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~ Covering the Kingdom of Æthelmearc of the SCA

The Æthelmearc Gazette

Tag Archives: Herbalism

How Period Is Rootbeer, Actually?

28 Tuesday Aug 2018

Posted by aethgazette in Arts & Sciences, Brewing, Food, Herbalism, Youth Activities

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beer, Brewing, Herbal, Herbalism

By Elska á Fjárfelli of the Dominion of Myrkfaelinn

As a mother, and brewer, I was unsurprisingly asked (begged) by my kid to help him make root beer. We both quite like the taste of root beer, and the idea of going on a root-and-herb scavenger hunt in the back swamp spoke to both of us! The cunning plan was to have the kid enter his root beer in a brewing competition and thus he had to know at least some of its early history. But – how period is root beer? The two ingredients most often mentioned to make root beer are sarsaparilla and sassafras, so let’s first take a look at those.

Sarsaparilla

Sarsaparilla

Sarsaparilla (Smilax ornata) was introduced to Europe in the 16th century by the Spaniards, first from Mexico and later from Honduras. Mexico, Central America and many parts of northern South America abound in various species of sarsaparilla, valued by the natives for their, more or less, medicinal qualities. The natives value its nourishing and healing qualities so much they would drive their cattle to areas where it grew in abundance in order to feed on the plants and receive its benefits.

Sassafras

Sassafras

Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) was a well-known plant to the natives of the southwestern United States way before the Europeans came around. It had many purposes, including cooking (to flavor bear fat, to cure meat) and medicinal.

The European interest in sassafras brought Europeans into closer contact with the Native Americans during the early years of settlement in 16th and 17th century Florida, Virginia and parts of the Northeast. Early European settlers enjoyed the aromatic scent of sassafras – according to legend, Christopher Columbus finally found land because he could smell the sassafras! As early as the 1560s, French visitors to North America discovered the medicinal qualities of sassafras, as well as the Spanish who arrived in Florida.
Sassafras trees were reported as plentiful at the arrival of the English on the coast of Northeast. Sassafras bark was sold in England and in continental Europe where it was made into a dark beverage called ‘saloop’ – touted to have medicinal qualities and used as a medicinal cure for a variety of ailments. This refreshing beverage was sold in place of tea and coffee, which were much more expensive, and was served in a similar way with milk and sugar.

Sir Francis Drake was one of the earliest to bring sassafras to England in 1586, and Sir Walter Raleigh was the first to commercially export sassafras in 1602. Since the bark was the most commercially valued part of the sassafras plant due to large concentrations of the aromatic safrole oil, the trees would be stripped of their bark – which kills the tree.

This meant that as significant amounts of sassafras bark were harvested, supplies quickly diminished and sassafras became more difficult to find. For example, while one of the first shipments of sassafras in 1602 weighed as much as a ton, by 1626, the English colonists failed to meet their 30-pound quota. Unfortunately, over-harvesting is not a modern invention.

Martin Pring; in his own words (1603):

“In all these places we found no people, but signes of fires where they had beene. Howbeit we beheld very goodly Groves and Woods replenished with tall Okes, Beeches, Pine-trees, Firre-trees, Hasels, Wich-hasels and Maples. We saw here also sundry sorts of Beasts, as Stags, Deere, Beares, Wolves, Foxes, Lusernes, and Dogges with sharpe noses. But meeting with no Sassafras, we left these places with all the foresaid Ilands, shaping our course for Savage Rocke discovered the yeere before by Captaine Gosnold, where going upon the Mayne we found people, with whom we had no long conversation, because here also we could find no Sassafras. De-parting hence 3 we bare into that great Gulfe which Captaine Gosnold over-shot the yeere before, coasting and finding people on the North side thereof. […] Bancroft, following Belknap, identifies Whitson’s Bay with the harbor of Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard, which is in the latitude of 41° 25g. […]and finding a pleasant Hill thereunto adjoyning, we called it Mount Aldworth, for Master Robert Aldworths sake a chiefe furtherer of the Voyage, as well with his Purse as with his travell. Here we had sufficient quantitie of Sassafras.”

Is root beer period plausible?

