The Budding Planet » Herbs

Anti-Mouth Ulcer Soup

jasmin — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 04:24:35 +0000

Here’s a Chinese herbal soup that my friend Tulip see makes for her daughter when the little girl had a mouth ulcer. Ulcers are such a pain.

lean meat(400g)
apple-cut into quarters(1)
aloe vera-peeled(1 blade)
carrot(1)
honey dates(2)
red dates(10)
sweet almond(1 tbsp)
bitter almond(1 tbsp)
2.5litres water

cook for 4hrs over low heat or cook it in a crock pot.

Put sea salt(1 tsp) if you want.

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Do you know if you are using the right cinnamon?

jasmin — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 16:32:04 +0000

Karen Dworkin (http://nativekitten.blogspot.com/ says there is cinnamon and then there is cinnamon. Who knew there was a huge difference in what kind of cinnamon you are using. You live your learn and just learned something from a master herbalist. About to toss out my mine now and get the good stuff the Ceylon cinnamon.

There are actually different cinnamon.

Ceylon cinnamon is the true cinnamon and is typically more expensive than the other cinnamon (called cassia cinnamon) that are more commonly used.

The big difference between them is that cassia cinnamon have higher levels of coumarins compared to the Ceylon cinnamon.

The anti-coagulant properties of coumarins does not cause a problem when ingesting Ceylon cinnamon, but can become dangerous when ingesting the cassia cinnamon, if consumed in large amounts on a regular basis. This is especially dangerous for someone who is on blood-thinning medication!

Not that I am taking blood thinners but I am eliminating things like goji. Anything that I know of that thins the blood. I had trouble in May with them trying to get my blood to clot when I had that horrible cut. They (medical staff) kept asking me if I was on blood thinners my reply was no but found out I was eating some.

So I am watching those blood thinning things and bit by bit eliminating them from my daily intake.

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Budding Planet says,

Here’s how you spot the difference between the two types of cinnamon

cassia is dark, reddish brown whereas Ceylon cinnamon is light tan in color
cassia sticks form a “double-scroll” whereas Ceylon cinnamon appears rolled like a cigar
cassia is thick and hard whereas Ceylon cinnamon is thin and brittle

You can go here to see the images http://spices.suite101.com/article.cfm/difference_between_cassia_and_cinnamon

This is very important if you enjoy stuff like cinnamon buns, or if you have high blood pressure for example and you are on blood thinning meds.

Real Cinnamon Sticks – Light Tan and Brittle – Stephanie Jolly

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Korean Kimchi Ramen

jasmin — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 10:52:13 +0000

I think the Korean Kimchi Ramen is Korea’s biggest, most popular food export. It’s not the healthiest thing around, but it’s darn tasty. Add a half boiled egg topped with a handful of raw enoki mushrooms and 2 large spoonful of raw kimchi, and you’ll have a pretty nutritious dish full of protein (egg), enzymes and vitamins from the veges.There’s really good probiotics from the kimchi as well that’s as good as what you’ll get from a small pot of yogurt and probably even better than the probiotics pill you’ll find at the pharmacy.

Now, there are lots of other things you can add to make this dish healthier. Maybe some raw green onions, raw seaweed strips, shredded carrots and cucumber. You can be creative.

By the way, most mushrooms sold at the store can be eaten raw. enoki, button, brown mushrooms, Chinese (Shiitake) mushrooms, straw, portobello, bunashimeiji and oyster mushrooms. There’s probably lots other mushrooms not listed. You can check them out online.

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Miang Kam – An Almost Raw Appetizer

jasmin — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 16:53:35 +0000

Miang Kam

I love Miang Kam, which is a Thai partly raw snack slash appetizer. The picture here shows the appetizer without the sticky dark syrup.

