The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Bay Laurel

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey y'all welcome to this week's show. Today we are going to talk about a really interesting herb. It kind of falls into several categories. It's Bay Laurel. Now Bay Laurel is a medicinal herb. You may know it as a culinary herb. If you've ever had Bayberry candles or something like that, you may know it as a scent. It's also a tree. It literally falls into like five or six different categories, but it's really potent medicinally. But before we get into that,

Starting point is 00:00:36 I got a little bit of an announcement. Now you may remember, if you've been listening to my show for any period of time, that about four years ago, I was banned from YouTube. I had just started podcasting. And I guess I made the mistake of making fun of Tony Fauci right during the heart of the COVID panic,

Starting point is 00:01:03 we'll just call it the COVID panic, we'll just call it the COVID panic. Okay. I said, he reminded me of yogurt on space balls, merchandising, merchandising, that's where the money is. Love Mel Brooks movies. I'm a huge fan of, you know, young Frankenstein, Frankenstein, whatever, Blazing Saddles, Spaceballs, Silent Movie.

Starting point is 00:01:24 I mean, he was one of the best. I mean, Mel Brooks was hilarious and Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Bernadette Peters, I mean, they were just, they were great. Oh, what was the guy's name in Blazing Saddles? Oh man, he was hilarious, the black guy. You know, if you've seen Blazing Saddles, you know, it is actually correct to call him the black guy. You know if you've seen Blazing Saddles you know it is actually correct to call him the black guy because he was that character. No he would did wonderful movies. Huge Mailbooks fan. Now some of his last few

Starting point is 00:01:57 movies were pretty awful but you know in the 70s and 80s there was nobody better except maybe you know the guys that did Airplane and Naked God and Zooker Abrams Zooker I think were their names Hilarious I mean you know what a great privilege it was to really grow up in the golden age of comedic movies I mean I grew up on Mel Brooks and Zooker Abrams Zooker and all those great Steve Martin movies and Chevy Chase and National Lampoon. I mean man, we're talking Eddie Murphy. There was funny stuff. I mean there was serious comedy. Unfortunately we lost that and we lost a lot of it about the time they kicked me off of YouTube because you

Starting point is 00:02:42 couldn't just be funny anymore, right? Everybody got offended by everything Well, I went and did my own thing started the podcast Well, I mean continue with the podcast and the southern apple or latch and herbs podcast is really grown It's one of the most popular herbal podcasts in the entire world James approached me and asked if I would do this herbal medicine for preppers. Thrilled to do it and it's become very popular even though, yeah, I say things that offend y'all sometimes. You still put up with me and I appreciate that. I think we are practical people. We see that knowledge is knowledge and humor is humor.

Starting point is 00:03:20 And we don't get a, you know, been out of shape over everything. Anyway, I kept on going. And apparently at some point about a year ago, YouTube lifted the ban. And I mean, all my videos were taken down. I had no presence there for almost four years. But apparently about a year ago, YouTube lifted the ban. And my podcasting hosting company was apparently automatically uploading some of my podcasts, just like a handful of them,

Starting point is 00:03:54 to YouTube without my knowledge. I must have had settings clicked, you know, auto share to YouTube, and then they stopped doing it. And I don't even find that option anymore. So I don't know what was up with that. Some of my podcasts got up there and some didn't. Most didn't. Just a handful of podcasts did.

Starting point is 00:04:13 But I got a Google alert saying that my podcasts were on YouTube. And I looked and there's like, wow, there's four or five podcasts for six months ago. They must have lifted the ban. So, I started uploading all my Southern Appalachian Herbs podcasts to YouTube, all my uncensored Catholic podcasts, and I guess I'm gonna put Herbal Medicine 101 on there, that's always been on Rumble. They didn't allow me on YouTube, so I went to Rumble.