What this rather long introduction means is that both main root beer flavors – sarsaparilla and sassafras – were known in 16th century Europe, and at least sassafras was used in a drinkable medicinal concoction in Europe. Unfortunately, it was not (yet) fermented… The tradition of brewing, or fermenting, root beer is thought to have evolved out of other European small beer traditions that produced fermented drinks with very low alcohol content. These were thought to be healthier to drink than possibly tainted local sources of drinking water, and enhanced by the medicinal and nutritional qualities of the ingredients used. For instance, the 14th century recipe Tizanne Doulce (like a tisane, or infusion) uses barley, licorice root and crystal sugar to make a root beer-like beverage.

Le Ménagier de Paris, 1393

TIZANNE DOULCE. Take water and boil it, then for each sester [the sester of 8 pints] of water put in a bowl heaped with barley, and it matters not if it be hulls and all, and two parisis [2 1/2d.] worth of liquorice, item, figs, and let it be boiled till the barley bursts; then let it be strained through two or three pieces of linen, and in each goblet put great plenty of crystallised sugar. Then the barley is good to give to poultry to eat to fatten them. Note that the good liquorice is the newest and it is a fresh greenish colour, and the old is more faded and dead and is dry.

Roots, bark, resin, fruits & flowers

Spicebush

Spicebush

For our recreation, we chose roots, barks and leaves that either grew in the back yard (our property adjoins a New York State Protected Wetland, so plenty of bio-diversity) or we already had in the kitchen cupboards. Even though I met someone via Facebook who lived in the South and had a sassafras tree in his backyard and was willing to ship rootstock, unfortunately, facebook ate the conversation and he was never heard from again… so this time around, at least, no period-correct Southern grown sassafras. We substituted with black birch, as that has a root beer typical wintergreen-like flavor, and spicebush (right). We went on a scavenger hunt and gathered as much as we could from the back yard and surrounding property. Ironically, it is in our modern middle Ages not possible to buy fresh, green licorice, therefore we’ll have to do with the ‘dead’ dry stuff. The kid made name cards to label each baggie of ingredients.

Simon

Our recipe:

0.6 oz black birch bark

0.6 oz spicebush bark

0.3 oz licorice root

0.3 oz dandelion root

0.3 oz birch bark

0.3 oz black cherry bark (included resin)

0.3 oz juniper berries

1 tbs hops flowers

1 tbs ginger root

1 cinnamon stick

2 ½ quart water

1 cup sugar (brown sugar)

1 yeast starter (ale yeast, reclaimed from a perry).

Then it was time to brew! He scraped the bark off the wintergreen and spicebush twigs. He chopped the dandelion root and grated the ginger root. He broke the birch bark, the cherry bark and the dried licorice root into little pieces. He picked the juniper berries from between the greens. And crushed the cinnamon stick. Mom got homegrown hops from the freezer (he’s not touching the hops supply). He measured everything on the scale, and added it all to the big sauce pot. He measured and added the 2 ½ quarts of water. Turned on the stove, and brought it up to a boil. When boiling, it was turned down to a simmer, to simmer for 20 minutes. When done, mom put the pot in the sink in cold water to cool. The infusion was left to sit overnight.

Spice pot

The rootbeer stock, ready to infuse in water.

The next day, he poured some reclaimed ale yeast into a 1 gallon carboy, and poured the infusion – through a filter – into the same carboy. He added 1 cup of sugar, for the yeast. He then shook the carboy well to dissolve all the sugar, and carefully poured the infusion into his recycled fliptop soda bottles. They were left in a warm place to start fermentation. They will stay out for a few days at the most, or until carbonation is visible, and then be refrigerated to stop/slow down the yeast.

Bottling

Ready for bottling!

