by Josef Brinckmann HerbalGram. 2019; American Botanical Council
This opinion piece is based partly on direct observations from fieldwork over the decades with communities in rural and remote areas who depend on wild collection and farming of medicinal plants for some or all of their household income. Flowering, fruiting, harvesting periods, and yields of many of these plants have become erratic.1 My opinions also are informed by coming of age around the start of the modern environmental movement.2 While 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg inspired teenagers across the world with her proclamation in January 2019 that “our house is on fire,”3 which I applaud, I actually thought that “our house” was on fire 50 years ago.
This climate crisis didn’t show up unannounced. Some readers of this opinion piece may not believe that the climate crisis has been caused by human activity — and, therefore, cannot be corrected…
Chemicals: volatile oils
Body Systems: digestive, nervous
I am a delicate plant, but my flower’s gentleness belies its power. As a warm teabag, I soothe tired eyes; as a tea or tincture, I can untangle knots in the belly. Keep me around for kids and grownups alike.
Chemicals: usnic acid, polysaccharides
Body Systems: respiratory, urinary
All around the world, my beards hang off the evergreens. Eat them whole, or try an extract: they’ll protect your lungs like they protect the forest. Savor my acrid flavor: it is a note to push out the season’s cold.
The title isn’t very appetizing but this cake is fantastic and is easy to throw together. The components are simple – cake, pudding and Oreos.
I did this cake for a local groundbreaking ceremony at SolTrans in Vallejo. The large decorative cake was done in a large terra cotta pot while the servings for the public were done in small cups similar those you would find on a buffet.
Dirt Cake
Chocolate cake, made from scratch or from a box
Pudding, prepared and chilled (I’m using vanilla today
Oreo cookies
Prepare cake and pudding according to instructions. Using your food processor, pulse the Oreos into fine crumbs until it resembles dirt.
Crumble up the cake into crumbs.
In a Pyrex baking dish or torte dish, place cake crumbs on the bottom of the dish. Dollop on a thick layer of pudding and smooth out with a spatula. Top pudding with…
“A man learns all his life and dies the day he thinks he has learned everything”- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan The world we live in is full of mystery. No matter how much we learn and dedicate ourselves to research, there are always things that can surprise us, secrets that have been hidden from us, […]
Burning Frankincense in the form of incense has been a big part of religious and other cultural ceremonies for a millennium. The resin from the Boswellia tree also known as Frankincense or olibanum is believed to be an aroma that will help your soul reach spiritual exaltation. Frankincense resin is mentioned in many different ancient texts including the old and new testament and is said to have mystical […]
Bicho-Bicho made of yeast dough deep-fried to golden perfection. Soft, fluffy, and coated in sugar, these Filipino twisted donuts make a great breakfast, snack or dessert. They’re seriously addicting!
Teriyaki Salmon requires only a few ingredients and minimal effort but packs amazing flavor. Moist and tender with a sweet and savory glaze, it’s sure to be a dinner hit!
Ginataang Kalabasa, Sitaw at Hipon is a Filipino vegetable stew made with kabocha squash, shrimp, and long beans cooked in coconut milk. It’s creamy, spicy, and delicious with steamed rice! […]
Water should not be a luxury product, but still in these modern times, one out of nine people does not have access to clean drinking water. The main issue here is that only around 4% percent of Earth’s water sources are rivers, lakes and drinkable water, the rest is comprised of oceans with salty water. […]
Plant-based company Beyond Meat just announced plans to test an updated version of its Beyond Fried Chicken at about 66 Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants!
Avocados (Persea americana, Lauraceae) are nutrient-dense and medium-caloric food. They provide dietary fiber, phytochemicals, mannoheptulose, and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs). In vivo studies indicate an association between lower body weight and avocado consumption. However, according to the authors, very few studies have examined the relationship between avocado intake and adiposity in humans, with inconsistent results. The authors state that no large epidemiological studies have evaluated the longitudinal relationship between avocado intake and changes in weight or obesity risk. Hence, the purpose of this longitudinal registry study was to examine the effect of habitual avocado intake on adult weight gain and changes in body mass index (BMI).
