The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Safflower

Starting point is 00:00:01 Hey, y'all, welcome this week's show. Today, we're going to talk about another herb. It's really going to surprise you. This is one that a lot of people were familiar with, but really know little about. It's called Sino. So we'll get into that in just a minute. First of all, I want to give a quick shout out to a distillery here in North Carolina called Liberty and Plenty. I almost forgot the name for some reason.

Starting point is 00:00:28 Liberty and Plenty. They're right outside of Durham. from North Carolina. Went into a local ABC store today to get some vodka and make some tinctures. And there was a representative from the company doing a tasting. And there's a lady that works at the store who really is a, she's a really sweet lady. And she has asked me about herbs and all that over time. And she said, you've got to talk to this guy.

Starting point is 00:00:54 You know, this company's doing a lot of things with medicinal herbs in their, in their liquors. And I was like, yeah, great, you know, whenever I introduced myself and tried a couple of samples. They do an excellent bourbon. That's really the only one I tried that he had there. They had a rum and a vodka. You know, I'm really more of a bourbon drinker than it's just about anything else. But he was telling me about the, they're doing a line of bitters. And they're doing a line of amaris.

Starting point is 00:01:25 And that's an herbal infused. liquor and really, really good stuff. And they're doing an absinthe. And I just said, oh, well, I haven't absinthe in years, you know, not since I was done in Georgia. And, you know, I remember really liking it. So very aromatic with the herbs. And so, yeah, we just kind of started talking shop for a few minutes, you know. Apparently these people are really serious about what they're doing. And they're a couple really good distilleries in North Carolina right now. But this one, you know, I figured I'd come back another day when I had some more cash on me, you know, because these are craft spirits.

Starting point is 00:02:05 They're not cheap. And try the absent. And as I'm leaving, the lady calls me over and says, I got you a present. I'm like, what's that? She bought me a bottle of absent. And I said, no, you can't do that, really. But she's wanted to. And she's on my Christmas list.

Starting point is 00:02:21 Let's just put it that way. But anyway, Liberty and Plenty Distillery. this is a true craft absent. I'm not being paid endorses, not any way whatsoever. I have poured one drink. It has lasted me over an hour. It's strong stuff. It's 60% alcohol.

Starting point is 00:02:40 It's 120 proof. It is so floral. It's not just wormwood in there. They're bay leaves. I'm really picking up on the bay. There's hyssop. They use fennel. And I mean, this is really.

Starting point is 00:02:55 nice, very strong, very, very bold and assertive. If you're not really into bitter herbs, you might want to try another one of their products first. This would absolutely be a fantastic a pair of teeth and appetite stimulant, something to settle and upset stomach. Medicinally, this is just full of antiviral properties, expectorant properties. Oh, gosh, I mean, I really extremely impressed. I mean, back, I mean, when I was down in Athens, they just legalized absent in America again after it had been wrongly taken away from us. And, you know, people were experimenting when they were trying it out, and it was way too

Starting point is 00:03:44 sweet. You know, they were really trying to balance the bitter herbs with a lot of sugar. This is not sweet. This is really impressive. people's palates have changed. This is really nice. We need one sip here and then we'll get under the show. It's minty.

Starting point is 00:04:08 It's licoricey. It's perfectly clean on the palate. Very strong. It's almost like, well, it's not moonshine level strong, but it's getting pretty darn close. Yeah, you do cut it with a little bit of water. that is just really nice. Without a doubt, a sip of that before a meal or after a meal, it is all you really want. And that is, I'm impressed.

Starting point is 00:04:38 I am really impressed. That's one of three distilleries here in North Carolina that have just really blown me away over the past couple of years. And to be fair, I'll try to remember the other two in future shows. There's another one that's also making their own bidders and a botanical infused. like gins and such really good. And there's one that makes just a knockout rye. I mean, the best, but they've actually won, like, the best rye in America, like so many years in a row.

Starting point is 00:05:06 Just knockout. I mean, that stuff is like, there's really like nothing else that compares to it. If you're a whiskey drinker, it's just wow. So, yeah, my home state's doing proud. This was a pleasant surprise. I expected something to have that almost like, oh, NyQuil, yeah. That's sort of the flavor of bad absent. You know, the green NyQuil that you would take, you know, before bed when you had a cold.

Starting point is 00:05:37 It had that kind of like licorchy green flavor and really sweet, cloyingly sweet. And, you know, I remember thinking, you know, Absent is, it's good, but it's too sweet for me. And this is an adult drink. This is an adult beverage. This is not jolly ranchers and in alcohol. This is really quite impressive. I mean, I'm impressed. So again, Liberty and Plenty, look them up.