A table showing the different botanicals that can be used in root-beer (X marks the ones we used): 

Roots and herbs Spices
Sassafras albidum – roots, leaves, bark Pimenta dioica – allspice
Smilax ornata – sarsaparilla X Lindera benzoin – spicebush (bark/berries)
Smilax glyciphylla – sweet sarsaparilla X Juniperus communis – juniper berries
Piper auritum – root beer plant Trigonella foenum-graecum – fenugreek
X Glycyrrhiza glabra – liquorice (root) Myroxylon balsamum – Tolu balsam
Aralia nudicaulis – wild sarsaparilla Abies balsamea – balsam fir
Gaultheria procumbens – wintergreen (leaves and berries) Myristica fragrans – nutmeg
X Betula lenta – sweet birch (sap/syrup/resin) X Cinnamomum verum – cinnamon (bark)
X Betula nigra – black birch (sap/syrup/resin/bark) Cinnamomum aromaticum – cassia (bark)
X Prunus serotina – black cherry (resin/bark) Syzygium aromaticum – clove
Picea rubens – red spruce (tips) Foeniculum vulgare – fennel (seed)
Picea mariana – black spruce X Zingiber officinale – ginger (stem/rhizome)
Picea sitchensis – Sitka spruce Illicium verum – star anise
Arctium lappa – burdock (root) Pimpinella anisum – anise
X Taraxacum officinale – dandelion (root) X Humulus lupulus – hops (bells/flowers)
Mentha species – mint
Other ingredients
Hordeum vulgare – barley (malted)
Hypericum perforatum – St. John’s wort
X Sugar
Molasses
X Yeast

Note: black birch and the evergreen Gaultheria are both sources for the scent wintergreen.

Note: while in medieval European brewing Juniperus communis was used, as we have several mature trees of Juniperus virginiana we used that instead. Like its European counterpart, Virginian juniper is also used to flavor gin.

Medieval European plausibility of our chosen ingredients: [yes / no]

black birch bark wh eastern North America no
spicebush bark wh eastern North America no
dandelion root wh native to Eurasia and North America yes
birch bark wh native to Eurasia and North America yes
black cherry bark wh eastern North America, Central America no
juniper berries hg native to Eurasia and North America yes
hops flowers hg introduced to northern Europe in the 9th century yes
licorice root cs native to southern Europe and parts of Asia yes
ginger root cs exported to EU via India in the first century AD yes
cinnamon stick cs exported to EU via Africa (Egypt) from Sri Lanka yes

Legenda – wh: wild harvested; hg: home grown; cs: commercially sourced

Observations

  • neither of us liked the licorice after-taste. Next time we’ll also add burdock, and maybe some mint, or anise – and less of the licorice.
  • only add a little bit of lees. There is plenty of yeast in even a little bit to start fermentation
  • when using commercial dry (bread) yeast, a pinch to each bottle is enough.
  • as soon as vigorous carbonation is visible on the outside of the bottles, refrigerate.
  • just in case, have a large container ready when opening the flip-top to catch any overly-carbonated blow-out.
  • fermented root beer will go alcoholic eventually – keep an eye on the brew so the kids don’t get too frisky.
  • alcoholic root beer tastes good too!

And as Sir Kenelme Digby so aptly adviced, in his slightly post-period brewing cornucopia:

“You may use what Herbs or Roots you please, either for their tast or vertue…”

Sources

Cummings, Kate. Sassafras Tea: Using a Traditional Method of Preparation to Reduce the Carcinogenic Compound Safrole. All Theses 1345, 2012. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/1345

Dietz, Birgit and Judy L. Bolton. Botanical Dietary Supplements Gone Bad. Chem Res Toxicol. 2007 Apr; 20(4): 586–590. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2504026/

Gibbons, T. G. Sarsaprilla; a short account of its introduction into Europe; … its medical virtues, etc. 1871 (p. 3) https://books.google.com/books?id=c8QN2oaqyy0C&dq=introduction+of+saraspirilla+into+europe+from+mexico&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Pring, Martin, 1580-1646. The Voyage of Martin Pring, 1603. Burrage, Henry S. (editor). Early English and French Voyages, Chiefly from Hakluyt, 1534-1608. (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1906). Pages 343-352 (p. 346-47). http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/aj/id/2523

The recipe is altered from http://nourishedkitchen.com/homemade-root-beer-recipe/

Image of sassafras from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sassafras_albidum_-_K%C3%B6hler%E2%80%93s_Medizinal-Pflanzen-260.jpg

Image of spicebush from: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/568790627910099291/

Image of sarsaparilla: A Flora of the State of New York by John Torrey Vol. 1 – Carroll and Cook Printers Albany, NY 1843

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_beer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saloop

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassafras_albidum

sassafras trees for sale

https://www.tytyga.com/Sassafras-p/shasas-sassafras.htm

http://newyork.plantatlas.usf.edu/plant.aspx?id=6276

 

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Is It This? Or Is It That? What Is It?!

