Synopses & Reviews
This fascinating book provides a wealth of information on the uses of herbs by homemakers of the past and gives more than 500 authentic recipes exactly as they appeared in their original sources. The recipes cover the use of herbs for medicinal, culinary, cosmetic, and other purposes. Readers will discover not only how herbs were used in making vegetable and meat dishes, gravies and sauces, cakes, pies, soups, and beverages, but also how our ancestors employed them in making dyes, furniture polish, insecticides, spot removers, perfumes, hair tonics, soaps, tooth powders, and numerous other products. More than 100 fine 19th-century engravings of herbs add to the charm of the text—an invaluable reference and guide for plant lovers and herb enthusiasts that will “delight and astound the 20th-century reader.” (
Library Journal). Index. Bibliography. 113 black-and-white illus.
Synopsis
For early American households, the herb garden was an all-purpose medicine chest. Herbs were used to treat apoplexy (lily of the valley), asthma (burdock, horehound), boils (onion), tuberculosis (chickweed, coltsfoot), palpitations (saffron, valerian), jaundice (speedwell, nettles, toad flax), toothache (dittander), hemorrhage (yarrow), hypochondria (mustard, viper grass), wrinkles (cowslip juice), cancers (bean-leaf juice), and various other ailments. But herbs were used for a host of other purposes as well -- and in this fascinating book, readers will find a wealth of information on the uses of herbs by homemakers of the past, including more than 500 authentic recipes, given exactly as they appeared in their original sources.
Selected from such early American cookbook classics as Miss Leslie's Directions for Cookery, Mary Randolph's The Virginia Housewife, Lydia Child's The American Frugal Housewife, and other rare publications, the recipes cover the use of herbs for medicinal, culinary, cosmetic, and other purposes. Readers will discover not only how herbs were used in making vegetable and meat dishes, gravies and sauces, cakes, pies, soups, and beverages, but also how our ancestors employed them in making dyes, furniture polish, insecticides, spot removers, perfumes, hair tonics, soaps, tooth powders, and numerous other products. While some formulas are completely fantastic, others (such as a sunburn ointment made from hog's lard and elder flowers) were based on long experience and produced excellent results.
More than 100 fine nineteenth-century engravings of herbs add to the charm of this enchanting volume -- an invaluable reference and guide for plant lovers and herb enthusiasts that will "delight and astound the twentieth-century reader." (Library Journal).
Synopsis
Aand#160;wealth of information on the uses of herbs by homemakers of the past through more than 500 authentic recipes as they appeared in their original sources. The recipes cover the use of herbs for medicinal, culinary, cosmetic, and other purposes, from making vegetable and meat dishes toand#160;dyes and insecticides. 113 black-and-white illustrations.
Synopsis
Charming text gives more than 500 authentic recipes for medicinal, culinary, cosmetic, and other purposes and#8212; everything from cancer and palsy treatments to gravies, sauces, and pies. 113 black-and-white illustrations.
Table of Contents
Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Preface
CHAPTER ONE:Herb Gardens and Borders
and#160; HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
and#160; PICKING AND PRESERVING HERBS
CHAPTER TWO: Medicinal Uses of Herbs
and#160; HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
and#160; GLOSSARY OF OLD MEDICINAL TERMS
and#160; MATERIA MEDICA CLASSIFICATION
and#160; COLLECTING OF MATERIA MEDICA
and#160; RECIPES FOR REMEDIES
and#160; LIST OF DISEASES AND REMEDIAL HERBS
"CHAPTER THREE: Toiletries, Perfumes, Pomatum"
and#160; HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
and#160; COLOGNE RECIPES
and#160; DEODERIZER RECIPES
and#160; HAIR TONIC RECIPES
and#160; PERFUME RECIPES
and#160; POMADE RECIPES
and#160; SOAP RECIPES
and#160; TOILET WATER RECIPES
and#160; TOOTH BRUSHES AND POWDERS
CHAPTER FOUR: Culinary Uses of Herbs
and#160; MEAT RECIPES
and#160; GRAVY AND SAUCE RECIPES
and#160; SOUP RECIPES
and#160; FISH RECIPES
and#160; FOWL RECIPES
and#160; VEGETABLE RECIPES
and#160; VINEGAR RECIPES
and#160; SALAD RECIPES
and#160; PICKLE RECIPES
and#160; BEVERAGE RECIPES
CHAPTER FIVE: Other Household Uses of Herbs
and#160; CONFECTIONS
and#160; CONSERVES AND PRESERVES
and#160; "PASTERIES, CAKES AND PIES"
and#160; PUDDING RECIPES
Bibliography
Index