Starting point is 00:06:08 They do a huge line of products. And if everything of the two I've tasted, if everything they're doing is this quality, man. I mean, forget to her in Kentucky. There's some really good stuff to be. had in North Carolina. I mean, I've been a Kentucky bourbon devotee my entire life, my entire life, my entire adult life. I'm telling you, we're getting stuff here in North Carolina that would just literally blow those guys out of the park. I'm not kidding. Man, I mean, I like good scotch, good single malt scotch. That rye by that distillery, and I'll try to get

Starting point is 00:06:49 the name next time. It's better than the most expensive single malt I've ever had. And this is impressive. Anyway, let's get on with the show from the encyclopedia of bitter medicinal herbs. We would talk about safflower. Now, safflower has a history of use of more than 4,000 years. and you would think that safflower, that's carthomnis tinctorious, if I remember correctly, would be an easier research. After all, safflower was used in ancient Egypt as a dye plant and in the preservation of mummies, and it's documented by Pliny the Elder. It's been a food crop and a substitute for saffron and used to make a cooking oil and used in everything from the production of margarine to fuel, literally. Safflower. Everything from the production of margarine to fuel to mummy preservation.

Starting point is 00:07:48 However, the plant's use as a medicinal herb receives only brief mention in the books where I usually begin my research. D. Scorities wrote of Safflower that a name Canicus, C-N-I-C-U-S. It's probably just pronounced NICUS with a C at the beginning. I don't know. Canicus. I like it. It sounds like something out of a Monty Python movie. So Canicus, he said, had a long, somewhat long leaves cut in sharp and prickly, stalks of foot long, which are the heads of a size of olive, and the flower like saffron with yellow thread.

Starting point is 00:08:22 So it's literally been used as a saffron substitute for well over 2,000 years. Let's see. He says the flour they use for sauce with meats, so it was made into a condiment, I guess. the seed bruised and juice with honey water or the broth of a hen, so chicken broth, purges the intestines. He said it was, however, on its own bad for the stomach. They made a marsy pan from it, a type of candy to use as a laxative. So, I mean, Safflower has literally been used as a laxative for thousands of years. He said, well, it's pretty much it.

Starting point is 00:09:01 He talks about much its laxative properties. They apparently also combine them with dried figs and anise seed, which would be very nice. So he talks about another one called the wild safflower, also known as wild saffron. So I guess they were probably using more safflower than saffron, saffron being the most expensive herb on the face of the earth. And the reason for that is, well, it's traditionally been grown kind of an Iran and Turkey in that region, and it'll grow in many places, but it's a crocus, and it grows kind of short, short, close to the ground, and people who have harvested for thousands of years have literally had to bend over or crawl on their knees

Starting point is 00:09:48 and pick out the stamens of each flower with a pair of tweezers. So it's not so much that the herb, the plant itself is that valuable. It's the human labor involved, and it takes so much just to make. an ounce. Now, true saffron has some wonderful qualities. It actually is good for the immune system. It's good antioxidant quality, but also is a mood supporting. It can help with cognition and depression. So really wonderful herb, but so very expensive. Now, the great George Leonard Herder in his book, books I should say, I guess is one of the Bull Cook series. If you're an outdoorsman, you remember Herders, Sporting Goods, Herders Wasseca.

Starting point is 00:10:34 You may not know the owner of the company was one of America's greatest authors. And either he was a complete lunatic or had a fantastic sense of humor. But his cookbooks are classic, full of tall tales and outrageous stories and really, really great recipes. Well, he said he gave a whole list of flowers that could be used in substitution for crocus in making your own saffron. So you might want to look into that. Bullcook is absolutely classic. Every single Woodsman should have a copy of that on his shelf. I mean, it's just, they don't make him like George Hutter anymore.

Starting point is 00:11:11 He used to go machine gunning sharks with Ernest Hemingway and hunting with John Wayne. And just a real, I mean, like, I don't know, if you're familiar with Hunter S. Thompson in like the 60s and 70s with his reputation. Imagine that in like the 30s, 40s, and 50s. A guy that owned a sporting goods company. World War II veteran, outdoorsman, just kind of nuts, actually. But he was also an absolute genius. But anyway, we'll get back to Safflower. Let's see, where are we?

Starting point is 00:11:53 Is this? Yeah, we're going up to, that Gerard? It's probably Gerard. he says that Saffflower is accounted a pretty strong cathartic evacuating tough viscid flim both upwards and downwards and by that means it said to clear the logs and help the that word I can never pronounce p H-T-H-I-S-I-C I'm name you'll try this time it is likewise serviceable against jaundice Let's see, Ms. Grieve in 1930s differentiates between safflower and saffron.

Starting point is 00:12:34 She says this plant is not in any way related to saffron, though the flowers are used similarly. It replaces the use of saffron owing to the large price of the latter, and that's very true. Saffron is more valuable than gold. The safflower plant known in India as something else I can't pronounce, so I'm not going to get into that. She describes it.

Starting point is 00:12:55 You can just Google it. Anyway, she says that Saffline contains two coloring matters, a yellow and a red, both being used as dyes. But medicinal actions in uses, the flowers are the parts used. Their action is laxative and diaphragmetic. In domestic practice, these flowers are used in children's and infants complaints, measles, fevers, and eruptive skin complaints, and infusion made of a half ounce of the flage. to a pint of boiling water taken to produce warm diapheresis. Yeah, something like that.

