The trouble you've got with herbs, if trouble you can call it, is that very often it's impossible to separate out 'culinary' versus 'medicinal'. Even the most common herbs used for culinary purposes (rosemary, sage, thyme etc) have medicinal uses, and some of these should not be used even in the usually small culinary amounts if you suffer from certain conditions. Lemon Balm would be one of these, if you have a thyroid condition. Pregnancy is one medical condition in which extreme caution should be used with herbs.
I have literally thousands of recipes I've put together in my own book, specifically based on herbs. This book also includes many herbal tea recipes. But I don't usually post the tea recipes when I suspect or know that people are going to use them as beverages. To me, that would be irresponsible, because a herbal tea (ANY herbal tea!) is very definitely and indisputably a medicinal (and quite concentrated) dosage of a herb (or of several herbs). Giving a recipe for a herbal tea is exactly like writing out a prescription for a conventional drug. However, if someone says that they are suffering from X condition, and their doctor has prescribed H tea as part of the treatment regime and the enquiry is how to prepare it, then I will post it (if I have it!). I will also include my usual warnings about herbal teas and how they should be used etc - and expect the warnings to be heeded!!
The following are recipes such as you might find in almost any cookbook, especially one devoted in particular to herbs. But to get my point across about the medicinal purposes of herbs being inseparable from the culinary ones, I've added some comments to each recipe.
Backyard Salad
2 cups chickweed leaves
1 cup dandelion, rocket or chicory leaves
1 cup parsley
1 cup watercress
1 cup chervil
Combine all ingredients and pour your favourite dressing over. (This recipe would be an excellent one to use if you are doing a detox or need a diuretic. Not recommended for pregnant women. Rocket, BTW, is your Arugula.)
Geranium Sorbet
16 rose, lemon, peppermint or lime geranium leaves
9 tablespoons sugar
1 egg white, stiffly beaten
2 cups water
juice of 1 lemon
Wash leaves and shake dry. Place in a saucepan with the water and sugar, bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat, cover and leave for 20 minutes. Strain and add lemon juice. Leave to cool. Pour into an ice cream tray and freeze until mixture is mushy. Remove from freezer and fold in egg white. Freeze again. Serve in glasses decorated with small geranium leaves.(This recipe might be helpful for women who have some menstrual problems. Scented geraniums are really pelargoniums, remember!)
Sweet Cicely Fruit Pudding
1kg raspberries or other soft fruit
600ml cider
125g honey (or more to taste)
a few sprigs and seed heads of Sweet Cicely, chopped.
Put the cider and honey in a pan and bring to the boil. Simmer briskly for about 5-10 minutes, until reduced by about one third. Reduce heat and add the fruit and Sweet Cicely. Cook gently until the fruit is tender. Cover, and allow the fruit to cool, then break it up with a wooden spoon. Serve warm or cold, with buttermilk or yoghurt. (Sweet cicely is often used as a sweetener in its own right, suitable for use by diabetics. This recipe might be good for someone with a sore throat or a cold, or for those who might need some added iron in their diet, or for convalescents.)
Elderflower Syrup
1 cup sugar
juice of 1 lemon
1 cup water
8 cups elderflowers
Make sure the flowers are young and white ? avoid any which are turning a creamy colour (they will taste and smell like cats' urine!). Boil the sugar, lemon juice and water for 10 minutes, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Pour the syrup over the flowers. Cover with a clean cloth and leave overnight, then strain. Bring the liquid to the boil, remove from heat immediately and bottle. Store in the fridge for several months, discarding if it begins to bubble, ferment, or if any mould appears. Take 2 tablespoons twice a day for 6-8 weeks before hayfever season, or to treat a sinus problem. Add a little to fruit dishes, especially apples and pears, or fruit salads. Delicious served over ice cream or waffles.
Sage Pesto
1/2 cup fresh sage leaves
1 1/2 cups fresh parsley leaves
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup pine nuts or walnuts
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup olive oil
Combine sage, parsley, garlic, cheese, and nuts in a food processor. Process to mix. With machine running, slowly add the olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper and process to the desired consistency. Excellent tucked under the skin of chicken breasts or mixed with pine nuts and fresh bread crumbs and stuffed into game hens. (This recipe should not be used by women who are breastfeeding - sage dries up the milk supply.)
Rosemary Roast Lamb
1 leg lamb
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 small bunch rosemary
black pepper
150ml red wine
Make slits all over the skin of the lamb and insert a sliver of garlic in each. Lay the rosemary on the bottom of the roasting pan, put the lamb on top. Roast at 180C for about 1 hour. Pour over the wine and continue cooking for a further 1 1/4 hours, basting occasionally. Remove lamb, keep warm. Drain off fat from the pan, discard the rosemary and stir juices over high heat until it reduces slightly. Strain and serve with the lamb. (This would be a good recipe for a student just before an exam. The smell of rosemary helps the memory, and rosemary is a mild anti-depressant and a mild stimulant. It would also help the digestion, especially with the black pepper - ease those nervous pre-exam butterflies! The garlic of course is a good all-rounder and just might help prevent the student from catching a cold just before the exam. A pregnant woman would be advised to have only a small serving. If she is suffering from toxaemia, she should not have it at all. Also, anyone suffering from epilepsy or high blood pressure should be very cautious about using rosemary.)
Parsley Soup (1)
125g fresh chopped parsley, stems included
30g flour
45g butter
1 onion
1 stalk of celery
1 litre stock
pinch nutmeg
1/2 bay leaf
Chop parsley, including stems. Melt butter, cook onion and celery for a few minutes. Sprinkle in flour and mix well. Pour on stock and bring slowly to the boil blending smoothly, add parsley, salt, pepper, nutmeg and bay leaf. Simmer for 25 minutes. Serve as it is, or put through a blender. (Definitely NOT one for the pregnant woman!! Parsley is an abortifacient and may cause foetal abnormalities. This recipe is also quite diuretic.)