Starting point is 00:04:42 YouTube gets a lot more views, so hopefully I can spread the information to a lot more people. But you know what would really be great? It would be if I could actually make a few bucks off of YouTube instead of Jim just making money off of me. In the past I started uploading all my podcasts you know I got like 250 some herb podcasts I mean it took a couple of weeks to get them all up there I mean I can work on it find time in the evening and like let them upload for two hours one You know eating supper and watching the news that kind of thing

Starting point is 00:05:14 So it took about it took a couple weeks to get them all up there and over a thousand people viewed them I've also done a couple of videos of I've also done a couple of videos of Just playing old Piedmont Blues music on the on the guitar and a little singing and people really seem to like that They're getting maybe a hundred views a piece. So I mean, it's it's got potential. It's gonna grow, right? So YouTube is making money off of me right now And I'm not real happy about that because of the way they treated me and a lot of other people I Would like to make some money off of YouTube so I looked into it and apparently I can't monetize my videos. I can't make any revenue off of them until

Starting point is 00:05:54 I've reached 500 subscribers. So hey y'all I know in this next week if if everything is as it usually is in the next few days about a thousand people are going to listen to this podcast. Could I ask each of you if you use YouTube to go to my YouTube channel and subscribe to it? That would make a huge difference if I'm at about 116 subscribers right now. I've got to get to 500 before they'll allow me to monetize. I've already got enough views. I've got, you know, the views are coming in.

Starting point is 00:06:36 The subscribers are a little, you know, a little slower. So my channel is Judson Carroll. That's my name. J-U-D-S-O-N-C-A-R-R-O-L-L. And apparently it's at Judson Carroll 5902. All right, so you're never going to remember that. I'll never remember it myself. But you can just go on YouTube and type in a search it myself. But you can just go on YouTube and type in a search Judson Carroll, J-U-D-S-O-N-C-A-R-R-O-L-L, or you can type in Southern Appalachian Herbs podcast. I'm sure you can find me 57,000 different ways on there considering that I've now uploaded 346 videos. I will put the link in the show notes. So if you hear this and you use YouTube, please just click subscribe. It's free.

Starting point is 00:07:29 It will help me out a lot, a lot. And I mean, it really does not sit well right now for me. YouTube has been making money off of my content without my knowledge after banning me from their site. So I want to start making some money off of YouTube and you can help me do that. And as always if you support what I do you can subscribe you can become a paid subscriber to my sub-tech newsletter. I give everything away for free. It's totally optional. Everything I do I give away for free. It sent my books when they're sold through Amazon or whatever. I make a few bucks off each one. I'm not making a fortune

Starting point is 00:08:11 at this. If I could actually make some money on YouTube it would help a lot. So y'all I hope you'll consider doing that. Now with the shameless self-promotion as well Rush Limbaugh used to say and now it's time for the shameless self promotion And what was it the crass commercials? With all that aside man, I miss rush limbaugh rush was my hero. I gotta tell you three hours a day every day From my teens until you know what about four years ago, and he died teens until you know what about four years ago and he died. Biggest male influence in my life actually because I never had a dad around and you know my grandfather died when I was 10. Rush Limbaugh is the reason I do podcasting

Starting point is 00:08:58 now. He's the reason I worked for a while in politics, and I worked in talk radio and newspapers and such as that. Rush was, is very missed, very missed. So let's talk about May Laurel. And of course I also had a mentor in G. Gordon Liddy. I think as preppers, you all might appreciate that. Did I ever tell you that story? I was in college, I was up in Virginia and I ended up talking with a newspaper editor and he said, you know,

Starting point is 00:09:34 you really ought to write something for the newspaper. And I said, oh, you know, I'm just a college student, nobody's going to listen to me. He said, no, he said, you know, you really know politics and economics and all this. And he said, you're funny. You know, you got a real sharp wit. And he said, just write something, whatever topic you want and we'll run it as an op-ed. And I did. And I was younger then and a little more sharp tongued and blunt and I absolutely ripped to shreds a certain politician and it was in Virginia and somebody it was a little tiny small town Alda Vista Virginia I mean if you very I don't many of you know where Alda Vista is but it's next to the also very tiny town of Hurt. If you ever watch

Starting point is 00:10:26 Moonshiners Tim and Tickle are from that area but no it's it's really a cool place wonderful people absolutely wonderful slow talking southern people but somebody sent the article over to Mr. Liddy and you know, he lived in the Arlington area and I got contacted by his producer and she says, you know, mr Liddy was really impressed with this. Are you gonna do more? And I said, well, yeah, they actually hired me I got fired six weeks later, by the way The political bosses at Alta Vista were an old Democrat family and I was just pissing them off like nobody's business. So they threatened to shut down the newspaper and so I got canned six weeks into my job. Not the first time or the last time I was fired, especially my opinions.

