For those who have been using them as spice or seasoning to add flavor to dishes, it is good for them to get acquainted with their “unacknowledged’ healing effects. But for those who are unfamiliar with their benefits, I encourage them to add these ‘special’ plants to their kitchen and first-aid cabinets. After reading this modest information, many will view herbs and spices differently and will start appreciating their multiple benefits. As for now, I shall waste no time to start part six.
The fennel plant, Foeniculum vulgare, is of the parsley family, beneficial in all its forms: seeds or fruit, feathery greens, roots and stems. Their quantity and variety of phytochemicals are impressive. They consist of alpha-pinene, benzoic acid, beta-carotene, beta-phellandrene, beta-sitosterol, caffeic acid, camphor, cinnamic acid, cynarin, ferulic acid, fumaric acid, isopimpinellin, isoquercetrin, kaempferol, limonene, linalool, myristicin, 1,8 cineole, p-coumaric acid, pectin, photocatechuic acid, psoralin, quercetin, rutin, scopoletin, umbelliferone, sinapic acid, stigmasterol, vanillic acid, vanillin and xanthotoxint. This bouquet of antioxidants detoxifies the lungs, dispels gas and relieves abdominal pain and gastric spasms and disorders. These phytocompounds are powerful and helpful to use after or along with chemotherapy and radiation for cancer therapy.
Fennel provides other important nutrients like various amino acids, enzymes, essential fatty acids and choline. It is rich in the detoxifying minerals calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and selenium and the health-promoting vitamins B1, B2, B3, C and E, which enhance the work of the liver, kidneys and spleen.
Fennel seeds, shamar in Arabic, are commonly used in Arabia for medicinal and culinary purposes. They relieve flatulence and indigestion when boiled for 10 minutes and left to steep for several minutes. It is best taken warm to give maximum effects. The same warm liquid is given to infants to relieve colic and gas. New mothers are also encouraged to drink it to stimulate their milk flow and to give to their newborns to soothe colic. A teaspoon of fennel, anise and cumin seeds can also be chewed after a heavy meal to ease the digestion. From experience, I strongly recommend its use for such conditions unless the doctor advises otherwise.
The fruit (seed) sweetens the breath; allays hunger pangs; and suppresses the appetite to help weight loss. An old recipe to alleviate rheumatism and joint pain is rubbing the area of pain with crushed fennel and black seeds steeped in warm olive oil. Al-Kindi, the Arab physician of the Middle-Ages, prescribed the seed in his medical encyclopedia for fever, stomach and liver pain and eyesight problems. The Chinese treat food poisoning with fennel seeds.
In the kitchen, the chopped feathery leaves of the plant are sprinkled on salads, vegetables dishes, soups and stews to add an anise-like flavor. The seed is much used to season dishes in the Middle East and India.
In Italy, the braised stalk is popular as a vegetable dish. The ancient Romans recommended it for ‘dimness of vision.’ Unless you are familiar with aromatic seeds, the fennel fruit can easily be confused with the sweeter anise seed, but Arabs in general can tell the difference between the two seeds.
Vervain, Verbena officinalis, is a relatively small green plant that yields flowers, leaves, shoots and stems. The leaves offer cancer-fighting properties through their detoxifying phytocompounds: adenosine, aucubin, beta-carotene, caffeic acid, citral, tannin, ursolic acid, verbenalin and verbenin. The active chemical, which counteracts cancer cells, is suspected to be citral. It appeared in test tubes to cause cancer cells to destroy themselves, committing ‘apoptosis’ (cancer cell suicide). Citral is also found in lemongrass.
Vervain has other healing properties. The infusion of the leaves stimulates the nervous system; calms the nerves; lowers stress levels; induces sleep; and helps treating mild depression. It enhances liver and gallbladder functions. The leaf regulates menstruation and increases the flow of breast milk. It relieves headache and toothache; decreases fever by inducing perspiration; and helps reduce cold symptoms.
Bathing wounds with vervain solution disinfects them and speeds their healing. The drink is made with the leaves left to infuse in hot boiled water for twenty minutes like any other herbal tea. Ginger, spearmint, lemongrass, or rosemary can be added to increase nutritional value and enrich flavor.
Vervain should be avoided during pregnancies. Because of the effects of the plant’s compounds on the uterus, they induce contractions, resulting in abortions or premature deliveries.
Myrrh, Commiphora myrrha, also known as murr and murrah meaning ‘bitter’ in Arabic, is a resin collected from bleeding the shrub stems, which are grown in Southern Arabia and Somalia. It is of the same family as Boswellia, frankincense, or luban shihri, the one I wrote about two weeks ago. The hardened gum, secreted from the stems, acquires a brownish-red color, looking more like small translucent rough pebbles. The gum fetches high prices in our local markets, souq. It was once a popular antiseptic before antibiotics. It should be soaked in water for disinfecting wounds. It also has astringent, stimulating and healing characteristics among others.
In Arabia, soaked murrah (a couple of gum drops) in a small coffee cup of hot water was given to new mothers to help body-cleansing after childbirth. It was also give for stomach aches, cough, colds and chest infections. The same solution can be applied to wounds and skin infections to speed healing, reduce scarring and remove warts. The liquid is known to lower high blood sugar and hypertension levels.
In India, an extract of the gum, called gugul, is made from Indian myrrh to lower total cholesterol. The resin was revered for its medicinal powers by the Ancient Egyptians as well. The myrrh tree is figured in their inscriptions.
Scientific research shows that myrrh provides immune-boosting and detoxifying phytochemicals such as acetic acids, betasterols, campesterol, cinnamaldehyde, cuminaldehyde, depentene, eugenol, limonene and m-cresol. The gum acts as an antiseptic, disinfectant, expectorant and deodorant. It energizes the immune defences and stimulates gastric acids for better nutrient absorption. It combats oral bacteria, gum disease, bad breath, sore throat, colds, flu, sinusitis, cough, asthma, bronchitis, herpes simplex, skin disorders and ulcers by gargling and just drinking a small amount of the solution or swallowing a couple of gum drops with water. For wounds, cuts, sores and boils, a concentrated liquid should be applied directly on the skin a couple of times a day. Due to its cleansing and antibacterial properties, myrrh is found as an ingredient in certain immune-boosting formulas. Its aromatic properties make it appear in scents.
Most herbal teas blended or alone should be brewed in boiling water then steeped for 20 minutes to benefit from all the phytonutrients. Others require boiling for several minutes before steeping. Infusing for a short period is not enough to extract all the nutrients. If the infusion is to be taken for a cold, throat, or lungs, it should be taken more or less hot. If it is to treat digestive disorders, it should be taken warm. When needed to lower fever or to quell acid reflux it should be cool.
Aromatic plants should be carefully blended in order to become more potent healers with more pronounced aromas, producing powerful healing effects. When spices like ginger, cinnamon, clove and cardamom and seeds like cumin, anise and fennel are added to greens, their powers are amplified and effectiveness intensified. So, I encourage you to make your own blends, but without over-crowding your infusion so that the fine distinct flavor of each ingredient gets lost, becoming a potpourri.
I shall be back with you next week, inshallah, with another episode of herbs and spices.
Natural Remedies of Saudi Arabia by Lebling and Pepperdine
Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Phyllis A. Bach
Heinerman’s Encyclopedia of Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs by John Heinerman
The Inflammation Syndrome by Jack Challem
N.B.: Individuals with medical conditions or on medication should consult their physicians when they decide to introduce anything new in their diet even if it is natural.