Domestic Medicine Correspondence Vol. 1

Posted byStephany RileyPosted inHistorical Context, Your Questions AnsweredTags:, ,

“Correspondence” is going to be a post in which I give people a short answer to questions that I could go into detail about, but I certainly don’t need to, and you all probably don’t want me to. I came up with the idea when I found myself writing an entire post about the history of butter muslin…


What does garble mean?

I used this word during a call the other day and confused a lot of people. Garble means to remove stocks/stems, and other unusable material from your herbs. I have a trick for doing this with a cheese grater that I will show you all soon. It’s one of those words that means something different now than it did long ago.

GArble, is to sort and chuse the good from the bad, as the Garbling of Bow-staves, Anno 1 R. 3. c. 11. and the Garbling of Spice is nothing else but to purifie it from the Dross [dregs, rubbish] with which it is mixed. See of this at large in the Statute of 1 Jac. c. 19.

Les Termes de Ley 1685

The Garbler of Spices was originally a city government position. This person was someone who oversaw the inspection and sorting of incoming shipments to assess the duty that was to be paid on the spices being imported which was to be based on only saleable weight.1 I have not yet seen this word used in our period outside of commerce. If anyone has seen it in a domestic document written before 1750, do let me know.

What is butter muslin?

Some things I still do the old-fashioned way because they are better. I have texture issues and can’t stand grit in my beverages. You will never convince me that there is a better way to strain preparations than to use butter muslin.

Butter muslin is an inexpensive plain weave cotton fabric that is the equivalent weave of lawn or linen which was often used to strain preparations. It is what I use to strain preparations, make soft cheeses, and boil puddings. I will mention it a lot in recipes on this blog. The best part is that it is cheap, and you can rinse it out and use it again.

How do you make instant pot decoctions?

I use my Instant Pot to make decoctions. I believe based on organoleptic testing of my finished product that I can make an equal quality decoction with about half the plant material I use when I make a decoction on the stove. I don’t do this all the time. If I need something to reduce, then I wouldn’t use an Instant Pot.

I especially love to use it when I am working with aromatics because the cooking system doesn’t let them escape the way boiling does. They might evaporate in the steam, but because it’s a sealed system, the steam hits the lid and the aromatic constituents drip back into your solution.

I use about 3/4 cup plant material to 8 cups water. Cooking time is based on your toughest ingredient.

Manual – High Pressure – 12 minutes for flowers, leaves, fresh roots, inner barks.
Manual – High Pressure – 20 minutes for dried roots, tough barks, and berries.

When it is done cooking, turn it off and wait for the pressure to drop naturally so that all your aromatics don’t escape with the steam.

What is your bedtime decoction recipe?

I am going to leave you with the receipt for my bedtime decoction. Some of you might wonder at the inclusion of coriander seeds in this receipt and for that I will thank Francis Bacon for mentioning them as a gentle nighttime sleep aid.2 It wasn’t a hard sell though, I love coriander.

I don’t think this is likely to be an insomnia cure, I simply find it relaxing as part of my bedtime routine. As a Waldorf parent I learned the importance of using gentle cues to moderate behavior when my kids were young. It works if you do it to yourself too.

So, I have this bedtime ritual that involves a warm bath, a cup of this decoction, turning off the screens, and reading a real book, or listening to an audiobook. Right now, I am doing a gothic novel re-read with my daughter for spooky season, and we are reading Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.

1/4 cup hawthorn berries
1/4 cup milk thistle seeds
1/4 cup coriander seeds
1 nutmeg -grated
1 tsp black pepper or grains of paradise

Directions:

  1. Grind all the ingredients together, either with a mortar and pestle or with a grinder.
  2. Put them in your Instant Pot with 8 cups of water.
  3. Put the lid on and close the pressure valve.
  4. Cook at Manual High Pressure – 20 minutes
  5. Turn off and wait for the pressure to drop. If you pop the valve early, all your aromatics spurt all over your kitchen.
  6. Take the lid off and stir in your choice of creamy goodness. I use half-and-half. You could use coconut milk or nut-milk.
  7. Store in the fridge and warm a cup before bed every night.

References:

  1. Notes and Queries. Vol. 4. 3. London, England: Office, 32 Wellington St. Strand, W.C., 1863. 461. ↩︎
  2. Bacon, Francis. Works of Francis Bacon. Vol. 11. London, England: Printed for M. Jones, Patternoster-row, 1815. 148. ↩︎