This analysis uses the Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2) cohort. The full cohort comprises approximately 96,000 people of which approximately 65% are women and 27% are African American. The participants lived in the United States or Canada at the time of enrollment. The…
In 1753, it was Carl Linnaeus who gave cacao, the Herb Society of America’s Herb of the Month, its botanical name: Theobroma cacao, from theos meaning god and broma meaning food – food of the gods. The Mayans gave it the name xocoatl, (pronounced sho-KWA-til). According to The True History of Chocolate authors Sophie and Michael Coe, the most likely history of the word “chocolate” is that the Spaniards combined the Maya word chocol, meaning “hot,” and the Aztec atl, meaning “water,” to produce chocolatl. […]
These cupcakes were incredible. No frosting required. They are somewhere between a snicker doodle and a breakfast coffee cake, but in a soft and wonderfully moist and tasty cupcake. My daughter is already asking me to make more, although we haven’t finished eating the first batch! I hope you enjoy these as much as we did.
Cupcake batter ingredients:
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 egg whites
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Topping:
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
Preheat oven to 350.
Cream butter and sugar with a hand or stand mixer until light and fluffy. Mix in egg whites, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk and…
A special thanks to Mrs. Briseño for this incredible recipe! Sweet, nutty and has a beautiful, moist crumb. This recipe makes a single layer, 8” cake. Perfect to share….or not.
Almond Coffee Cake
For the cake:
1 egg
½ cup buttermilk
½ cup melted butter (regular, salted)
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon almond extract
¾ cup sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
For the syrup:
1/3 cup water
½ cup sugar
2/3 cup toasted, sliced almonds
½ teaspoon almond extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” pan with parchment.
Whisk together buttermilk and egg in a medium bowl. Add in butter, vanilla and almond extract.
Mix sugar, flour, baking powder and baking soda together in a small bowl and add to wet mixture. Mix until well blended. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 30-35 minutes or until top is golden and…
People seem to have a love-hate relationship with beets. Whether you love or hate them, there is no question this vegetable packs a bevy of nutritious health benefits. Beets are versatile in their flavor profile, dependent upon how they are prepared. They have an earthy taste when raw, sweet when roasted and tart when fermented. This root vegetable has a wide variety of uses in the kitchen from juicing, salads, soups, pickles, noodles, cakes, and even ice cream. When it comes to beets, you are only limited by your imagination. […]
The brain is a very delicate organ. And while exercising as well as meditating have been found to help keep the brain young, there are also other things
January and February feels the longest and hardest part of winter. Although its been more mild than usual this last leg of the season definitely brings the coldest days of the year. At least in my […]
Learn about the differences between types of miso paste, as well as how dashi stock is made, and prepare those flavors for a restaurant-ready bowl of miso soup at home! The added benefits of shiitake mushrooms make this soup hearty and enjoyable year-round.
OLANCHA, CA – APRIL 4: The Crystal Geyser water bottling plant along Highway 395 is viewed on April 4, 2017, in Olancha, California. Owens Valley is an arid valley in eastern California, to the east of the Sierra Nevada and west of the White Mountains and Inyo Mountains on the west edge of the Great Basin. The mountain peaks on either side reach above 14,000 feet in elevation, while the floor of the Owens Valley is at 4,000 feet, making the valley one of the deepest in the United States. (Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)
The beverage maker agreed to pay a fine of $5 million after pleading guilty to two felony offenses earlier this month
Black cumin seed is derived from the Nigella sativa plant, a small flowering shrub native to Eastern Europe, western Asia and the Middle East. While they may not look like much, these tiny black […]
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune-inflammatory disease in which the severity of disease and pain are associated with inflammation and oxidative stress. Patients with RA have elevated serum […]
If you can handle the taste of jalapenos, you can consider yourself lucky, as they are apparently a real superfood. The active ingredient in these little green peppers, capsaicin, is the power you need to fight off numerous health issues. Capsaicin is the same ingredient used in personal defense pepper spray, and it turns out […]
These cookies have real lemon slices on top for an extra strong flavor. I pre-baked the slices a little before placing them on the cookie to bake together so that the lemon flavor is a little bit more concentrated, but when you bite into each cookie you’ll still get a burst of fresh citrus goodness.
