Papaya - a world class meat tenderizer, natural digestive aid, prevents ulcers, and also a soft contact lense cleaner.Juniper
The Gin-Flavored Healer
Family: Cupressaceae; (includes Cypress)
Genus and Species: Juniperus Communis
Also known as: Genvrier, Geneva
Parts used: “Berries,” actually miniature female cones
If you’ve ever had a martini, you know juniper. Aromatic [uniper berries are the source of gin. Juniper also increases urine production-making this herb a possible treatment for premenstrual syndrome, high blood pressure, and congestive heart failure.
French Fumigant
During the Middle Ages, Europeans believed planting a juniper beside the front door kept witches out. Unfortunately, the tree did not provide complete protection. A witch could still enter if she correctly guessed the number of its needles.
As time passed, juniper’s protective reputation evolved into the belief that its smoke prevented leprosy and bubonic plague. As recently as World War II, French nurses burned juniper in hospital rooms to fumigate them.
By the 17th century, juniper was a popular diuretic, used to increase urine production. English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper wrote the herb “provokes urine exceedingly …. [Juniper] is so powerful a remedy against dropsy [congestive heart failure], it cures the disease.” In addition, Culpeper prescribed juniper for “cough, shortness of breath, consumption [tuberculosis] … to provoke terms [menstruation] … and give safe and speedy delivery to women with child.”
Zuni Childbirth Herb
American Indians independently discovered juniper’s childbirth-assisting properties. When the Spanish explorer Coronado entered what is now New Mexico in 1540 looking for the mythical, gold-encrusted Seven Cities of Cibola, he found Zuni women using juniper berries to promote uterine recovery after childbirth. They also used it to treat wound infections and arthritis.
America’s 19th-century Eclectics dismissed the use of juniper in childbirth but endorsed it strongly for congestive heart failure. The Eclectics also prescribed juniper externally for eczema and psoriasis, and internally to treat gonorrhea, bladder and kidney infections, and other genitourinary problems.
Contemporary herbalists recommend juniper externally as an antiseptic, and internally for bladder infections, arthritis, intestinal cramps, and gout. One suggests it as a urinary deodorant in cases of chronic incontinence because the herb gives urine the fragrance of violets. Another daims juniper “destroys all fungi.”
In Dutch
But medicinal claims for juniper take a backseat to its use in gin, invented by the Dutch during the 17th century. Our word gin comes from the Dutch word for juniper, geniver. The English took to gin so enthusiastically that references to its native land still pepper the English language Drink too much gin, and you’re likely to get in trouble or “in Dutch.”