Starting point is 00:13:29 It can help with fevers and it will help with constipation. And let's see. Rodel's illustrated encyclopedia of herbs states only during the Middle Ages, various medicinal uses were found for this flour. Those with constipation or respiratory problems drank the juice of the seed mixed with chicken stock or sweetened water. The Complete Book of Herbs by Leslie Bremness says that the high linoleic acid content of the oil makes it useful for lowering blood cholesterol and states infuse flowers as a laxative, diuretic, and perspiration

Starting point is 00:14:04 enducer, and to alleviate skin conditions. That's how it helps break fevers. It's the diaphoresis. It helps stimulate perspiration. Penelope odes, the complete medicinal herbal lists the properties of safflower as only laxative, diuretic, and anti-inflammatory. And yeah, it's a good herbal. She didn't give much attention to Safflower, though. I do enjoy that one.

Starting point is 00:14:27 Interestingly, the most complete listing for Safflower that I found was found in a book I really seldom utilize. It's the how-to herb book by Velma J. Keith and Montene Gordon. Kind of a, it was a popular herbal book in, I guess, what, the 80s? I don't use it a lot, but they had a really good entry on this one. And it's a good book to have. You know, you can never have too many herbal books. So they say a safflower, diaphragic, digestive, and laxative.

Starting point is 00:14:57 Safflower is a natural digestive aid. It aids in the utilization of sugar and fruits and also utilization of oils. It contains natural hydrochloric acid. It soothes and coats the entire digestive tract. It helps heal the walls of the intestines in diverticulitis. Stimulates glandular secretions in the intestines, relieves gas, Has mild laxative action in the bowels, acts as a diuretic. Has the ability to remove sticky flim from the body.

Starting point is 00:15:25 Helps heal lesions. Helps cholesterol levels in the body. Neutralizes uric acid and lactic acid. Uric acid holds hardened deposits and joints that lead to gout and arthritis. These acids are a cause of kidney stones. Recommended for acid, stomach, appetite, arthritis, colds, diabetes, digestion, diurect, dietic, diverticulitis, fevers, flu, influenza, natural, gas, gout, heartburn, hypoglycemia, kidney stones, lesions, liver, measles, tardy menstruation,

Starting point is 00:15:56 perspiration, promotes perspiration, scarlet fever, skin disease, water retention, and yellow jaundice. So, obviously, I have not been given that book, it's due. I need to quote from it more often, but plants for a future state only. Safflower is commonly grown as a food plant, but has a wide range of medicinal uses. Modern research has shown that the flowers contain a number of medicinally active constituents and can, for example, reduce coronary heart disease and lower cholesterol levels. It is alternative, analgesic, antibacterial, antiflogistic, treats tumors and stomatitis. The flowers are anticholillimic. That means it lowers cholesterol. Diaphoretic and Minigog brings on Menzies, laxative, purgative, sedative, and stimulative.

Starting point is 00:16:49 They are used to treat menstrual pains and other complications by promoting a smooth menstrual flow and were ranked third in a survey of 250 antifertility plants. In domestic practice, the flowers are used as a substitute or adulterant for saffron in treating infants' complaints such as measles, fevers, and eruptive skin complaints. externally they are applied to bruising sprained skin inflammation and wounds the flowers are harvested in the summer it can be used fresh or dried the plant is febri fused that means lowers the fever sedative pseudorific that means help with sleep and vermiculers that means help to get rid of intestinal worms when combined with lingisdom it is said to have a definite therapeutic effect upon coronary

Starting point is 00:17:34 diseases the seed is diuretic purgative and tonic it is used in the treatment of ruminum and tumors, especially inflammatory tumors of the liver. The oil is charred and used to heal sores and treat rheumatism. In Iran, the oil is used as a solve for treating sprains and rheumatism. So, to put it mildly, it seems that in Safflower, we find a remarkably underutilized herb in modern herbal medicine. However, some caution must be advised as to the source. Safflower, being a commercial oil crop, we must make sure the flowers have not been tainted by chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.

Starting point is 00:18:11 In terms of the oil, we've got to make sure it hasn't been processed through chemical extraction. Yes, you can actually get like extra virgin safflin oil. It's actually going to be healthier for you than commercial saff flour oil, even though it's, you know, not going to be as good as olive oil or, you know, some of the others. tallow and lard and such as, excuse me, such as that, safflower is a pretty good oil when it's processed properly and grown properly without a lot of chemicals. So safflower, really good medicinally. But if you're going to purchase it commercially online, if you're going to try to buy some, go to a reliable herbal wholesalers who grow it specifically.

Starting point is 00:19:04 for herbal use. We want to stay away from sort of the more commercial product. I guess is that. That's, yeah, to sum it up, that's what I'm trying to say. Look for someone who's actually selling it, growing it and selling it for the purpose of being used medicinally as opposed to being used to make biofuel or something. So anyway, y'all, that wraps up Safflower. Have a great week, and I will talk to you next time. 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.

Starting point is 00:19:45 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.

Starting point is 00:20:08 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,

Starting point is 00:20:31 you agree to be responsible for yourself to your own research, make your own choices and not to blame me for anything ever.

The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Safflower

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