Starting point is 00:11:17 But anyway, Mr. Liddy said, you know, I think you can really reach a young audience and you know, he would give me feedback and he talked to me and he introduced me to people and and I ended up working for a Congressman and a senator and then a bunch of candidates and you know different things and for a while that was my life a lot happened, especially 2008 the financial crash I had actually especially 2008 the financial crash I had actually stupid me I started a print newspaper I started print newspaper sometime around oh I guess it was 2002 so by 2008 with a financial crash no advertisers it went bankrupt and well not officially everybody got paid back the money they owed. I went bankrupt. And again, not officially. I never declared bankruptcy.

Starting point is 00:12:08 But literally lost everything in the blink of an eye. Almost lost my house. Did have to trade in my nice vehicle for an old beat up truck so I could do things like yard work and haul garbage to make $100 a week just to stay alive. And that was my grand experience with politics. The bright side of that story, it brought me back to herbal medicine because Obamacare

Starting point is 00:12:38 had passed and as a self-employed person I could no longer afford insurance. I was back in the mountains of North Carolina and all the herbs I needed to take care of my health for growing all around me. And I got involved with people like, uh, you know, the grow network and, and different folks and, um, they said, you know, you really ought to write about herbal medicine, you want to teach herbal medicine, you know more about it. And this is, you know, uh, practicing clinical herbalist said. You know more about it. And this is a practicing clinical herbalist said, you know more about herbal medicine than I do.

Starting point is 00:13:09 And anybody that taught me in school, why are you not doing this? And I thought, to me it was common sense. Doesn't everybody know this? Because it's the way I grew up. I grew up learning herbal medicine, but apparently not. And they were very supportive. Marjorie Wildcraft and that whole crew over there.

Starting point is 00:13:24 They said, we want you to do this. We'd consider writing a book. And so I did my first book, actually with a co-author. I did two basically at the same time. The first was The Herbs and Weeds of Father Johann Kuhnsel. That was co-authored with a lady I met through the Grove Network, an Austrian, who was able to translate

Starting point is 00:13:45 what's a really classic work of herbal medicine. And then we gave our modern herbalist commentary on it. And it was very well received. And then at the same time, I was writing a book about the medicinal use of trees. And you know, that's kind of where I started this series, was the herbal use of trees. I think that's the best starting place for anyone.

Starting point is 00:14:05 And again, they were very supportive. And then the folks over at permies.com, permaculture website, they were very supportive. I mean, really people that probably wouldn't agree with me about anything, especially when it comes to politics, right? They really appreciated my work and they helped promote it. And just like Mr. Liddy and later Rush Limbaugh, he helped me out a lot, actually. He never took credit for it. He would read my work on air on his show. I was writing under a

Starting point is 00:14:38 different name at that time, so you may not remember. But when in when the when the crash happened and I was going bankrupt in politics they call it blood in the water okay when you've gone after politicians real hard and they suddenly find out you're in a weakened position boy they do everything they can to try to destroy you and Rush Limbaugh went behind the scenes anonymously never took credit for it. I only knew about it because we had mutual friends that he talked with they went to him and said You know Judson is dealing with this and you know, it's really bad and he helped me out a lot a lot so Big place in my heart

Starting point is 00:15:23 anyway, uh Bay Laurel. So, many of us think of Bay Laurel as a culinary herb, merely a culinary herb. But often, and often, it is used in soups and especially in Mediterranean cooking. If you're like me, you know, I'm part Cajun Creole heritage. We use a lot. We use a lot of Bay Laurel and that's because Bay Laurel grows wild all throughout the southern part of Louisiana and really on the coast of North Carolina too. So even you know the other side of my family the Irish and English and Scots Irish Bay Laurel

