Herb oils have many uses. They can be used in salad dressings, and a few drops added to cooking oil when quickly frying vegetables or meat can transform the dish completely. I do not eat sausages, but a friend who does tells me that a few drops of rosemary oil, added when frying them, turns the humble “snag” into a connoisseur’s delight. Here is how to make a herb oil:

Buy some good quality bland oil, like samower or almond (peanut and olive oil are not suitable) and fill a screwtopped jar f full with it. Then pick a good handful of the herb you need, it may be rosemary, thyme, lavender, or peppermint, and bruise it well in the mortar and pestle, adding a little white wine vinegar as you go (about 1 tablespoon). Then add the crushed herb and vinegar to the jar containing the oil, seal tightly, and shake it vigorously. Stand the jar on a hot sunny window-ledge or against a wall where it will get maximum heat. This is best done in the hot summer months, but if you want to do it in winter, stand it in the warm (not hot) zone of a radiator, oil heater or fire. Shake it well every day for about three weeks. Test the oil by rubbing it on your skin. If the fragrance is still there after a few minutes, the oil is “done”. If not, crush some more of the herb and repeat for another couple of weeks. Then strain, and bottle, sealing well.

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Tarragon Sauce

Make a roux of 1 1\2 oz. butter, 1 oz. flour, and add 1\2 pint of milk or stock, 1 shallot, and a handful of chopped tarragon leaves. Simmer for several minutes.

Ravigote Sauce

(for chicken or other poultry)

1 cup brown stock

1 tablespoon each chopped tarragon, chervil, chives 1 crushed garlic clove

Pour all into the roasting pan after removing the fat, but leaving all the juices, and bring just to the boil. Serve with the herbs still in. This can also be used on spaghetti, with grated cheese.

Tongue with Tarragon

2 to 3 lb. sliced tongue (cut thin)

2 tablespoons chopped tarragon 1 tablespoon capers

1 tablespoon cornflour, dissolved in 3 tablespoons water 1\2 cup stock, or bouillon 1\2 cup red wine Crushed anise seed

Butter a shallow* baking-dish, and arrange sliced tongue in several layers, sprinkling capers and tarragon between. Combine the stock and cornflour on the stove, stirring till smooth. Add salt and pepper if necessary. Add crushed anise seed and red wine to mixture, then pour it over the tongue and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the sauce catches at the side of the pan.

French Mustard

3 tablespoons dry mustard, mixed to a paste with cold water or white wine. Add 1\2 teaspoon sugar, 1 1\2 teaspoons tarragon vinegar, 1\2 teaspoon salt, 1 1\2\ teaspoons safflower oil, 1\4 teaspoon pepper. Mix all together, in blender if possible, to give it the true creamy texture.

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Some of the many types are listed here:

APPLEMINT. Soft, woolly, downy leaves, with a rounded shape, and a strong apple taste and perfume.

VARIEGATED APPLEMINT. Creamy yellow and light-green patched leaf, a very handsome plant. Not quite as much flavour as above. Will grow in open sunlight better than most.

EAU-DE-COLOGNE MINT. A most exotic perfume when crushed, as its name implies. This is a favourite for a perfumed bath. Dry the mint leaves and store in an airtight jar, or use a handful of the fresh leaves, well-bruised, in hot bath water.

SPEARMINT (Mentha spicata). Smoother sharp-pointed leaves, the best all-purpose flavouring mint. Used by the Romans and taken by them to Britain. Grown in monastery gardens. This variety can be affected badly by a type of rust disease which starts in the roots. The stems and leaves will discolour and the roots when lifted will be pulpy and rotten. Lift the whole mint patch and burn it, dig lime or dolomite well into the soil, and leave it for a season. Do not plant mint there again. A good soil, well fed and well limed in the first place, has less chance of incubating this destructive disease.

Spearmint planted near roses and other plants will deter aphis.