Miang kam consists of fresh cha plu (ช้าพลู) leaves that are filled with some roasted coconut shavings and few small pieces of the following ingredients:

onion
Fresh small Thai red chilli
Ginger
Garlic
Unpeeled lime
roasted peanuts
Dry small shrimp

After filling the leaf, a little coconut palm syrup containing Thai fish sauce (nam pla) is poured on top. Then the leaf is folded and eaten whole. The origin of the name is in “eating many things in one bite”; from “miang” (เมี่ยง), meaning “food wrapped in leaves”, and “kham” (คำ), “a bite”.

The cha plu leaves or the Daun Kadok leaves (as we call it in Malaysia)

Apparently, this leaf is good for relieving toothaches, heal malaria fever, getting rid of worm infection, strengthen weak bodies and eliminating coughs.

If this single leaf can do so much, imagine what the Miang Kam can do. It’s power packed with nuts (protein), ginger (good for getting rid of mucus and it’s a cancer fighting leaf) chili (to warm the body up and get rid of intestinal parasites), coconut (good oil and roughage), onion (treatment of poor appetite, strengthen bones and to prevent atherosclerosis), lime (weight loss, skin care, good digestion, relief from constipation, eye care, and treatment of scurvy, piles, peptic ulcer) and dried shrimp (protein, excellent source of selenium, a very good source of vitamin D and vitamin B12.)

Here’s the recipe but it’s really time consuming to make these lil things cause you can only eat a few at a time so it’s best to buy it from a Thai restaurant or a Thai stall.

Directions

Dry roast the coconut in a wok on medium high, stirring constantly to avoid burning. Cook until the coconut is medium brown, about 5 minutes. Set aside the amount used for the sauce, and put the rest into a serving bowl.
Cut up all the ingredients which are not to be put into the sauce into small 1/4″ pieces. Arrange in small bowls, or in piles on a plate.
Now, for the sauce… In a stone mortar & pestle, pound together the shallots and galangal until fine. Set aside.
In a small sauce pan, add the water, fish sauce, palm sugar & shallot/galangal mixture.
Boil over medium heat to reduce the sauce to the thickness shown in the picture below. You’re going to boil off about 1/2 the liquid. Make sure to keep stirring every now and then.
Add the roasted coconut, remove from heat, and put into a small bowl.
To eat… Take a leaf and fold the bottom to make a pouch (see large pic above). Put a large pinch of roasted coconut in first, then follow with a piece or two of everything else from the serving bowls: shallots, lime, ginger, peanuts, shrimp and a chili if desired. There is no ‘proper’ order to put them in. Then, add a bit of sauce on top, roll the leaf to make a packet, and eat in one bite. Eating Mieng Kam is like a taste explosion.

Honestly, it’s a lot of work right? Anyways, there’s a lady who sells it really cheap the the SS2 night market every Monday if you are interested in trying it. Her stall is right across the Salvation bookstore, near McDonalds. They sell other types of Thai snacks too like the mango salad, sticky rice with mango and the fruit salad (rojak).

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Guava As Medicine

jasmin — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 06:59:52 +0000

An Indian study published in the Journal of Human Hypertension confirmed that the guava fruit help reduce high blood pressure and high blood fat reading.

Half the participants (73 people) ate 1 pound – 2 pounds of guava daily for 4 weeks. The other group had a different diet. Blood pressure decreased an average of 5%. Fat reading decreased an average of 5-8%.

~ Guava As Medicine by Ingfried Hobert MD & Harald W. Tietze ~

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The goodness of Maltose

jasmin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:45:45 +0000

There’s all types of sweeteners. Right now, white sugar, honey and raw agave are popular. There’s also raw cane sugar and maltose. The (liquid) maltose is very popular with the Chinese. It’s made by first grinding long grain rice into powder. It’s then cooked with malt and fermented. The final product has a golden light honey color and it’s less runny than honey.

Maltose benefits the Qi, moistens the Lungs and relieves coughs due to dry lungs.

You’ll be able to find Maltose in most Chinese grocery stores in major cities around the world, and thankfully, most have the English word “Maltose” on it’s label. If not, ask for Màiyátáng or 麦芽糖

Click on this link to see how it looks like. http://yeqiang.com/v-web/gallery/albums/jiayao/maiyatang.jpg

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