Starting point is 00:15:58 something you know I really grew up using. If you're not used to it the scent it can be a little strong. Most of the bay laurel that's sold in America comes from California. California bay laurel kind of dominates the the market. Actually the native bay laurels to the southeastern coastal areas are much stronger. They're much more like the laurels of Greece and Italy, which the old, the herbalists wrote about. In a lot of old books, things can get a little confusing because the bay laurel is the laurel nobilis. That's what we call bay leaf in cooking. The Myrica family, though, it's part of the Myrica family, has several members and a lot of them

Starting point is 00:16:46 refer to as Laurel or Myrtle, which is a different plant, or Myrica. And that includes wax myrtle, bayberry. Bayberry was very popular up around the coast of Virginia. That's where a lot of that candle industry came from. And bog myrtle. They all have medicinal uses but can be very toxic if used improperly. I've talked to you before about old recipes for beer where they used a myrtle, Myrica gale, and it was stimulant and could cause hallucinations. Okay, so the bay leaf is not anywhere near that strong but the bay leaf, the bay laurel, has actually a lot of, it was very much used in ancient Greece and as part of their mythology and tradition.

Starting point is 00:17:36 You know, a scholar, an emperor, somebody who won the Olympic games, they would be crowned with a wreath of laurel. And that's where if you ever heard the saying, well, laureate, like baccalaureate and such as that, laureate actually derives from that tradition of being recognized for one's accomplishment. Or when someone says they're resting on their laurels, it means they've made their accomplishments and now they're not really trying anymore. They already have their crown of laurels essentially. So in Greek the bay laurel is called Daphne,

Starting point is 00:18:13 very popular name. It was named after a mythical nymph so it goes back to you know their mythology and you know Wikipedia had sort of an interesting entry in that. The myth of Apollo and Daphne, the god Apollo, fell in love with Daphne, who was a priestess of Gaia, or Mother Earth. And when he tried to seduce her, she pled to help for Gaia, who transported her to Crete and, in her place, left a laurel tree. So this goes back a long way.

Starting point is 00:18:39 So I'm not going to read the whole legend. You can if you want. But the bay laurel was the highest status symbol in ancient Greece. It was the prize in the Olympics, it was everything. Continued into ancient Rome. But by the time Pliny the Elder, it was said that Laurel was not permitted

Starting point is 00:19:00 for profane uses. It was still that special to them. You were not allowed to burn it. The wood of the Laurel trees fuel. for profane uses. It was still that special to them that you know you were not allowed to burn it. The wood of the laurel trees fuel. It could only be used for lighting altars for you know sacrifices and such and for ceremonial uses and he said that it crackled in the fire as a protest for being mistreated. So anyway, but let's get into more practical things medicinal. Dioscorides said that the Daphne or Loris is a smaller leaf than the other members of the Myrica family, but it was warming and softening and a decoction of them is good as a hip bath

Starting point is 00:19:42 for disorders of the vulva and bladder. Green leaves are somewhat astringent pounded into pieces and applied. They're good for wasp and bee stings. Applied with barley flour and bread they are able to lessen any inflammation. Taken as a drink they make the stomach tender and provoke vomiting. You would have to take a whole lot of bay laurel for that by the way. You know, we use it in cooking quite a bit, but we use one, three, four leaves, you know, at most, and usually remove them before serving. Very strong flavor, you know, you have to get used to it. My mother, for instance, cannot stand bay. I like it, you know, you either develop a taste for it or you don't, even if you grow up having it. He said that the, taken as a drink, they make the

Starting point is 00:20:24 stomach, well, I just said that, but the a drink they make the stomach, well I just said that, but the berries heat more than the leaves and that's true the berries are stronger and the berries also have that waxy quality to them. We don't use them very much but they are what's used in like the the the baked berry candles. They have that waxy quality. He said they were good taken as a syrup combined with honey and raisin wine used for consumption, that was tuberculosis, asthma, mucus around the chest, taken as a drink with wine. They were good against