01 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by aethgazette in Arts & Sciences, Herbalism

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Gillyflowers, Herbalism, soap

The obscure ingredient Gillyflower as used in medieval culinary & cosmetic recipes. By Elska á Fjárfelli of the Dominion of Myrkfaelinn.

As part of my interest in medieval soap-making, I come across some rather strange and unusual ingredients. Some only look strange at first glance as the medieval word has undergone modernization. Some describe ingredients no longer used in this way, either because they are hard to mass-produce, or because they are now known to be detrimental to our health. Every unknown ingredient I come across digging through countless medicinal and cosmetic soap recipes is carefully checked out, and these sometimes obvious, often times obscure ingredients are compiled in my Glossary for future reference.

For example, when using Google Translate to translate muschio, its first hit will be moss. While plausible, when looking at the word in context of the recipe, it is unlikely moss was added as a scrub. What was meant here was the scent musk, a much more appropriate addition as the recipe came from a book about perfumery.

Same with fate poluere – when put into Google Translate it comes up as fairies’ dust… Would we really think renaissance Italians caught fairies, dried them, ground them up, and made such good soap Mona Lisa literally seems to glow? I’d like to, though it does seem more likely it is only an older way of spelling fare polvere which means to make into dust, making a whole lot more sense considering the rest of the recipe…

Gillyflower 1

Then what about the botanical garofano? When looked up in the 1611 medieval Italian to medieval English dictionary the Florio, the translation given for garofano (garofani) is both cloves (Syzygium aromaticum) and gillyflower, also called carnation (Dianthus caryphyllus), and leaves the matter up for interpretation. Gillyflower as an ingredient makes an appearance in several non-English language soap recipes, including the Italian Notandissimi and the Dutch Dat Batement van Recepten. My curiosity was piqued, but a conclusive period source for either interpretation was nowhere to be found. The 1771 Encyclopedia Brittanica gives the alternate name clove pink for carnation, indicating some sort of connection between clove and carnation. But while it mentions the term gillyflower can be any of several flowering plant species, the spice clove is not listed among them. If they truly are two different plant species, then how can gillyflower mean both in medieval texts?

Scadian Italian cosmetics enthusiast Giata (Gigi Coulson) translated this intriguing recipe from Caterina Sforza to treat horrible breath, to include cloves:

A guerire una persona a chi puzzasse la bocca o vero el fiato.
Piglia 1 onca garofani, 5 onca cinamomo fino, 5 onca tirats, con un terzo de finissimo vino fa pistare et fa bollire et danne mezzo bichieri per volta.

To heal a person who has horrible breath.
Take 1 ounce cloves, 5 ounces ground cinnamon, 5 ounces tirats (sic), and mix with a third of finest wine, then do grind and boil it and take a dose of half a glass at a time.

Gillyflower 2

Clove gilliflower image from A Sip through Time

A handful of cooking recipes in the 16-17th century Martha Washington’s Cookbook also include gillyflower as an ingredient. Here, the translator states gillyflower is what is now known as the clove-scented pink, or carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus). According to her, gilly comes from French girofle, for clove, and is pronounced jilly. As evidenced by the older forms jellyflower and July Flowers it most likely always was; both are fine examples of the substitution of a word of known meaning for an unknown one of similar sound. Clove (Caryophyllus aromaticus) comes from the French clou de girofle, because of its resemblance to a nail, while the French girofle likely came by way of the Greek caryophyllon. Cloves are the dried flower buds of the clove tree.

The collection of old brewing recipes A Sip through Time by Cindy Renfrow also gives clove gilliflower of the family Caryophilli as an alternate name of gilliflower. Maybe through confusing nomenclature it had become a case of mistaken identity? The Dutch books of secret soap recipes refer to gillyflower as groffelsnavel, which the Medieval Dutch internet translator Historic Dictionaries on the Internet also translates to gilliflower. At first glance, groffelsnavel (Dutch), groffiaat (Belgian), garofano (Italian), girofle (French), girofre (Spanish) and a number of other alternates all lead back to gillyflower as a carnation.

