The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Sweet Woodruff

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, y'all, welcome to this week's show. Today, we're going to talk about a really interesting herb. Traditionally, it's had a good amount of use in herbal medicine. Also been used culinaryially, culinary, and as an addition to drinks and such, and was specifically used for certain religious festivities. It's a really interesting herb. You're going to probably find it growing somewhere near you. If not, I would highly encourage you.

Starting point is 00:00:30 you to grow it yourself. The reason being that although this herb is legal, it is not intoxicating, it is not invasive weed, it is really legal to grow, legal to forage and all that, the government doesn't want it to be used, and we'll get into that. But anyway, the name is Sweet Woodruff. And it's Sweet Woodruff, however, I should point out. is a name, it's a common name given to several herbs. We're actually discussing the plant, gallium odoratum. What does otorotum mean? Well, it means it has a scent to it. The scent is very much like vanilla, and oddly enough, that's the reason the government doesn't want you to use this herb. Well, it's not mentioned in the oldest herbal, but seems to have found its sway into herbal medicine

Starting point is 00:01:25 in the Middle Ages. And folklore indicates that sweet woodruff, or, again, Gallium odoratum was used for centuries prior than that. I mean, before its medicinal use was documented for its flavor and aroma. The Rodel herb book, which was really good, really good herb book written in the early 70s or maybe late 60s, somewhere in that era. It says that it was used in the 14th century. Yeah, there we go. In the 14th century, the plant was used in Scandinavia and England to make an herb water for cordials. so it was used to mix into drinks.

Starting point is 00:02:01 In Germany, as early as the 13th century, the herb was used to flavor May wine. That's a really neat tradition. Throughout the middle herbs throughout the Middle Ages, Woodruff has been used, hung in churches and placed in boxes with lavender and roses on special days, such as St. Peter's Feast Day and St. Barnapest's Feast Day. first reference to it in the older herbals from gerard writing in the 1500s but he said that he believed this was a plant mentioned by pliny the elder but i can't be sure of that his accuracy as a botanist was not very good he was a very good gardener but he was not well educated in botany essentially what happened was this was the very very probably the first English herbal, if not the first, certainly the most prominent,

Starting point is 00:03:01 written after the Protestant so-called Reformation, when King Henry declared himself the head of the Church of England and had, and anybody who didn't denounce Catholicism and convert to Anglicanism, had their heads cut off. Thousands, tens of thousands of people were slaughtered. All the Catholic colleges and hospitals were confiscated in their place. were put fairly uneducated Protestants, lower-class people who did not necessarily speak English. I'm sorry, did not necessarily speak Latin. Of course, they spoke English, although it would be a very, a very different English than we speak now.

Starting point is 00:03:45 So, the Queen's Gardner, who was Gerard, was suddenly elevated to the status of a botanist. he had no idea what he was doing in that regard. He really didn't speak Latin. He got a translation of a botany book from Holland, if I remember correctly, it was Holland, to Burnamontaneus, if I remember correctly, and essentially just borrowed from that, and sometimes his plant IDs were not that great. But in the blink of an eye, people very educated in classical schooling,

Starting point is 00:04:23 like what we would call doctors and PhDs now, were similarly executed, or as they did in Ireland, they just killed half the population and slaved the other half. Pretty much the same in Scotland, slaughtered thousands in Scotland. I mean, yeah, if you want to see the story, look up St. Thomas Moore,

Starting point is 00:04:49 a man for all seasons, the movie about it. I mean, Oliver Cromwell was commissioned to go out and just kill all the priests, kill all the monks, kill all the nuns, and kill anybody who didn't say that the king spoke for God. And then they confiscated all their property. And that's the reason why England went from being a place of pretty much, pretty good for the freedom for the middle and lower classes and people who weren't royals, to those who were friends of the king owning all the property and all the peasants of England and basically having to give up their property unless they swore to the king and then they could live on land that was owned by one of the lords.

