Papaya - a world class meat tenderizer, natural digestive aid, prevents ulcers, and also a soft contact lense cleaner.Savory
Subtle Soother for Children
Family: Labiatae; (includes Mints)
Genus and Species: Satureja Hartensis (summer), S. Montana (winter)
Also known as: Bean Herb, White Thyme
Parts used: Leaves
With a spicy aroma and flavor reminiscent of thyme, savory is widely used in sausages, stuffings, soups, and bean dishes. Like other aromatic culinary herbs, savory has been used since ancient times as a cough remedy and stomach soother. But compared with its mint cousins, savory’s action is less powerful. Adults might prefer peppermint, but savory can be used safely and confidently for children’s coughs, colds, and tummy aches.
A Tale of Two Herbs
Summer savory is a low-growing annual. Winter savory is an equally diminutive perennial. Purists insist the summer herb has a sweeter, more delicate aroma; however, today most cooks and herbalists use them interchangeably. But this was not always the case-especially in the bedroom.
For reasons lost to history, the ancient Romans linked summer savory to the mythological satyrs-the lustful, halfman, half-goat creatures who threw debauched orgies in honor of Dionysus, god of wine. As a result, the Roman naturalist Pliny called summer savory an aphrodisiac and the winter herb a sex depressant. Not surprisingly, summer savory was more popular.
The Romans introduced summer savory throughout Europe, where it quickly became a popular spice Germanic tribes loved its flavor in beans and called it bean herb (fJolinendraut). To this day, Germans regard savory as an effective remedy for the downside of beans, flatulence. The Germanic Saxons who settled in Britain thought savory made every food taste, well, savory, which is how it got its English name.
Infant Colic and Childhood Ailments
By the 17th century, summer savory had shed its association .with lust. The summer and winter varieties began to be used interchangeably and called simply “savory.” Nicholas Culpeper wrote it “expels wind from the stomach and bowels and is good for asthma and other affections of the breast. Neither is there a better remedy for the colic and iliac passion [upset stomach I.” He also recommended savory as a stimulant to “quicken the dull spirits.” Externally, Culpeper touted savory poultices for sciatica and “palsied members” (paralyzed limbs).
Colonists introduced savory into North America, where it was widely used as a digestive aid and cough, cold, and diarrhea remedy, especially for children. The 19th-century Eclectics also distilled the herb’s oil and used it like clove oil to treat toothache.
Contemporary herbalists generally confine their recommendations to indigestion and diarrhea. But some still suggest summer savory as a sexual stimulant, especially for women, even though there has been no scientific research to back this up.