Then the medieval Dutch translator had one last thing to say: “The word was also (including in the Roman Languages) used for the clove (Caryophyllus aromaticus) -1892″. In our modern time the Latin name for cloves is Syzygium aromaticum, but in history the Latin name for cloves was Caryophyllus aromaticus – very similar to the Latin for gillyflower which is Dianthus caryphyllus, and indicates both are part of the family Caryophilli. In history, cloves and carnations were classified as belonging to the same family. They had similar physical characteristics (with both, the bottom of the flower is sort of nail-shaped), were thus likely assumed to have similar properties, and were used interchangeably. Apparently, it is up to context and personal interpretation to decide whether the gillyflower called for is the spice cloves or the herb carnation.

Gilliflower is found mentioned in several recipes, both in personal cosmetics (scented soap) and in brewing. Following are a selection of recipes to illustrate the importance of context:

For Clarre. Take cloues and gilofre quibible, and mac? canll’ gygner and spiguale off an in poudre and temper hem with good wyne and the iij. parte as much of fyn honi that is clarified and streine hem thorough a cloth and doo it into a clene vessel, and it may be made wyth ale &c?.

For Clare.
Take cloves and gillyflower quibible [could be qui belle, or very beautiful], and mac? canll’ [much candied?] ginger and spiguale off [spigot, or drain off?] and in powder, and mix them with good wine and the iij. part as much of fine honey that is clarified and strain them through a cloth and do it in a clean vessel, and it may be made with ale, etc.

Gillyflower 3

Carnations, and the double-cloaue Gillofers from the 1578 Nievve Herbal or Historie of Plantes by Gerard Dewes.

In this recipe from The Customs of London: Otherwise Called Arnold’s Chronicle (1503), gillyflowers and cloves are listed separately, by name, and since gillyflower is likely described as beautiful, my guess is that carnation is meant here.

To Pickle cloue gilliflowrs cowslips burrage & marrigoulds
Clip your flowers clean from the whites & cover them over in white wine vinegar, sweetned with sugar, & shake the glasses you put them in often, & when you discover your pickle to shrink, add more to it.

Since this 16th to 17th century recipe by Martha Washington describes gillyflowers as flowers, it likely indicates that carnations were meant, as opposed to the dried out flower bud of the spice clove.

From Dat batement van recepten, a 16th century book of secrets, comes the following recipe for gilliflower soap:

133. Om seepe girofflat te maken.
Neemt een pont seepen, set die te weeken in rooswater drie dagen in de sonne; ende als ghi v seepe maken wilt, neemt een vnce ende een half groffelsnagelen wel gestooten, ende die helft van die selue nagelen sult ghi in v seepe doen, ende dat seer wel mengelende. Met dander helft doet dat hierna volcht. Neemt een cleyn potken met rooswater, ende doeghet ouer ‘t vier sieden, ende alst beginnen sal te sieden, doeter die reste van dat groffelsnagelpoeder inne, ende neemt den pot van dat vier, ende decten seer wel tot dat die bobbelen ghecesseert zijn, ende dattet water law geworden si, dan roeret met een houtken, ende also roerende, mengelet met v seepe. Ende is ‘t dat ghijer een luttel beniuyn toe doen wilt, ghi moeget doen, ooc sult ghi v seepe in een busse doen, ende si sal goede ruecke aennemen.

Gillyflower 4

Cloue tree image from the 1633 The Herball, or, General Historie of Plantes by John Gerard.

133. To make gilliflower soap.
Take a pound of soap, put it to soak in rosewater three days in the sun, and if you want to make soap, take an ounce and a half gillyflowers well crushed, and half of these same nagelen should you put into the soap, and mix very well. With the other half you do as follows. Take a clean pot with rosewater, and cook it over the fire, and when it starts to boil, add the rest of the gillyflower powder, and take the pot off the fire, and cover it well until the bubbles seized, and that the water is luke warm, then stir with wood, and also stir, mixing with the soap. And if you would like add a little benzoin, which you should do, also you should put the soap in a container, and it shall take on a good scent.

In this case the giroflatt (alternate of girofle) is also identified with nagelen, an adverb used in modern Dutch for kruidnagelen (“herb-nails”). Kruidnagelen specifically means cloves, therefore, in this case I would be confident to say here giroflatt means the spice cloves.