Starting point is 00:20:56 scorpion stings. I am so glad I don't live with their scorpions. That critter probably freaks me out more than any on the face of the earth. I guess if you live in the desert southwest you think that's funny they freaked me out I don't know what it is about them but anyway I'm serious that's like they look you know all skeletal and they sting and just nasty looking things I'm you know I've grown up around black widow spiders and brown recluses all my life they don't bother me I mean I avoid them. I obviously don't want to get stung by one. But yeah, scorpion freaks me out. The juice

Starting point is 00:21:29 of the berries helps ear aches and hardness of hearing if dropped in the ears with old wine and rose oil. It is mixed with recipes for medicines to remove fatigue with hot ointments and with those which disperse the bark and roots, break the stones of the kidney and urinary and bladder stones, and are good for liver disorders. However, can never be used by pregnant women, could cause a miscarriage, very dangerous. And that's half a teaspoon taken as a drink with fragrant wine. And it gives us about half a dozen other names for it in languages that were common at the time.

Starting point is 00:22:05 But I suppose you want to know what bay leaf is called in Egyptian, for instance. So Gerard in 1500s, by 1500s England, bay was one of the most used herbs culinarily, but it was also used medicinally. They had to import it. I believe they did eventually adapt a variety of bay that would, well, no, they had the native Myrica gale. And I think they probably used that interchangeably, just a little bit of the leaf with the imported bay.

Starting point is 00:22:38 But the imported bay was very valuable and was always preferred. Gerard said, the berries and leaves of the bay tree are hot and dry. The berries more so than the leaves. The bark is not biting and hot but is more bitter and is astringent and has a binding quality. Bay berries with honey are good as a licking medicine against the consumption of the lungs, difficulty of breathing, and all kinds of fluxes or rooms about the chest. So congestion of the chest, essentially.

Starting point is 00:23:10 Bayberry taken in wine is good against the bitings and stingings of any venomous beast. So not just scorpions, apparently. And against all venom and poison, they cleanse us away the morphu, the infected wounds, essentially. The juice pressed out hereof is a remedy for pains of the ears and deafness. It, now morphies sort of skin condition, but it's infectious in nature, I'll just go with that. If it be dropped in with old wine and oil of roses, good against wearisomeness and heat, and will waste away humors. Again, it's probably more like congestion. Bayberries put into a Mithridrate or treacle. Treacle is essentially a sugar, a

Starting point is 00:23:52 cane syrup. Basically molasses is about, or if you actually can get cane syrup or the golden syrup that you know usually comes from Australia or England. That's that's treacle essentially. It said mixed with basically a sweet syrup are made to refresh such people as are grown sluggish and dull by means of taking opiates and have or have any poison or venom in them. They are good against cramps and the drawing together of sinews. I think in that case Bay was often used especially the berries and sort of a liniment. So the drawing together sinews and cramp you know he's talking about it you know a constriction of cramp type of condition used topically and this is a game 1500

Starting point is 00:24:39 so he says and we in our time do not use the berries for infirmities of the lungs of chest but minister them against theities of the lungs or chest, but minister them against the disease of the stomach, liver, spleen, bladder. They warm a cold stomach, cause the concoction of raw humors, again we're talking congestion essentially, and stir up the appetite, taking away the loathing of meat. And yes, bay is often used in seasoning food. It has some antimicrobial properties, but it also increases the appetite and makes your food taste better. You'll never have, rarely have a stock or broth in French cooking that doesn't have bay leaf in it. He said, good against the stopping of liver and spleen provokes the urine brings down the men's seas

Starting point is 00:25:26 the oil pressed from these drawn forth by decoction doth in short time take away scabs and such like built with the skin it cureth them that are beaten black and blue so if you're ever beaten black and blue he says it takes away bruising and congealed blood and digesteth and wastes away the humors gathered about the grieved part. Again, good for the bladder. Berries mixed with saffron, another very popular spice of the time, with vinegar and oil of rose forms a good liminimit. And he said applied to the temples would help with a migraine. Interesting, yeah we ought to try that. They're not a lot of good cures for a