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Anethum graveolens UMBELLIFERAE

The first historfcal references to dill go back to records found in the Egyptian tombs. Physicians used it then in the same manner and for the same purpose as we do now, as a powerful digestive aid.

The herb is an annual, and can be grown easily from seed sown right through from spring to autumn. In warm areas it can be sown all the year round. If you let one plant flower and set seed, you will find a few small seedlings around the area the following season. Like all the Umbelliferae (of which the carrot is a member), dill produces a prodigious quantity of seeds from each plant, and these are the part of the herb most commonly used therapeutically.

Dill-water is just as effective nowadays as it was in grandmother’s day, and is possibly even more useful to us with our richer foods and more artificial diet. Soak 1 oz. of bruised dill seeds in 1 pint of cold water for 6 hours, then sweeten to taste with honey. Give one tablespoon to adults, 1 teaspoon to children, to relieve indigestion.

The plant is very attractive, growing to about 3 feet high, with the typical lacy foliage and umbrella-shaped heads of gold flowers. There is a delicate bluish tint to the mature leaves, and when the seed is ripe, the leaves turn purple. Full sunshine suits it best, with plenty of water and good drainage. Do not grow it too close to fennel or angelica, for these relations will cross-pollinate and may lose their own individual flavours. Gather the seed heads when ripe (the seeds will be darkish mauve-brown, with lighter ribs), and store until needed in sealed glass jars. The usual method of separating the seeds from the stems is to rub the stalks with the hands inside a large plastic bag. Dill seed can keep its germinating power up to ten years, so one original plant can provide seeds to give you a constant supply for many years.

Dill contains potassium, sodium, sulphur and phosphorus, and has a very distinctive slightly metallic taste. The leaves are used, too, by Continental cooks, and are added to goulash and many fish and vegetable dishes, as well as being used to garnish hors-d’oeuvre and smorgasbord delicacies. Crab and lobster meat seem to me natural partners for dill’s astringent flavour, and it helps, of course, in the digestion of the raw vegetables so often found in Scandinavian recipes.

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Try several leaves, chopped, to make tea in the usual manner. Pour a cup of boiling water over, and let stand for 5 minutes, or simmer the leaves in water for 3 or 4 minutes (do not boil), strain, and drink steaming hot with a few drops of lemon juice added. The herb has a great deal of saline mucilage, and its salty taste can be a valuable additive to mineral-salt-free diets. Indeed, it is one of the main ingredients, with kelp, in many vegetable salts. The same natural saline content helps reduce temperatures and fevers when the drink is taken hot, and promotes kidney health and activity when used fresh in salads. Chop the cucumber-flavoured leaves finely after washing well: your family or guests may not enjoy a large lump of hairy borage as much as tiny, more palatable pieces. It is very rich in potassium, needed for healthy tissues, bowels, kidneys and liver, and has large quantities of easily assimilable calcium as well. No wonder it kept those ancient warriors on their toes.

Borage was always classed as a herb of jolly Jupiter, a general blood and body strengthener. Its leaves, placed in a bowl of fruit punch, or liquid of any kind, will not only give that cool cucumber flavour, but will actually reduce its temperature.

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Always picture your immune system as strong, tough, powerfully aggressive, invincible, indomitable and unconquerable. Make sketches of your killer T cells and macrophages with wolflike fangs and jaws, and of die antibodies with sharp, dart-like points. See them rush at any virus and tear it to shreds.

Or you can symbolize your white cells as fierce white dogs or white tigers or as any fierce and aggressive animal that always wins.

Visualize the cold or flu viruses as small, weak, disorganized and disoriented. Never picture your ailment as strong, powerful, magical, evil, monstrous, gigantic or fear-inspiring. People who have symbolized a cold or flu as a lion or tiger, a giant or a monster, or a powerful spreading tree or rock have proved to be fearful of the ailment and to have a low level of confidence and belief in their immunocompetence.