From The Housekeeper’s Pocket Book by Sarah Harrison, 1739 (as reprinted in A Sip Through Time by Cindy Renfrow, p.154):

To make clove gillyflower wine.
Take six gallons and a half of spring water, and twelve pounds of sugar, and when it boils skim it, putting in the white of eight eggs, and a pint of cold water, to make the scum rise: let it boil for an hour and a half, skimming it well; then pour it into an earthen vessel, with three spoonfulls of barm; then put in a bushel of clove-gillyflower clip’d and beat, stir them well together, and the next day pit six ounces of syrup of citron into it, the third day put in three lemons sliced, peel and all, the fourth day tun it up, stop it close for ten days, then bottle it, and put a piece of sugar in each bottle.

In this instance it is clear from context that a weedy herb is used; it is not describing the dry spice cloves, but the fresh state of carnations.

My conclusion:  from the handful of brewing and cooking recipes I found using gillyflowers, most seem to indicate using carnation, either as a fresh or dried herb. Most of the perfumed cosmetic recipes seem to use cloves, as a powdered or crushed ingredient. It makes sense that if powdered or crushed gillyflower is called for it is likely to mean cloves, and if fresh or dried gillyflower is called for it is likely to mean carnation. And take a closer look at the provided images of both carnation and clove – the bottoms of the flowers on both plants do look strikingly similar…

Bibliography:

Arnold, Richard (1503) The Customs of London, London: Printed for F. C. and J. Rivington, et. al., 1811.

Braekman, Willy L. (ed.) (1990) Dat Batement van Recepten (House of Recipes). Brussel: Omirel UFSAL. Likely translated and reprinted from the 1525 Venetian Opera nuova intitolata Dificio di recette. http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_bat002wlbr01_01/colofon.htm (© dbnl 2009)

Coulson, Gigi (Giata Magdalena Alberti). Caterina Sforza’s Gli Experimenti, A Translation. Self Published. https://labelladonna.net/

Dewes, Gerard. (1578) Nievve Herbal or Historie of Plantes. London.
This encyclopedia has a nice chapter on the carnation.

Encyclopedia Brittanica; https://www.britannica.com/plant/gillyflower

The Florio 1611 Dictionary Search:
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/florio/search/search.cgi

Gerard, John. (1633) The Herball, or, General Historie of Plantes. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Houghton_STC_11751_The_herball,_or,_General_historie_of_plantes,_1633_-_clove.jpg

Hess, Karen. (1996) Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweatmeats. Columbia University Press.

Historische Woordenboeken op Internet (Historic Dictionaries on the Internet).
http://gtb.inl.nl/?owner=MNW

Renfrow, Cindy. (1996) A Sip Through Time, a Collection of old Brewing Recipes. Self published.

Translations by Susan Verberg, unless otherwise noted.

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Æthelmearc Herbal and Apothecary Guild About to Grow Roots

04 Friday Mar 2016

Posted by aethgazette in Arts & Sciences, Brewing, Cooking, Food, Herbalism

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Apothecary, dyeing, garden, guild, Herbal, herbal medicine, Herbalism, medieval gardening, medieval medicine

Hi there!

Someone started a Facebook Page about herbal and apothecary guild work in the Known World and, after some discussion, it became clear that Æthelmearc didn’t have one and would like a kingdom guild.foxscan

Botany is one of those subjects that goes hand in hand with medieval research. Whether attempting to cure an illness, make or dye cloth, or design a garden, plants are always important to our SCA persona.

The Æthelmearc Herbal and Apothecary Guild will be focused on all aspects of plant use throughout the Middle Ages, with the caveat that we include Anachronisms such as modern-day safety and knowledge. We shouldn’t poison ourselves with bracken ferns when it has recently been discovered they are severely mutagenic, right?

I will be at Ice Dragon 2016 and would love to talk with like-minded people about starting an Herbal Guild here in Æthelmearc.
I can also be reached at Firewaterpro@gmail.com, and there is an interest thread on the “SCA Æthelmearc” Facebook Page.

I look forward to accomplishing much with you.

Lady Maggie Rue

 

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