Starting point is 00:26:13 migraine so definitely worth trying. He says reported that drunkards were accustomed to eat in the morning two leaves to prevent drunkenness. Interesting, I don't know why a drunkard would not want to be drunken, but I guess they thought it would help prevent drunkenness so they could drink more. I don't know. He said the physicians would recommend including bay leaf with meats and fish to stimulate the appetite and help prevent vomiting. The bark of the tree, drunk with wine, helps with provoking urine, good for the liver and

Starting point is 00:26:53 spleen, helpeth with dropsy and jaundice. And yeah, interesting. So, Culpepper about a hundred years later, let's see if he has anything different. He goes into a long description of the plant. Well, and he had to differentiate from their native Myrika Gale. Again, he says good for poisons, good used against stings of wasps and bees, pestilence and other infectious diseases, procurulence courses, that means brings on menses.

Starting point is 00:27:24 Yeah, let's see, they wonderfully help all cold, rheumatic distillations from the eyes, lungs, or other parts. So good for mucus, essentially. Good to provoke urine, and in large doses, would kill worms. A gand, don't use while pregnant, could cause a miscarriage. Anything that kills worms could do that. You always have to keep that in mind. Uses a bath for various, you know, general inflammations,

Starting point is 00:27:53 hemorrhoids, diuretic properties. He said a coxswain of equal parts of bayberry, cumin seed, hyssop, oregano, and euphorbia, which is in the spurge family, with some honey would bathe, using as a wash or bathing the head with it, would help with all congested mucus conditions of the eyes, nose, ears. Euphorbia asiatica can be a very toxic family. You want to be very careful with that. An oil made of the berries is very good for griefs of the joints, nerves, muscles, palsy, convulsions, cramps, aches, numbness. It makes an excellent liniment or an oil, anything along

Starting point is 00:28:43 those lines. It's She even uses a compress. Really good for all inflammations and stiffnesses. Let's get up to 1898, King's Medical Dispensatory talks about how it grows here in the United States, and it certainly does, especially in the south or along on the coast. And in California, of course.

Starting point is 00:29:04 And at this point, 1898, it was one of the main exports of Mexico apparently. And I think a lot of the bay leafs on the shelf in the spice rack probably is from Mexico. The rest is from California. You know, if you wanna shop American, look for the California version. You can also grow in any climate,

Starting point is 00:29:23 you can grow a bay tree in a large pot. Keep it small, bring it inside in the winter, no problem. So actions, medicinal uses, and dosage. The ancient, valued bay leaves and laurel berries used as astringents, stimulants, and stomatics. In Europe, much used more in cooking than America, obviously. Active, a minagog properties were ascribed to the laurel and a coxure of the root bark was a remedy in dropsy's and disorders of the urinary tract. Locally or topically it was used for insect sings, bites, scalp eruptions,

Starting point is 00:29:58 lucorrhea that's a vaginal discharge and as a stimulant topical agent for aromatic and other painful parts and up to modern use. Plants for Future says the bay tree has a long history of folk use in the treatment of many ailments, particularly as an aid to digestion and the treatment of bronchitis and influenza. It has also been used to treat various types of cancer. The fruit and leaves are not usually administered internally other than as a stimulant in veterinary practice but were formerly employed in the treatment of hysteria, amenorrhea, flatulence, colic, etc. Another report says that the leaves are mainly used to treat upper respiratory tract disorders and to ease

Starting point is 00:30:37 arthritic aches and pains. It is settling to the stomach and has a tonic stimulating, tonic effect stimulating the appetite and has a tonic stimulating, tonic effect stimulating the appetite and then the secretion of digestive juices. The leaves are antiseptic, aromatic, digestive, narcotic. Now that's interesting. The Baileys we cook with are not narcotic in any reasonable does. Potentially an oil produced distilled from them could be

Starting point is 00:31:05 because they are in that same family as the Myrica Gale which as I said would cause excitement and hallucinations. Also stimulant and infusion has been to improve the appetite and as an aminogog the fruit has also been used in making carminative medicines and was used in well yeah carminative means to sell the stomach fixed oil from the fruit used externally to treat sprains bruises and sometimes uses ear drops to release pain the essential oil from the leaves has narcotic antibacterial and fungicidal properties very interesting actually because the Magnolia is in the same

