Papaya - a world class meat tenderizer, natural digestive aid, prevents ulcers, and also a soft contact lense cleaner.Bay also known as Laurel, Sweet Bay, Green Bay, Grecian or Roman Laurel
Beyond Bug Repellent
Family: Lauraceae; (includes Avocado, Cinnamon, Nutmeg)
Genus and Species: Laurus Nobilis
Also known as: Laurel, Sweet Bay, Green Bay, Grecian or Roman Laurel
Parts Used: Leaves
How ironic that the herb the ancients used to crown . their poets and top athletes should turn out to be useful as a cockroach repellent. Most of the traditional uses for this once-glorious herb have not held up to scientific scrutiny, but don’t toss it out just yet.
Some intriguing new research suggests that bay has yet to reveal its most potent secrets.
A Divine Heritage
Graduating medical students still recite the Hippocratic oath, which begins: “I swear by Apollo, the physician…” Legend has it that we owe the bay laurel to Apollo, Greek god of medicine. It seems Apollo loved the beautiful nymph, Daphne, but Daphne loathed Apollo When Daphne begged the gods to protect her from her amorous pursuer, they transformed her into the bay laurel.
Lovelorn Apollo declared the tree sacred. He bestowed laurel wreaths on distinguished poets and warriors. Mortals adopted the practice, and at the first Olympics in 776 B.C, winners were crowned with laurel wreaths. The Romans crowned their emperors with laurel. Today, distinguished poets are called “laureates,” while the formerly noteworthy are said to be “resting on their laurels.”
Soother for Sore Joints The Roman physician Galen considered bay leaves and berries therapeutic for a great variety of ailments, particularly arthritis. He also used it as a menstruation promoter.
About 1,500 years later, 17th century English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper recommended bay similarly, to treat “all griefs of the joints and womb… procure women’s courses [menstruation] …and cause a speedy delivery in sore travail of childbirth.” He also claimed the herb treated worms, cough, itching, shortness of breath, infectious diseases, and “all griefs of the nerves, arteries, and belly”.
As time passed, herbalists backed away from Culpeper’s exaggerations and used bay mostly to treat arthritis and women’s health concerns. In the Middle East, a tincture of bay in brandy was rubbed on sore joints and taken internally to induce labor and abortion.
American Indians and early colonists used bay to promote labor and menstruation and to treat arthritis, headache, stomachache, urinary problems, insect bites and stings, and skin wounds.
But by the 19th century, bay fell out of favor as a healing herb The Eclectic medical text, King’s American Dispensatory, concluded: “All that remains of this ancient medication is the use of the oil for rheumatic [arthritis] pains.”