Starting point is 00:05:38 And eventually that's why everybody came to America in search of land. So except for the Irish, of course, who like I said, half the country was enslaved. The Irish are the most enslaved people on the face of the earth. If you ever think, you know, when black folk want to tell you how bad slavery was during their era, just say, hey, wait a minute. Millions more Irish were enslaved and actually treated as less than human, worse than black slaves, because they were considered traitors to England. And the same is true in Scotland and the same as true in Wales. there is absolutely nothing good about Anglicanism or Episcopalianism. It is evil to its core.

Starting point is 00:06:22 And that's all I have to say of that. And I frankly don't care if you agree with me on that or not. I mean, if you're an honest Protestant, you should look at that era of history and agree that King Henry and his bunch were at least as bad as Adolf Hitler or Stalin. Not good people, not good people at all. But anyway, let's go back to what we were talking about. We're going to quote from Gerard, even though what he was talking about was Woodruff, but we're not sure that Pliny was actually talking about Woodruff. But anyway, it seems there's a little confusion there, which we'll clear up later.

Starting point is 00:07:04 He said, most have taken Woodruff to be Pliny's Alisulis. Alis-S-S-O-S-O-S, which, as he saith, dost differ from ethrodim and garden matter. Okay, that means nothing to us. I am going to skip over his history because it's probably not even right. He says, Woodruff is named of diverse in Latin asperula, Oterota, etc. And then he does actually mention the Dutch, and that's where he was getting most of his information from. So he says, Woodruff is of a temperature something likened to Our Lady's Bedstrawl. Interesting that Protestant would still be saying Our Lady's Bedstrawl.

Starting point is 00:07:53 Yes, Gallium Aparin, I believe is the name, is named after the Blessed Virgin Mary. Within 100 years, he would have been summarily executed for saying such. Anyway, but not so strong being in a meme between heat and dryness. And that would be Cole Pepper's time. And boy, I think I'll give you a little history of Cole Pepper. He was a real character. He was an English Protestant. He was an apothecist about 100 years after Gerard.

Starting point is 00:08:26 And he took the medical books and translated them from Latin into the common language of English, which infuriated the medical establishment because it meant anybody could read. them. It infuriated the universities because it meant anybody could read them. So they accused him of being a Catholic, a Jew, and a witch. Yes, they tried to kill him on those grounds that he was both a Catholic, a Jew, and a witch, or all three combined, apparently. He was none of this sort. In fact, he was fought in the failed English Revolution and was shot and died. But he left us a couple really good books. Anyway, Woodruff, the virtues, it is reported to be put into wine to make a man marry and to be good for the heart and liver. It prevaileth in wounds, along with other vulnerable herbs, essentially. He said it more complicatedly. So let's get up to Coalpepper. His identification was much better.

Starting point is 00:09:27 A good hundred years had passed, and things were not quite as chaotic. and people had pretty much established themselves again. And he was an apprentice apothecist who became a trained and essentially licensed apothecist until he upset the guild. It's like being a member of the union. He was not only blackballed, but they tried to have him killed. So he said, a sweetwood rough description, this has a spreading fibrous root with a square stock upright and not much branched,

Starting point is 00:09:59 eight inches high. You can look it up. virtues. Woodruff is accounted in nourishing and restorative and good for weekly consumptive people. It opens obstructions of the liver and the spleen and is said to be a provocative to venery. I don't even know what that means. Anyway, he says, that's what he said. But John Kehoe, writing another hundred years later in Ireland, said it has a hot, dry nature. It is good in healing wounds if bruised and then applied and also in curing boils and inflammations.

Starting point is 00:10:31 It is drunk with wine and is good for the heart and useful against inflammations of the liver and obstructions of the gall and bladder. Now, continuing in the English tradition, but we're up to about the 1930s now, so we're definitely sure of our identifications. Ms. Grieved said this talks about the sweet word rough as she titled it and says, yes, it is a relative of gallium aparin or bedstrawl or also knows cleavers and of goose grass. She says, being a lover of the woods in shady places, its deep green foliage develops best in half shade, where the sunlight penetrates with difficulty. And yes, it's one you're going to find in shady woods. Let's see, I'll skip some of the description here, because like I said, you can just Google the image. She said it was mentioned at least by the 13th century being called Woodrove in old French novels. It was called Muge the Boy, or Musk of the Woods.