Next, make a rough sketch of yourself in perfect health, free of all cold and flu symptoms. Sketch yourself as you were at the healthiest, fittest time of your life. Draw yourself loping along a beach, inhaling great quantities of pure air through unblocked nostrils. Feel complete faith in your ability to destroy any invading virus or bacteria.

Create clear, strong, vivid pictures of your white cells and of yourself in perfect health. Not only see yourself running along a beach but feel, hear, smell, taste and touch the scene. Experience each sensation. Smell the salty tang of drying seaweed, hear the scream of gulls and the roar of surf, feel the sea breeze in your face, the sun on your body, and the grains of sand under your bare feet.

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C and other essential nutrients by approximately forty per cent while caffeine also causes a zinc deficiency. Beverages containing caffeine include coffee, black and green tea, hot chocolate, cocoa and most cola drinks. The Pill, diuretics, anti-hypertension medication, prescription and “recreational” drugs and medications may also interfere with absorption of nutrients essential to the body’s cold-fighting process.

Also ranking high among foods to avoid are fats of all types. A high dietary intake of fat, especially polyunsaturated fatty acids (pressed vegetable oils) and hydrogenated vegetable oils, has been shown to result in lymphoid atrophy and suppressed antibody response to antigens in lab animals. All indications are that fatty acids enhance synthesis of prostaglandins, a surfeit of which are believed to directly suppress the immune system.

However, there are several different types of prostaglandins and certain prostaglandins are utilized by the immune system itself to create inflammation. Prostaglandins are manufactured from linoleic acid, a fatty acid which is transformed into arachidonic acid in the body and is stored in the body’s fat cells.

Linoleic acid is supplied by legumes and whole grains such as oatmeal. If, however, you do not eat a sufficiency of these two foods, you can obtain sufficient linoleic acid by adding one teaspoon of cold-pressed sunflower or saf-flower seed oils to your diet each day. These oils can be used as a dressing on salads or can be used in cooking or in baked goods. (Olive oil or peanut butter are not considered good sources of linoleic acid.) Nonetheless, a single bowl of oatmeal will usually supply our entire linoleic acid needs for the day.

A high-fat diet also inhibits production of “Intrinsic Factor” in the gastric juices which is needed for the absorption of vitamin B12. This nutrient, as you may recall from Chapter 5 is one of a variety of R-complex vitamins which aids the immune system in battling colds and flu. Others include vitamins A, C, E, the entire B-complex and the mineral zinc.

It is foods of animal origin, particularly meat, whole milk dairy products and eggs that are high in fat and low in many vitamins essential to immunocompetence. Refined carbohydrates, such as white flour, sugar and sweeteners of all kinds, are also almost valueless in providing nutritional support. All traces of zinc and other nutrients have been refined out of them. Another problem is that these are all acid-forming foods which interfere with absorption of zinc, and they restrict availability of zinc to the body.

The best nutritional support is provided by eating the 80-10-10 way, meaning that 80 percent of our calories should come from complex carbohydrates (fresh, unprocessed vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds and legumes); not more than ten percent should be derived from fats (preferably from unprocessed fats contained in whole grains, avocados, nuts and seeds); and ten percent should come from protein, preferably from legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, white or oily fish, egg whites or very low fat dairy foods such as plain yogurt and cottage cheese.

Eating the 80-10-10 way provides a diet high in vitamins A, C, E and the B-complex and in zinc and most other essential minerals. It also provides sufficient protein for antibody production.

However, it’s important that your diet contain an abundance of deep green and yellow vegetables plus green leafy vegetables and both fruits and vegetables which are yellow-to-red or bright orange in color. These foods art all high in beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A which is essential to the integrity of mucous membranes lining the nasal air passages.

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The consensus of many similar studies is that vitamin C stimulates production of interferon; that it enhances the ability of the thymus gland to produce T cells; that it helps detoxify surplus histamine; and that it bolsters bacterial phagocytosis (ability of phagocytes to destroy bacteria). Doses of 2 to 3 grams have produced significant increases in immunocompetence.