Starting point is 00:31:45 family as the Laurel and actually speaking of Virginia, back when I lived in Virginia, there is a species of Magnolia native to Virginia, I believe it may be Magnolia virginiana, but I'd have to double check that, that does have very much of those narcotic principles. In fact, just taking the leaves and crushing them and sniffing them is a way people used to kind of get high. Don't know much about it, never tried it, but anyway. Culinarily, there's a really good article in really one of my favorite online magazines

Starting point is 00:32:20 called The Spruce. It's spruceeats.com. It had an article a few years ago called What is a Bay leaf and it differentiates between the Turkish and California bay leaf. How they taste differently. Which one's stronger. Different recipes. Ways you might want to use them. So if you want to check that out. Like I said I usually use it in stocks. I throw some in most any soup. Yeah gumbo even. Yeah it's good. It is sort of a flavor you need to get used to. It's very aromatic. If you like it you like it, if you don't you don't. But the California is a little more mild and easier to use. So anyway, the only reason I can figure that Bay kind of fell out of use among both cooks

Starting point is 00:33:10 and herbalists is I guess in the rise of modern medicine in Europe and sort of the antagonism toward folk medicine, people probably stopped using Bay Medicine. It has continued, especially in French and Spanish cooking. So most people now just think of it as a culinary herb. But you know immigrants to North America found the Americas, the various Bay and Laurel plants right away and started using them in cooking and in herbal medicine and exporting them to Europe. It was a major source of export revenue back in the 1700s and a lot of the early American

Starting point is 00:33:53 recipes from the old cookbooks I have, you know I got a lot of cookbooks from like the 1700s, 1800s, they used a lot of bay. I'm not really sure how it fell out of favor in modern American cooking, but our ancestors, you know, even just a couple of generations, were really using it. So, you know, maybe try it out. See what you think. It's really good. Now remember, there are a lot of different plants that are called bay or bay laurel or any number of the names for it. So be careful make sure you get in the right one. Even Labrador tea which is in the rhododendron family was often called Bay in the in the old book. So it could be confusing

Starting point is 00:34:38 and you know it may just be that when we had new immigrants coming in from various European countries they they, what they thought was Bay was not what was being called Bay sold in the store and they stopped using it because of the confusion. That's probably actually very likely because they're probably a good dozen plants that were marketed as Bay. The same as with sarsaparilla and different things and that's one of the main reasons we don't really use sarsaparilla and different things and that's one of the main reasons we don't really use sarsaparilla anymore. It's not because

Starting point is 00:35:07 it's not good, very tasty in a soda or potent medicinal. It's actually an adaptogenic herb. It's because there was so much confusion over which plant was being used. There were at least 36 plants that were called sarsaparilla. I mean seriously from two different families, a a minimum and so people stopped using it because they didn't know What they were buying so anyway now at least we have truth in labeling laws And we know if we get Bay Laurel from the grocery store It's going to be this plant and it's probably going to come from California Mexico or Europe and If you go out and forage for it and look for it if you live in

Starting point is 00:35:46 the coastal areas where it grows you know you're getting the right thing. I learned to identify the plant and you got it no problem and I mean this was once the one of the most highly valued medicinal and culinary herbs in the world. It was a symbol of nobility. It was something people, Royals and great you know conquerors and athletes wore on their head as a sign of their nobility Hey, it's worth tossing a couple leaves in a soup, right? I mean if our ancestors thought that much of it It probably has some pretty good properties and and it is one I use it's what I like very much

Starting point is 00:36:21 So y'all have a great week. I taught talk to you next time Remember, please subscribe to my youtube channel help me out there if you can won't cost you a thing And I don't even mind if you just subscribe and don't watch the videos just you know Take 10 seconds to click subscribe and or like a video or something. It'll help me out So if you don't mind doing that, I appreciate it. Anyway, y'all remember it's ramp season. It's more rail season It's time to get in the woods and start doing some trail fishing where I live Enjoy this wonderful weather and as beautiful spring and I'll talk with you next time The information 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.

Starting point is 00:37:07 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 in herbs help 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.

Starting point is 00:37:37 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.

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The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Bay Laurel

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