The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Coriander and Cilantro

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey y'all, welcome this week's show. Today we're going to talk about another herb you may have in your spice cabinet. Now, of course, technically this is a spice. I mean herb as a medicinal plant. The seed of a plant is what we call a spice. Sometimes the bark of a plant will be called a spice, such as in cinnamon. But herb can be either an herbaceous plant or a plant used in herbal medicine. So this is another one that is a spice.

Starting point is 00:00:28 but interestingly it's both it's both an herb and a spice and an herb so it's uh let me see if i can clarify this coriander the coriander is a spice it is the seed of cilantro which of course is an herb both are medicinal herbs with different properties so let's see if we can sort this one out The coriander was once one of the most popular herbs, or I should say spices in this regard. It was used medicinal as well. Okay, for now I'm going to try to refer to the seed of coriander as a spice and the leaf of coriander as an herb. The leaf of coriander is also called cilantro. So if you go to the store, you're going to see both cilantro and coriander, even though the same plant.

Starting point is 00:01:20 There, I think I finally got it straightened out. At one point, the seed, we know as coriander, was one of the most popular spices in the ancient world. Interestingly enough, just as many people cannot stand the taste and smell of cilantro, the leaves of the same plant, they say it tastes like soap, many people can't stand the seed of cilantro, which we call it coriander. They actually say it smells like stink bucks. And the coriander actually relates to an old, I think, Greek word for stink bud, bug, stink bug. You know, there's little beetles that will put out a nasty little odor if you throw out a number step on them or anything. The deal is with this, we're all born with different numbers of taste buds.

Starting point is 00:02:14 If you have only, well, generally those who have more taste buds, are more likely to enjoy the taste of coriander and cilantro. Those that have fewer taste buds are more likely to think it tastes like soap or smells like a stink buck. I'm sure there's also something to do with the olfactory system and that as well, but I do know that the taste buds have been studied in that regard. And, you know, if you ever get a cold and you lose your sense of smell, you know it makes your taste buds not work properly. So there's a huge connection between.

Starting point is 00:02:53 the two. And, you know, really until, I guess, the Tex-Mex craze got going in the 70s and 80s when Taco Bells and Chee-Chi started opening up nationwide, most Americans had never experienced cilantro. Popular in Mexico, actually very popular in Asian cuisine, where for a long time, I mean, really up through the 50s and 60s, it was known as Chinese parsley. Not really very similar to parsley at all, but yeah, that's what it was called. Really, most people only had experience with the seed, the coriander seed, because it's a popular pickling spice. It's also used in like corn beef and pastrami, nice cured meats. And we'll get into that.

Starting point is 00:03:41 It has anti-bacterial properties. It also has some ability to keep away parasites. So it was used a lot in preserving food. but now Americans eat a lot of cilantro we've developed a taste for it I love it I use cilantro like all the time both dry it and fresh it's one of my go-to favorite herbs

Starting point is 00:04:04 I remember when I was a kid though I thought ooh that tastes like soap so I guess my taste buds developed as I grew up and I ate a little more salsa and just kind of got used to the flavor and that's another thing even if you are born with fewer taste buds than others. And you have that, I guess, what would you call it an organic tendency not to taste

Starting point is 00:04:30 more subtle flavors? And I do taste subtle flavors, but from the early part of my life, I had really bad sinusitis. You may tell I'm a little stuffy right now. August, September, and October, or when my allergies go crazy. And I think that contributed a lot to it. I couldn't smell the cilantro. And so it was being processed by my brain very differently as it did later when I was able to both taste and smell cilantro. I never mind coriander though in pickles and pastrami and cured meats. I mean I love cured meats. That's kind of my thing. But anyway, coriander is a very popular herb in the ancient world. It was used in pre-pottery neolithic culture and found in as in and is Raleigh Cave dating as far back as 8,800 BC. Coriander was found in the tomb of Tutankhamen

Starting point is 00:05:26 Common and mentioned in the Ebers Papyrus for both culinary and medicinal use dating to around 1550 BC. In the Bible, manna was described as being like coriander seed, pointing to its common usage in the time of Moses. Now, coriander at that time would actually be ground into a flower, ground up into a fine dust and usually mixed with a little wheat. And that was a popular spice for breads, much like you can think of rye bread today, which kind of comes out of the same tradition. Coriander was found in ancient Greek herbalism.