The effect is almost as though the cookies are filled with some zesty lemon cream. Some of the juice from the lemon slices also seeps into the cookie itself, giving it a delicious lemon almond flavor.
The trick is to get the lemon slices just thick enough to not get burned during baking — so keep an eye out as they’re pre-baking, as you might want to take them out sooner if need be (or bake at a lower temperature all together, as some ovens bake stronger than others).
You can experiment a little with your oven settings and you can slice the lemons thicker or thinner to your liking (thicker means juicier and stronger in flavor, thinner means more delicate but also more likely to burn a little around the edges). Optimal thickness is around an eighth of an inch.
But don’t sweat it if there’s a tiny bit of browning happening anyways (as you can see in the cookie below around the edges) — they’ll still be delicious!
Also, note that I used a nut butter that’s a mix of almond and hazelnut butter (from Nuts to You Nut Butter) because that’s what I had on hand. A pure almond butter would work great here too on its own, but I did enjoy the light depth the hazelnuts added. So if you can find an almond hazelnut mix, go for it. If not, plain almond butter will do just fine.
INGREDIENTS
LEMON SLICES 1 to 1 ½ small fresh lemons, washed
ALMOND COOKIES ½ cup white rice flour 3 tbsp almond meal 3 tbsp maple syrup 2 tbsp creamy natural almond hazelnut butter (or just almond butter) 1 tsp almond extract ⅛ tsp salt
OPTIONAL TOPPING a tbsp of coconut milk powder for dusting*
INSTRUCTIONS
Pre-heat oven to 375F. Line a small cookie sheet with parchment paper. Slice lemon(s) into rings about an ⅛” thick (you’ll need 8 good looking rings). Carefully pick out any seeds. Lay each ring flat on the prepared cookie tray and bake for approx. 15 mins. Keep an eye out to make sure the lemon slices don’t burn (as they’ll later cook even further), especially as some ovens can bake stronger than others. At this stage you basically just want to pre-cook and dehydrate them a little. Note that the thinner you slice the lemons the quicker they’ll bake, the thicker you slice them the juicier and more prominent their flavor will be). Once ready, remove the lemon slices from the oven and set aside to cool a little.
While the lemons are baking, prepare the cookies by processing all cookie ingredients in a food processor (I used the small bowl of mine) until the mixture sticks together and is at the beginning stages of forming a ball.** Gather all this dough up (I used a spoon to scoop it out of the processor) and form into a ball with your hands. Then divide this ball into 2, then divide each half into 2, then divide each quarter into 2, so that you’re left with 8 equal pieces of dough.
Line a small cookie sheet with parchment paper. Roll each piece of dough into a ball, then flatten into a disk. Place on the cookie sheet, spreading them half an inch apart. Once the lemon slices are ready, place a slice over the center of each cookie and press down to flatten the cookie further and embed the lemon slices in a little.
Bake the cookies for approximately 12 minutes until nicely golden (again, keep an eye to make sure the lemon slices don’t burn, if need be, lower the oven temperature a little if the lemon slices are thin and are browning too fast). Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.
Optional: once cool, dust the cookies lightly with some coconut milk powder. Enjoy!
Mini Cheesecakes with caramel are so easy and delicious (the base is just 3 ingredients)! This mini cheesecake recipe is excellent in flavor and texture.
Dirt Cake
Almond Coffee Cake
Hālau 'Aha Hui Lānākila 