Starting point is 00:11:35 Interesting. And it has this very aromatic, very vanilla-like scent. Some people say that vanilla and musk have a similar smell. I guess I can pick up a little vanilla in musk, but to me, not so much. There was actually a child's nursery rhyme about Woodruff. We won't get into all that. but yeah she recommends it be propagated in orchards under trees good use of the land and was a little too rare to use in to harvest in the wild at that point and by this time she did they had identified

Starting point is 00:12:17 that the substance the chemical component in woodruff that has that vanilla scent is kumarin now we're going to talk a lot about that you may be familiar with the blood thinner Kumadin. Kumadin is essentially a much stronger chemical creation that imitates kumarin. So the main reason our government warns us or really tries to outlaw the use of this herb and several others is because Tonka bean. Tonka bean is another one that's definitely in that category. They say it could be a dangerous blood thinner.

Starting point is 00:12:54 Okay. Well, it's only dangerous if you're using like really highly highly. concentrated essential oils, or you were consuming huge amounts of it, or if you were on a blood thinner such as Coumadin. So we get back to that in a little bit. But she says the powdered leaves are mixed with fancy snuffs because of their enduring fragrance and also put into potpourri. So in the 1930s, you might have some woodruff in your snuff, and that would probably be

Starting point is 00:13:22 very nice, actually. You know, if you've ever had some like vanilla scented pipe tobacco, you know, how that you know. So medicinal actions and uses. Woodruff was much used as a medicine in the middle ages. The fresh leaves bruised and applied to cuts and wounds were said to have a healing effect and formerly as strong decoction of the herb which uses as a cordial and stomatic. It is also said to be useful for removing biliary obstructions of the liver. Biliary, I guess we're supposed to pronounce that. I always see it as bile. Some people say billiary, I don't care. The plant when newly gathered has but little odor, but when it is dried,

Starting point is 00:14:03 has a most refreshing scent of new moan hay, which is retained for years. Now, see, that's important. That is the scent of cumerin, new moan hay. And like I said, there's several herbs that have that scent, and the government's pretty much tried to outlaw most of them. since the dried herb may be kept among linen like lavender to preserve from insects middle ages it was hung in struton churches we already talked about that so now we've identified the herb and we've identified the property the chemical constituent that gives it that sweet vanilla hay like scent so let's see what would say about modern use Now, okay, I should give one caveat.

Starting point is 00:14:56 I said don't use a strong essential oil of this one. Generally speaking, tinctures, teas, et cetera. I'm going to say, in my opinion, relatively safe, but of course, I have to give the standard disclaimer that the government says otherwise. There is one warning that is very important about any kumarin containing plant. If it is allowed to ferment, rot essentially, but ferment, it will get this strong vanilla hay-like scent, and then it can actually become very, very strong in its bloodthitting actions and could actually be dangerous. So if you're going to use any herbs that contain Coomarin, you need to harvest them on a dry day. You need to dry them carefully, and you need to make sure that they get air circulatory.

Starting point is 00:15:50 and they do not ferment because if they did, you know, it, you know, I would compare it to taking, I've done this before actually, if you've ever taken too much aspirin, like you took a couple aspirin for a headache or something, you forgot and went back like 15 minutes later and took two more, what's going to happen? Well, your blood pressure is going to go up. Yes, I've done this. Yeah, I'm that dumb. And you're probably going to get a nosebleed if you don't have a stroke or something, which let's hope you don't. And you're going to feel really lousy. And if you, you know, it could kill you if you were taking blood thinners and if you were

Starting point is 00:16:27 taking, or if you were a weak constitution, but if you took more than that, you could really get in trouble. Well, I've also been a little dangerous with Coomerin containing herbs and experienced a similar type effect. So I would definitely say be very careful to keep any herbs that contain any herbs that contain Kumer. And there's a lot to do, actually. There's a long list. And I'm sure we'll get to those eventually, but this is, to my mind, one of the most prominent and definitely one of the most useful. And it's one that I like a lot. So I, you know, dry it carefully, keep it in a cool, dry place.