Starting point is 00:06:01 Diaschora de stated in the Materia Medica. He said it was often used as a poultice for skin infections, and especially bacterial skin infections combined with bread. So that's another reason coriander was used in bread. It was also good for ulcerations. And mixed with honey, it would cure postules, which would appear, again, from probably a bacterial or maybe viral skin infection. You have to remember, those things were very common back then.

Starting point is 00:06:34 We just didn't have good sanitation and antibiotics or anything like that. that so skin infections especially leprosy were very very common said bruised it with bruised beans so almost made into like refied beans interestingly it would dissolve scrophilous tumors or goiters and help with the inflammation of the bones it was good for carbuncles or infected boils said a little of the seed taken as a drink with passum which was a raisin wine a sweet wine would expel worms and promotes the creation of seed. They actually thought it was spermatic, I think they call it. It would increase

Starting point is 00:07:16 the sperm count. Don't know if it does or not. Who knows? But it's just interesting. If too much is taken, it disturbs the understanding dangerously. And as a result, men ought to avoid the excessive and frequent use of it. Believe it or not, coriander seed, common spice you can get at the grocery store, in a large amount, is somewhat hallucinogenic and narcotic. And not in a pleasant way either. Same thing is true of nutmeg. And, you know, I've told you before, one of the worst experiences of my life was following some advice from an old herbal book written by a hippie in the 60s or 70s that said it could be used for pain. It was when I was experiencing extreme back in nerve pain. I took a medicinal dose of nutmeg and had one of the worst experiences

Starting point is 00:08:02 of my life. Just awful, truly awful. And that would be about the same thing that would happen if you took too much coriander. These can actually be fairly powerful, powerful herbs. The juice rubbed on with lead ore. Now, we're not going to do that anymore. Mixed with vinegar and rousatium, mends the burning inflammation on the outside of the skin. You know, we try to find a substitute for lead ore

Starting point is 00:08:30 because you don't want to be putting that on your body. Let's see. It was probably grown at that time in mostly Egypt and Africa. According to plants for a future, I'm going to kind of follow up on that disturbs the understanding bit. Coriander is a commonly used domestic remedy, valued especially for its effect on the digestive system, in treating flageants, diarrhea, and colic. That's still, coriander, fennel seed, caraway, deal seed, those are the end clove. All those spices that are good for selling the stomach, helping with gas and diarrhea and all that,

Starting point is 00:09:06 have been used by our ancestors for that reason for thousands of years, and that's how they made their way into our spice cabinet. That's why they're the ingredients, so much of the food we eat. But it also settles the spasms of the gut and counters the effect of nervous tension. The seeds are aromatic, carmetic spectra, that means it loosens congestion in the lungs, narcotic, that means it slows respiration and heart rate, stimulant and stomatic, that's to the digestive system, most often used with active purgatives in order to disguise their flavor. In other words, the flavor of the coriander seed could help disguise the flavor of a strong laxative herb and to combat their tendencies cause the gripe because the griping pains are

Starting point is 00:09:51 caused by the spasms and cramping of the intestines. The raw seed is chewed to stimulate the flow of gastric juices and to cure foul breath and will sweeten the breath after garlic has been used. Some caution should be advised, however, because used too freely the seeds become narcotic. Externally, the seeds have been used as a lotion or have been bruised and used as poultices to treat rheumatic pains. The essential oils used in aromatherapy and it is an appetite stimulant. Coriander was one of the herbs ordered to be grown as food and medicine by the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne in the capitular. That is when Rome had become a Catholic nation and they were setting up free hospitals throughout Europe and orphanages and schools

Starting point is 00:10:37 to bring literacy and, well, they also were big on farming, especially the Benedictines, lifting Western Europe and Central Europe, most of Europe out of poverty, ignorance, and paganism. Charlemagne ordered about 74, 73 herbs or so to be grown in the garden of every household, if you could, and every monastery was to have an herb garden to be used as medicine in those free hospitals. That's how Christianity spread throughout Europe, because, of course, there was no other Christian church but the Catholic Church at that time, and the Catholic Church was the greatest civilizing force the world has ever known. Brother Aloysius tells us that it continued to be used in monastic and German folk medicine, coriander, and this is around

