also great for pies and cider.  Applesa re easy to identify and i think you will find this episode especially useful.The Spring Foraging Cook Book is available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CRP63R54Or you can buy the eBook as a .pdf directly from the author (me), for $9.99:https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-spring-foraging-cookbook.htmlYou can read about the Medicinal Trees book here https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2021/06/paypal-safer-easier-way-to-pay-online.html or buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1005082936PS. New in the woodcraft Shop: Judson Carroll Woodcraft | SubstackRead about my new books:Medicinal Weeds and Grasses of the American Southeast, an Herbalist's Guidehttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2023/05/medicinal-weeds-and-grasses-of-american.htmlAvailable in paperback on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47LHTTHandConfirmation, an Autobiography of Faithhttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2023/05/confirmation-autobiography-of-faith.htmlAvailable in paperback on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47Q1JNKVisit my Substack and sign up for my free newsletter: https://judsoncarroll.substack.com/Read about my new other books:Medicinal Ferns and Fern Allies, an Herbalist's Guide https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/11/medicinal-ferns-and-fern-allies.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BMSZSJPSThe Omnivore’s Guide to Home Cooking for Preppers, Homesteaders, Permaculture People and Everyone Else: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-omnivores-guide-to-home-cooking-for.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BGKX37Q2Medicinal Shrubs and Woody Vines of The American Southeast an Herbalist's Guidehttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/06/medicinal-shrubs-and-woody-vines-of.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2T4Y5L6andGrowing Your Survival Herb Garden for Preppers, Homesteaders and Everyone Elsehttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/04/growing-your-survival-herb-garden-for.htmlhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B09X4LYV9RThe Encyclopedia of Medicinal Bitter Herbs: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-encyclopedia-of-bitter-medicina.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5MYJ35RandChristian Medicine, History and Practice: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/01/christian-herbal-medicine-history-and.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B09P7RNCTBHerbal Medicine for Preppers, Homesteaders and Permaculture People: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2021/10/herbal-medicine-for-preppers.htmlAlso available on Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B09HMWXL25Podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/show/southern-appalachian-herbsBlog: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/Free Video Lessons: https://rumble.com/c/c-618325

Hey y'all, welcome to today's show. Today we're continuing our series on medicinal trees that we can use as herbal medicine. And this is going to be a big one. This is Malice or Apple. And it's a huge family. I mean there are 41 varieties of apples that have documented use in herbal medicine. Now, among these, none essentially are native to America. We only have crab apples that are native to the Americas. And we have two native crab apples in my region, the southern crab apple and sweet crab apple. But, of course, Europeans brought over tons of apples our ancestors grew apples like crazy and the main reason they grew them was to

make apple cider a hard cider you know it was wine grapes don't grow well in America and apples do really well in fact you know I've discussed before how well where I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains we've got the Blue Ridge Parkway we've got you know I guess two national forests and lots of state land and then just over the ridge is the Tennessee Valley Authority and I don't know how many you know tens of thousands of people were forced off their land to create this tourist paradise. This, you know, it was the Vanderbilts were behind the National Forest.

They wanted to have basically private forestry for their use, and they did. And the TVA, I mean, their whole town was at the bottoms of those lakes, you know. So it was pretty bad in a lot of ways. Good in some ways, you know. But wherever you go, you know, wandering around the woods or you go out in the parkway or whatever you're going to do, you're probably going to find an apple tree. And that's a really good indication that at some point there was a house there. That was somebody's homestead.

Now, of course birds will carry seeds and all that so it's not you know a hard and fast rule but um it is you know very light off in the case and if you look around you know i found you know old marbles or pie plates i mean various things you know out in the woods like that. And tin cups, and usually there will be an old spring there. People would put their houses by a spring, and you might find an old well house or spring house, I mean, and a little tin cup still hanging there that's been there for 100 years, maybe longer, 200 years, probably not 200.