As a result, vitamin C has become the best known dietary factor affecting immunity. On coming down with a cold, many people are now taking C instead of aspirin. Which is understandable when you consider that several carefully-conducted medical studies have shown that a mild viral infection, such as a smallpox inoculation, causes a significant depletion in vitamins A and C in the bloodstream.

While the results of studies like those just quoted have confirmed the benefits of vitamins A and C, and of zinc in treating colds, the lack of any large-scale scientifically endorsed proof seems due more to the nature of the scientific method than to any doubt about the nutrient’s effectiveness. Any study is limited to testing only a single variable. Thus only a single vitamin or mineral can be tested at a time. By contrast, vitamins and minerals interact biologically, and work synergistically with each other, to produce results far greater than that of any single nutrient acting alone. Taken together, vitamins A, C, E and the B-complex plus zinc and other key minerals, appear to complement the other to produce overall results far in excess of any single nutrient studies so far recorded.

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By comparison, the onset of flu symptoms are more sudden and severe. Fever may quickly soar to the 102° to 104°F range. Headaches are common and prolonged. Muscular aches and pains appear throughout the body. A sore throat is a frequent symptom. Bouts of chill and shivering often alternate between periods of sweating. The eyes are sore, the face is often flushed, and the skin hot and moist. The victim feels weak and fatigued and appetite may fade. Almost 90 percent of flu victims are afflicted with dry, hacking cough and, often, a chest discomfort also. Existence of a local flu epidemic supports the probability that the diagnosis of influenza is correct

Alarming as they may appear, flu symptoms pose little risk to a healthy adult or child. In any case, medical science is unable to cure or alleviate either a common cold or flu since antibiotics are ineffective against viruses.

Because both cold and flu viruses may create raw, irritated tissue, and also overload the immune system, a bacterial infection of the nose, sinuses, throat or chest may follow a cold or flu.

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Careful diary-keeping is a great help in identifying the exact nature of tension or migraine headache triggers. Women should include exact dates on which menstruation begins and ends. After three months, you should begin to see a pattern which can help to identify migraine triggers and to avoid them.

Diary-keeping coupled with careful observation also can help identify tension headache triggers. For example, you may find that it is not typing that causes your headache but the way you sit or slouch over the typewriter. Or it could be due to inadequate lighting. Identifying and avoiding headache triggers has brought relief to many.

Here is a brief rundown of the principal categories of headache triggers.

Physical and environmental triggers. Smog-containing sulphur dioxide, commonly emitted from refineries, steel and paper mills or fertilizer plants, has been scientifically confirmed as a common migraine trigger. Fumes and odors from soap, detergent, perfume, after-shave lotion, and household chemicals and pesticides, when inhaled in an enclosed room, can set off migraine in some people.

Other common environmental triggers include glaring or flickering lights or bright outdoor sunshine (wear sunglasses and a hat with a brim).

Stale air in offices and rooms, especially if smoke-filled, is a potential headache trigger. Others include: odorless carbon monoxide leaks from car exhausts or heating equipment; rapid decreases in barometric pressure; wearing a swim mask or goggles—this can set off a headache one to two hours later, sudden weather changes, especially onset of a hot, dry wind. Loud, jarring noises keep the body continually stressed, while a constant noise prevents relaxation. Temporary headaches due to high elevation are also common among mountain hikers and climbers. Usually mild, the headaches customarily affect the entire head. Occasionally, an altitude headache is confined to one side, and can become as severe as a migraine. Altitude headaches normally disappear on descending.

Long distance flights, especially from east to west, can trigger migraine in susceptible persons. To help avoid headaches when flying, drink frequent glasses of water, avoid alcohol, eat lightly, sit in an aisle seat so that you can stand up and stretch, and rest upon arrival. OTC painkillers are freely available on most flights.

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