Starting point is 00:11:28 1900. Brother Aloysius was a Catholic monk from Switzerland. Used internally to expel wind and strengthen the stomach, indigestion for a mucous stomach, mucus in the intestines, for nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, arthritis, intrament fever, and as a preventative for stroke. Bruised herbs used externally for inflammation, carbuncles, and ulcerations. The seeds steeped in wine is used to promote menstruation. So it can bring on delayed mency. For that reason, medicinal doses should not be used by pregnant women because, of course, it could cause a miscarriage. Coriander was a very popular remedy in the old English herbals. Gerard said, Coriander seed, prepared and covered with sugar, taken as a comfit, or a little sweet.

Starting point is 00:12:16 After meat, close the mouth of the stomach, stayeth vomiting, and help with digestion. In other words, if you over ate, it would help set out of your stomach. That's all that means. the same parched and roasted or dried in an oven and drunk with wine killeth and bringeth forth worms stoppeth the laskin bloody flux that's internal bleeding and diarrhea and all other extraordinary issues of blood so it can actually help with excessive menstrual bleeding so it has two actions actually but again dangerous in pregnancy for medicinal doses a little you know cilantro in your sauce is not going to hurt you a little coriander seed and your pickles no big deal He said, the green leaves of coriander, and that, of course, is cilantro, boiled with the crumbs of bread or barley meal, consummeth all hot swellings and inflammations, and with bean meal, dissolveth the king's evil. That's scrofula, inflamed, and infected glands, mainly in the neck. The juice of the leaves, well, he's going to talk about mixing with lead again. we're not going to do that.

Starting point is 00:13:28 The seeds of coriander are prepared with sugar prevaileth much against the gout, taken in some small quantity before dinner, upon a fasting stomach, and after dinner, the like, without drinking immediately after the same, or in three or four hours, also at the same be taken after supper or prevaileth the more and hath more superiority over the disease. Now, that's interesting. is caused essentially by iron oxide crystals that come from eating a lot of preserve foods and well shellfish and different things a very rich diet as they

Starting point is 00:14:05 would call it back then not the common man's diet that included vegetables you know if you were wealthy English you lived off of salt cured smoke meats smoke salmon good shellfish and crustaceans a lot of beef and a lot of alcohol and gout was actually a sign of welts. Well, interestingly, the cilantro plant has been shown to remove heavy metals both from the body and from the soil in which it's planted. So you never want to grow cilantro or coriander in contaminate soil, like if it's near a house that used to have lead paint on it

Starting point is 00:14:44 because it will take up that lead and you will get lead poisoning. But if you have gout, both the coriander and cilantro, can be very good in helping remove those heavy metals from the body. It has been used in mercury poisoning, lead poisoning, really good to include in your diet, so long as you know it's from a good quality source, like if you grow yourself. He said it causes good digestion, et cetera, et cetera.

Starting point is 00:15:10 Let's get into more modern British use. Ms. Grieve said that, I guess she had recently spent time in Peru and found that they used cilantro and everything, and she was not a fan. So we'll kind of skip that. She talks about how the seed was used by Hippocrates, the Greek physician, Vipleini the Elder, very common in African herbal medicine. In fact, it was called by the same name they used for gold.

Starting point is 00:15:40 So in Africa, coriander seed was considered to be as valuable as gold. And in India, it was used in curry powders and such. and very often in Chinese food you use cilantro that's why they call it was Chinese celery or Chinese parsley I can't remember the old name for it but in you know in Thai curries they tend to use more basil but oftentimes you'll find cilantro as well but anyway she talks about how they make candies

Starting point is 00:16:12 and cough drops out of it in England and it's just the coriander not the leaf the cilantro and her medicinal uses She said, stimulant, that's for digestion, aromatic and carmeneative. That means upset stomach. And aromatic, people have chewed spices for thousands of years for bad breath. I mean, if you went back to, like, ancient Greece or Egypt, dentistry was pretty darn primitive.