Starting point is 00:17:06 Don't seal it up in a Ziploc bag and let it ferment. I mean, just be real careful with it. And then, in my opinion, it could be used safely. But again, the government says otherwise. So I'm not going to say that officially, but let's, anyway. So modern use, Sweet Woodruff, oh, this is from plants for a future, of course. Sweet Woodruff was widely used in herbal medicine during the Middle Ages, gaining a reputation as an external application to wounds and cuts and taken internally in the treatment of digestive and liver problems. In current-day herbalism, it is valued mainly for its tonic, diuretic, and anti-inflammatory effect. The leaves are antispeasmodic, cardiac, diaphoretic, diuretic, sedative, and, and, Fusion is used in the treatment of insomnia and nervous tension.

Starting point is 00:17:50 Viracose veins. I think I'll try to pronounce it the right way, biliary obstruction, hepatitis and jaundice. The plant is harvested just before or as it comes into flour and can be dried for later use. One report says it should be used with caution whilst another says it is entirely safe. And I think that's probably really depends on how it's harvested and stored. Excessive doses can produce dizziness and symptoms of poisoning. The dried plant contains cumerins and these act to prevent the clotting of blood, though in excess doses it can cause internal bleeding. The plant has grown commercially as a source of cumerin, which is used to make the anticoaggaggagic drug cummidin.

Starting point is 00:18:31 Do not use this remedy if you're taking conventional medicine for circulatory problems or if you're pregnant. A number of species in this genus contain asperolose. Asperulocyte, that's hard to say. Asperulocyte, a substance that produces Coomerin and gives it the scent of new moan hay as the plant dries. Asperulocytecide can be converted into postaglandins, a hormone-like compound that stimulates the uterus and blood vessels, making the genus of plants interesting to the pharmacist pharmaceutical industry. A homeopathic remedy is also made for the plant and used the treatment of inflammation of the uterus. While I was researching to do this article, I ran across a really great article by on the blog, Forager Chef. I ended up spending quite a bit of time on this guy's blog, obviously, shared interest, right? Forager chef, his name's Alan Bergo, and he made a wild vanilla extract out of sweet woodruff.

Starting point is 00:19:39 And I just want to read a little bit up to you. He says, everyone knows how indispensable vanilla is, especially your chefs who buy the whole beans. And yes, do not ever go to the grocery store unless it's an emergency and buy a bottle of vanilla extract. First of all, there's a lot of artificial vanilla extract in the market that's actually made from wood, from oak. Yep, oak has vanillains in it. That's why certain, like, chardonnays can have a vanilla type, or bourbon can have a vanilla-type scent and flavor if it's been aged in oak. Brandy. I mean, that's one of the reasons they use oak.

Starting point is 00:20:18 But artificial vanilla extract is chemically produced pretty nasty stuff from wood buy products. Don't ever buy that if you can possibly help it. If you buy pure vanilla extract, you're probably going to spend, I don't know, seven to ten bucks for a, what, a one or two ounce bottle? I mean, it's just tiny little amount for a great deal of money, actually. vanilla beans actually come from an orchid and by the pound they're around $300 a pound. Well, what does that mean for you? Go on eBay or Amazon or Etsy or wherever you want to go or somewhere else.

Starting point is 00:20:56 I'm not recommending one or the other I usually buy from eBay and type in vanilla beans. You can usually get them for about three vanilla beans for three to five bucks. They'll come from Mexico usually and they're really. really nice quality vanilla beans. They're not mad at Gascar vanilla, but they're way better than anything you're going to buy commercially. They'll be sealed up. They'll be, when you open that package, it's so aromatic you won't believe it. Take your beans, throw them into a pint jar, pour some vodka over them, break them in half, pour some vodka over them, and you've just made a pint of real vanilla extract that will just blow your mind as compared to the fake stuff for around five bucks. and that's what everybody should be doing.

Starting point is 00:21:42 Okay. So anyway, he said, if only I know then, what I know now, if I could go back in time, I could have been using an extract like this one infused with gallium trifolium,

Starting point is 00:21:54 now made by a distiller friend of mine instead of buying the spindy vanilla beans. He says during the three years I spent writing and researching my book, I started working with a plant, gallium trifulium, triflorum, basically the same plant. It's sweetwood rough.