But, yeah, actually there were a lot of tinsmiths in East Tennessee. So yeah, it could be much older than that. Old glass bottles and jars. Some of those things are quite collectible. So definitely keep an eye out for such things. I mean, you never know. You might find an old coin or something. It's a great place to do metal detecting, which is illegal in the national forests and on the parkway so you're gonna have to check your regs and everything but

anyway there are so many apples and you know who knows what the oldest Apple is apple seeds are really unique in that they don't grow true to the original tree if you had a bush of apples and you save the seeds for each one of them, first of all they have to be stratified, which means they have to go through cold and then warm before they get sprout. But maybe, I mean out of like two, three hundred seeds, one or two are going to be true to that variety. The rest are all going to be genetically different. So you're just, just I came and begin to count the

number of heirloom apples we have in well especially where I live there's actually an orchard that's specializes in heirloom apples I think it's in Ashe County if I remember correctly could be Allegheny anyway it's one of the northwestern North Carolina counties really neat and they do some of those apples just fantastic I love the Pippin's I love the Arkansas blacks and there's so many and they're usually tart and crisp and you might call them cider apples that's what they were grown for you know some of them they all make great pies you know but those that we see in the store now are just kind of run-of-the-mill so when I'm talking

about medicinal use of apples, some of this is going to apply across the board and some of it's really going to be more for your heirloom apples or the native crab apples, which are malice. They are actual apples. So, D.S. Korides was ancient Greek. He wrote of, I guess, two or three varieties of apples, but he just classified them as honey apples or cider apples, must apples, they were often called because must is a winemaking term, and crab apples or wild apples. Now, those would have been many different types of apples. He just kind of grouped under crab apples, but of the sweet apples, he said, they soften the intestines and drive living creatures from them. Meaning,

they help get rid of worms. And they actually can help get rid of worms. But he said they were bad for the stomach. I mean, they actually thought that raw apples would upset the stomach. I don't know why, but that's a really common ancient belief. So, they really were used for cider, more than just about anything. And after being pressed, you might take the leftover pressings and make a pie or some bread with it or something, which is delicious, by the way. And of the crab apples, he said they were similar to the other apples, but very astringent. And you could use them as astringent using unripened apples eating them to help with like diarrhea or bleeding anything you might need an astringent for now by about 1080 AD

Saint Hildegard von Bingen was very fond of apples she said a person whether young or old who suffers from fogginess in his eyes for any reason should take the leaves of the tree in the springtime before it produces fruit and when they first come out they're tender and healthy and she said they should he should pound these leaves and express their sap and to this an equal measure of the drops to the flow of the grapevine so great sort of the the thin sap that runs out of a grapevine was cut that was another thing she really liked to use he should place vine. He should place this in a metallic jar at night when he goes to bed and he should moisten his eyelids and eyes with a feather dipped in a bit of it.

Then he should sprinkle the crushed leaves with a bit of the drops that flow from the grape vine and place this over his eyes. He should hold this on with a cloth and sleep on it. If he does this often, the fogginess will be driven from his eyes and he will see clearly. It's very interesting. Did that help prevent maybe cataracts or something? I don't know. But that astringent quality would very much like when you use like Visine eye drops or something. Just tighten the tissue a little bit, it helps you see a little clearer. So who knows? Old herbals are a little hard to decipher sometimes.

She said that anyone who has pain from an illness of the liver or spleen, or a bad stomach or a migraine should take the shoots from the apple tree and place them in olive oil warm them in a little jar in the Sun and if he drinks this often when he goes to bed his head will be better and presumably his liver and such too let's see she used the blossoms in the springtime and made a liniment out of it so it was good for shoulder and joint pains and such and she said the fruit of the tree is gentle and easily digested eaten raw so she disagreed with Greek herbal practice in that regard a lot of modern authors

have said that she got her learning of herbal medicine from the Greek tradition which is absolutely false she didn't speak. She really was sick a lot as a child and was fairly illiterate most of her life. She says that she was taught herbal medicine directly from Jesus and angels. There are so many stark differences in what she says than what the Greeks say that you cannot in any way say it's the same system, even though some of the similar terms were used at the time.