Starting point is 00:16:41 You didn't want to go if you didn't have to. And so a lot of people had rotten teeth. And the spices, like clove, The essential oils of clove can numb a toothpake. But these, whether it was cinnamon, whether it was cloves, or it was corian, or any of those, fennel seeds, people would keep a little pouch of them and just chew them throughout the day, especially if they were going to speak to someone because it would cover up the smell of bad breath. People have always been concerned about such things.

Starting point is 00:17:13 She says that the powdered fruit, fluid extract, and oil are chiefly used medicinally as a, of flavoring to disguise the taste of other medicines, and also to correct the griping tendencies of purgatives. It is an ingredient in the following, well, we don't need to get this compound. It was often combined with syrup of rhubarb and amelica for just a good laxative. Use too freely, the seeds become narcotic, coriander, formerly much esteemed as a carmendid for windy colic. This is an interesting medicinal herb, and as well as being, very surprisingly intoxicant. So always remember that. You don't want to take it in large doses. She mentions the ingredient in gin and many herbal liqueurs, including vermouth and even

Starting point is 00:18:03 absent at the time. One of the main in the old liqueur recipes is actually one of the main flavorings. Oh, and also she says that the dried seeds have a much different flavor than the fresh, that the fresh was very strong and stinky to people, which makes sense. And let's see, do we have any more information here? Let's see what she says about that. She says anyone who has ever eaten the leaf of coriander plant called cilantro in the Americas might wonder why they so rarely encounter this distinctive flavor in any of those drinks. The reason is that the fruit, the round brown seeds, undergo a chemical change as they dry, shedding that bright cilantro flavor completely. The essential oil found in the fresh leaves, and on the surface

Starting point is 00:18:59 of the unriped fruit is instantly recognized, and not to everyone's liking, only to genetic differences in how people perceive flavor. Some people call it fetid or rotten. Others people say it smells of bugs. And the Greek name for bedbug or stink bud, chorus, was the root of the early name, Coriandron, from which we get coriander. But deep, Deep inside the fruit is another oil that is easily extracted once the fruit is dry, and the characteristic cilantro flavor has evaporated. That oil, which is dominated by Linolul and Tymole and a compound found geraniums, gerinil, is the perfect blend for booze.

Starting point is 00:19:38 It combines the woodsy notes of time, the rich perfumes of geranium, and the bright floral citrus flavor of Linolululul. And so that solves the mystery of why the plant tastes so different. from the seeds and why people either absolutely love it or hate it and um you know as i said as a kid when my nose was always stuffed up i didn't like it i like coriander seed but i did not like cilantro and now i use it a lot i use both i make a lot of pickles and i love my uh brine cured meats and coriander goes in all of it and of cilantro i eat a ton of salsa i eat um i put cilantro in a lot of stuff, not just sauces. I mean, curry, soups, all kinds of stuff, really. Anywhere I just kind of

Starting point is 00:20:24 want to brighten it up with a little herbaceous flavor that's, you know, a little bit more pungent than parsley, and you know I use a lot of parsley. It combines well with many herbs, so it's very, very good. And it's also said to bring a merriness to the heart when the seeds have been steeped in liquor. So when you have any of those European style liqueurs, your vermoose and your absence, and there's so many, most of them do have some coriander seed in there. And it's said to be a little relaxing and make you a little more merry.

Starting point is 00:21:04 So as long as you don't have too much, you can enjoy your coriander in good health with a merry heart. So anyway, y'all have a good one. I'll talk to you next time. hopefully by then the ragweed will now it's going to get worse the ragweed's definitely going to get worse but maybe maybe my herbal remedies will have kicked in a little bit and my nose will be itching and stuffy we can hope anyway i'm probably going to be suffering through this until um the first frost you know how that goes so y'all have a going i'll talk to you next time the information this

Starting point is 00:21:40 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 herbless. 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.

Starting point is 00:22:04 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. 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

Starting point is 00:22:37 for yourself, to your own research, make your own choices, and not to blame me for anything ever. Thank you.

The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Coriander and Cilantro

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