Starting point is 00:22:09 It's just a, We talked before about taxonomists. They keep changing the names of plants. It gets very frustrating. Basically, somebody got to agree in doing nothing but changing the names of plants, classifying them and reclassifying them, and that's how they justify their existence, is just to confuse the crap out of everybody that reads their stuff.

Starting point is 00:22:31 Anyway, sweet woodrow, oh, he met a chef that made a sweet woodruff panacotta, and it apparently just blew him away. I'm going to try to skim it a little bit. Yeah, they were line cooks together, and he found out that, no, his line cook knew him and said he was picking it from the local park. So I don't know where they were in New York, London or somewhere. You know, they're going down to the park

Starting point is 00:22:56 and picking sweet woodruff under the trees. So he mentions that they're in the same family as Clevers and Bedstraw. And he went and gathered some, and they smelled like grass clippings. When they're fresh, they really don't. smell a lot. That scent comes out when they dried. And he says it smells like fresh cut grass mixed with vanilla. And yeah, that grassy scent kind of subsides as it dries. And he mentions that Coomarin is the reason. Yep, yep, yep. I'm going to skip ahead. He says a forager,

Starting point is 00:23:36 Monica Wilde from Scotland, has done a lot of work with galliums and the Coomarin. He says, what's fascinating to me is that ever since 1954, Coomarin containing products in the United States have been illegal. The Tonka bean is actually much preferred to vanilla bean. Tonka bean, illegal in the United States. He says, sweet gallium, sweet woodruff, to my knowledge, are currently not illegal and not regulated, probably. because they haven't been used enough to get noticed, but they are still under the ban on anything

Starting point is 00:24:14 containing Coomran. So he says, before the ban, culinary Coomron was used to flavor all kinds of things from cream soda to vanilla extracts, artificial vanilla extracts, which are far preferable to the ones made from wood, whipped cream scented with culinary cumorin. But as recently, as recently, as 2006, the FDA confiscated tonka beans from the restaurant Alenia. So, yeah, they're still enforcing that. So as a forager and as a gardener, this is one we can get that other people can't get. I'm not going to say maybe you should sell some under the table, but, hey, at a griddown situation, people are still going to crave their vanilla flavored sweets, right?

Starting point is 00:25:06 I mean, people talk about plain vanilla ice cream. Trust me, if you've ever had vanilla ice cream made with real vanilla, oh, my work. And I'm telling you, real vanilla extract and maybe some pecans just toasted a little bit, caramelized, a little butter and sugar. I mean, it will blow your mind. Real caramel made with real vanilla. I could go on.

Starting point is 00:25:33 I mean, it's just absolutely amazing. and go ahead and, you know, order a few of those vanilla beans to give it a try. And if that really appeals to you like it does me, you might want to look into growing sweet woodruff, especially for the medicinal properties, but, you know, may have some other benefits as well. It's illegal to sell, but it's not illegal to grow. So anyway, yeah, I guess it's going to wrap it up. Yeah, for home use, I mean, I would definitely say establish it in the garden, learn to forage for it in the woods. But like Ms. Greve said, it's really doesn't grow that abundantly.

Starting point is 00:26:16 So it's better to grow. Now, one thing, you know, a nice oaky chardonnay is just fantastic with a fresh buttered asparagus. The combination of that, the asparagus flavor with the oakiness of that wine will bring out. flavors in your entire meal that you can't even imagine if you've never done that before. Hollandeau sauce or just butter with asparagus. And, you know, maybe, you know, in the Middle Ages, they said they infused it in wine as a popular cordial. I would think that would definitely be worth a try.

Starting point is 00:26:57 So anyway, just I'll leave it there. Y'all have a great week and I will talk to you next time. The information this podcast is not intended to diagnose your 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 verbal 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. I can tell you what herbs have been traditionally used for. I can tell you my own

Starting point is 00:27:36 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. 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.

Starting point is 00:28:01 By continuing to listen to my podcast or read my blog, you agree to be responsible 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: Sweet Woodruff

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