Papaya - a world class meat tenderizer, natural digestive aid, prevents ulcers, and also a soft contact lense cleaner.
The remembrance of these astounding folk discoveries... should sober our thoughts when we criticise too freely the old pharmacopoeias. It is easy to make fun of medieval recipes: it is more difficult and may be wiser to investigate them. Instead of assuming that the medieval pharmacist was a benighted foot we might wonder whether there was not sometimes a justification for his strange procedure. -- George Sartori, Harvard Professor and Author
DISCLAIMER: Green Papaya offers Home Remedies with specific annotations to health and well-being. Such remedy advices are offered as emergency first aid and are governed by the Good Samaritan Act. Under the common 'Good Samaritan laws' - "a citizen is obliged to provide first aid when necessary and is immune from prosecution if assistance given in good faith turns out to be harmful". Within our developing "wireless world" there comes a time when the only immediate assistance is that offered through the Internet. Green Papaya therefore feels that obligation and thereby offers this resource of Home Remedies as necessary.
Green Papaya's home remedies are meant for temporary relief and first aid measures; for the average person without any special needs or uncommon or compounding medical conditions. Green Papaya's advice, regardless of the situation, IS NOT a replacement for professional care and consultation. Please consultant with your family doctor or any emergency service immediately.
Although caraway appears to have antispasmodic properties, which means that it might relax the uterus, the herb has been used throughout history to promote menstruation. Pregnant women should exercise caution and not use the herb medicinally.
Caraway seed is on the Food and Drug Administration’s list of herbs generally regarded as safe. For otherwise healthy non-pregnant, non-nursing adults, caraway is safe in amounts typically recommended.
Caraway should be used in medicinal amounts only in consultation with your doctor. Let your doctor know if you experience unpleasant effects or if stomach distress does not improve significantly in two weeks.
A Tasty Addition to the Garden
Caraway is an attractive biennial that reaches 2 feet. It has feathery leaves and umbrella-like clusters of tiny white flowers, which bloom in early summer.
Caraway grows easily from seeds planted in spring ½ inch deep and 8 inches apart. Caraway likes rich, well-drained soil and full sun. Keep plants moist but not wet.
The first year, caraway produces a small rosette of leaves and a long taproot. Don’t transplant it once it has become established. During the second year, caraway sends up its stem, reveals its feathery leaves, and produces its seeds.
Seeds appear in midsummer. Harvest them as soon as they ripen. Leave some seeds behind and the plants will selfsow.
The Egyptians were right. It’s amazing that a treatment used 3,500 years ago can still be effective today.
Digestive Aid - Modern researchers have discovered that two chemicals (carvol and carvene) in caraway seeds soothe the smooth muscle tissue of the digestive tract and help expel gas Women’s Health. Antispasmodics, which appear to be present in caraway, soothe not only the digestive tract but other smooth muscles, such as the uterus, as well. Thus, caraway might relax the uterus, not stimulate it. Women may try it for relief of menstrual cramps.
Rx for Caraway
Fresh seeds may be mixed into any food or chewed a teaspoonful at a time.
Add caraway seeds to any dishes that benefit from their unique flavor. They are often used in breads, soups, salads, stews, cheeses, sauerkraut, pickling brines, and meat dishes.
Caraway oil is also used to flavor two digestive-aid liqueurs, Scandinavian Aquavit and German Kummel.
For a pleasant-tasting infusion that might help aid digestion, relieve gas or menstrual cramping, use 2 to 3 teaspoons of bruised or crushed seeds per cup of boiling water. Steep 10 to 20 minutes. Drink up to 3 cups a day.
If you prefer a tincture, take ½ to 1 teaspoon up to three times a day.
Low-strength caraway infusions may be given to infants for colic and gas.
Caraway is best known as the seed that flavors rye bread. The reason it’s in rye bread, and many other foods, is that caraway has been used since ancient times to calm the digestive tract and expel gas.
Caraway seeds have been found in prehistoric food remains from 3500 s.c. The ancient Egyptians loved the aromatic seeds. They were recommended for digestive upsets in the Ebers Papyrus, one of the world’s oldest surviving medical documents, about 1500 BC.
Unchanged for Centuries
Caraway is one of only a handful of herbs whose major medicinal use has remained unchanged throughout history. The ancient Greek physician Dioscorides mentioned the seeds to aid digestion, and herbals down through the ages have recommended them for indigestion, gas, and infant colic.
In Shakespeare’s day, baked apples with caraway seeds were considered a stomach-soothing dessert. In Henry IV, a meal ends with “a pippin and a dish of caraway” Seventeenth-century English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper said caraway “helpeth digestion… and easeth the pains of the wind colic.”
And America’s 19th-century Eclectic physicians believed the seeds “gently excite the digestive powers… I and are I used in flatulent colic, especially of children.”
Throughout history, in Europe, the Middle East, and early America, caraway was a favorite addition to laxative herbs because it tempered their often violent effects.
Caraway’s only other traditional uses relate to women’s health-for menstrual cramps, menstruation promotion, and milk promotion in nursing mothers.
Papaya - a world class meat tenderizer, natural digestive aid, prevents ulcers, and also a soft contact lense cleaner.
There have been no reports of harm from caraway.
The Egyptians were right. It’s amazing that a treatment used 3,500 years ago can still be effective today.