Like they would talk about humors and such. But, of course, apples are very popular in England. And by 1500, Girard said roasted apples were better than raw for digestion. And those are delicious. You know, he liked to roast them by the fire with spices and that's in some honey and that of course is great she said apples be good for a hot stomach and was strengthened the weak and feeble stomach apples are good for all inflammations or hot swellings but especially for such as are in their beginning and for that he would actually use sliced apples as a

poultice outwardly applied, which makes a ton of sense. There's vitamin C in there, there's astringent properties. It's going to help with inflammation and it's cool, because they're a moist cooling fruit. He said the juice of apples is sweet and mixed in compositions with other medicines. It's good for tempering melancholy humor. So, I don't really know what that means. Anyway, likewise, an ointment made of the pulp of apples with pig's grease and rose water is used to beautify the face.

So, hey, if you want to put lard on your face, mix it with apples. If you want to put lard on your face, mix it with apples. The pulp of roasted apples, he says, you know, he's kind of given measurements depending on the size of the apples, would help with what they call strangury, which is difficult urination, and they do have a diuretic quality. The leaves of the tree cool and bind and are good for inflammations. So again, used as a poultice. And apples cut in pieces and distilled with the quality of camphor and buttermilk would help take away scars marks and scars even from smallpox and such crab apples he said were stronger and the juice being more stringent and binding he recommended it be mixed with ale or beer

and would help with diarrhea and such. Culpepper said, this is about 100 years later, he said that they would upset your stomach if they weren't thoroughly ripe. And if you've ever eaten unripe apples, they definitely cause a little stomach upset. But if you had to eat them unripe, they should be roasted or scalded, basically boiled, with some spices and sugar and all that.

So basically an apple pie filling. He said they are very good for hot and bileless stomachs, but not to the cold, moist, or flatulent. The ripe ones eaten raw, move the belly a little. That means they have a lot of fiber. It can help with constipation and such. A poultice of sweet apples with powder of frankincense removes pains in the side. A poultice of the same apples boiled with plantain and water and then mixed with milk and applied can take away fresh marks of gum powder out of the skin. You know the old black powder would mark your skin and it would help remove that. Boiled or roasted apples eaten with rose water and sugar or a little butter

is a pleasant cooling diet for feverish complaints. So good to help reduce a fever. Infusion of sliced apples with their skins on in boiling water, spread on a little barley bread with mace or allspice is a very proper cooling diet in fever. Apples roasted are good for asthma, either raw or roasted, boiled, or good for the consumptive, that's tuberculosis, or in inflammatory conditions of the breasts and lungs the syrup is a good cordial and feignings means cordials are tonics that comfort the heart essentially strengthen the heart or can help with chest pains good

for palpitations and melancholy the pulp of boiled apples and a poultice is good for inflamed eyes so we're back to that application again and he recommended being applied either alone or mixed with milk or rose water or fennel water let's see again to more modern tradition miss grieve in the 1930s said the chief dietetic value of apples lies in the malic and tartaric acids. These acids are of signal benefit to persons of sedentary habits or who are liable to liver derangement, and they neutralize the acid products of gout and indigestion. Hence, an apple a day takes the doctor away is a respective old rhyme and has some reason in it.

So, it makes sense that apples would help with gout and digestion all that let's see what she says specifically she definitely of course recommended apples for their fiber and digestion and she has a lot of interesting history apparently the French found that that the bacteria that caused typhoid couldn't live in apple juice and they really recommended drinking apple cider especially to help with against typhoid so that's interesting she's got a lot of history here I'm just gonna kind of skip through it.

One interesting thing she said is that cooked apples make a good local application. That means again a poultice is used outside for sore throats and fevers and inflammation of the eyes. And that apple cider with horseradish in it was helpful for dropsy or retaining fluid and that the actually the bark of the apple tree was good for intermittent and bilis fevers so like malarial type fevers to the irish tradition john kehoe tells us that apples comfort and cool the heat of the stomach especially those apples that are somewhat sour the leaves should be laid upon hot swellings and they can be applied to fresh wounds to prevent them from turning bad. A crab apple specifically said the juice of crab apples was as good as an

astringent gargle for ulcers of the mouth, throat, and good for burn, scalds, and inflammation. And quince is also in the apple family. You rarely find quince in the United States. It's a great fruit, a good one to plant, more of a bush-sized plant. He said that quince stops diarrhea, dysentery, and hemorrhages of all kinds, strengthen the stomach, and stop vomiting. Now, in 1898, apples and products from the apple tree were actually still used in the pharmacies. Doctors would actually use these as prescriptions. And King's American Dispensatory tells us that apple tree bark is tonic and febrifuge, a decoction of it used with advantage in intermittent and bilious fevers,

and for convalescence from diseases. It can be given in doses of 1 to 4 fluid ounces three times a day. A strong decoction of the syrup of the sweet apple tree bark has been employed in some cases of gravel. It's kidney stones usually. It can be bladder stones and various things. Fruit of the apple contains, well, we already talked about the malic acid and such and is useful and healthy in the diet. Its indications for an acid are present however and it is not especially contradicted by rheumatism or dyspepsia. So again they're saying it's good in the diet for just about anybody but easier to digest of course when cooked and again this is from a pharmacist's journal in 1898

it says cider forms not only a refreshing and agreeable drink for patients with fever but actually exerts a salutary medical influence especially where the tongue is coated deep red brown or black i have used cider in which horseradish has been steeped as an effective remedy for dropsy for many years and is now used in the preparation of a valuable agent against this disease the compound infusion Oh infused with parsley so actually interesting cider with horseradish and parsley both are diuretics that makes a lot of sense cooked apples from are good for the eyes erysipelas inflammation sore and swollen throat and yeah and they also mention

it was actually extracted from the bark it was called floridazine I think floridazine they said it was tonic and anti-periodic and had cured many cases of intermittent fever, even where quinine has proved ineffectual. Unlike quinine, it has not caused gastralgia or upset stomachs. So, I mean, in this area of pandemics, I've given you, what, three, four trees now that are very similar to quinine.

Apple seems to be even superior in some cases. So, y'all, we will wrap it up there because basically all the uses throughout history are just repeating the same uses for apples. Apples are an easy one to use. It's easy to identify an apple tree another French tradition is peeling apples make a pie or you know jelly or whatever you're going to do with the fruit of the apple the same in those peels and drying them and then using that as a tea and it's good for arthritis it's good for as a diuretic and it actually has some anti it can help with blood sugar and some diabetes

type issues supposedly you know I've never tried it for that that's part of the French tradition really good thing to do is learn to use the apples and plant as many as you can be a modern-day Johnny Appleseed because those the apples in the grocery store are nowhere near as good as the heirloom apples that we find out in the woods pretty commonly where I live. And they're not as good for you either, and they've really been soaked in a lot of chemicals. I have a great cookbook from, I guess, 1940 or so, and it actually lists over 100 apple varieties you could expect to find at any grocery store in the United States.

Imagine that. Now we go in the grocery store in the United States. Imagine that. Now we go in the grocery store, there are three, maybe four or five varieties. Time to bring this diversity back in because, you know, that also protects against blights and insect damage and all that when we have the genetic diversity in the food. So anyway, y'all, have a good one, and I will talk to you next time. The information in this podcast is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition. Nothing I say or write has been evaluated or approved by the FDA. I'm not a

doctor. The U.S. government does not recognize the practice of herbal medicine and there is no governing body regulating herbalists. Therefore, I'm really just a guy who studies herbs. I'm not offering any advice. I won't even claim that anything I write or say is accurate or true. I can tell you what herbs have been traditionally used for. I can tell you my own experience and if I believe an herb has helped me. I cannot nor would I tell you to do the same. If you use an herb anyone recommends, you are treating yourself. You take full responsibility for your health. Humans are individuals and no two are identical. What works for me may not work for you. You may have an allergy, a sensitivity, an underlying condition that no one else even shares and you don't even know about. Be careful with your health.

By continuing to listen to my podcast or read my blog, you agree to be responsible for yourself, do your own research, make your own choices, and not to blame me for anything ever.