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All About Thyme
A Weekly Calendar of Times & Seasonings
Celebrating the Mysteries, Magic, and Myths of Herbs
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Susan Wittig Albert
November 20-26, 2006
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Welcome!
Welcome to the second issue of All About Thyme, a weekly celebration of herbs, spices, and the changing seasons. All About Thyme is all about the plants that have given us pleasure, eased our pain, seasoned our food, and fed our souls. It's all about growing, cooking, using, crafting, and enjoying. And it's all about our calendar, too—about the many ways that herbs and plants have connected our human lives to the changing times and seasons.
You're receiving this issue (and the next) because you've subscribed to the MysteryPartners newsletter. After that, if you want to continue reading, you'll need to click on the "subscribe" box below, or at MysteryPartners.com.
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This Week's Special Days
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- Nov. 20: Universal Children's Day
- Nov. 21: National Gingerbread Day
- Nov. 23: Thanksgiving Day, also National Eat a Cranberry Day
- Nov. 25: Beginning of the traditional Celtic Month of Elder
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Respect Your Elder Mother
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If you chop an elder tree or fell it, or if you want blossoms or fruit, you must say "Please, Mother Elder, may I have..."
—Roy Vickery, Oxford Dictionary of Plant-Lore
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The elder (Sambucus sp.) is a familiar shrub that flourishes in ditches and marshy areas. In many cultures, it has long been held sacred. And while it is a valuable plant, using any part of it without asking permission was courting trouble, for the tree was the dwelling of the “Elder Mother” (Elle or Hylde-moer in Scandinavian and Danish myth), who was deeply offended if any of her trees were harmed.
But the elder must have been generous with her permissions, for humans have put every part of this this plant, from root to twig-tip, to good use. The flowers, roots, leaves, and bark have been brewed, stewed, steeped, pickled, bundled, and minced, serving a wide variety of medicinal purposes. Modern research suggests that elder extract is effective for coughs, colds, and flu. Elder branches (often said to be poisonous) have been used to witch water, and twigs were often hung over the door to keep witches away. A hollowed-out elder stick could be turned into a Pan pipe, and an elder branch buried with a corpse fended off vampires,
Early colonists found the American elder just as generous. They turned the flowers into cordials, ales, wine, and beer, and and battered and fried them as fritters. They used the berries (often called "the Englishman's grape") in sauces, jelly, and pies. Here are two traditional recipes. If you pick the elderberries, be sure to say please first and thank-you afterward. Your Elder Mother will appreciate it!
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Elderberry Sauce (wonderful with leftover turkey!)
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1 onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
8 oz. fresh elderberries
10 peppercorns
6 whole cloves
3 bay leaves
1 tsp. powdered ginger
1 cup claret wine
1 quart chicken or turkey stock, defatted
1 teaspoon salt
Saute onions in the butter. Add elderberries, peppercorns, cloves, bay leaves, and ginger. Saute another 3-4 minutes; add claret. Reduce by 75 percent. Add stock and salt and cook over low heat for 30 minutes. Remove peppercorns, cloves, and bay leaves. Puree the berry mixture in a blender, strain, and serve with turkey. Makes about 3 cups sauce.
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Elderberry Pie
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Pastry for a two-crust pie
2½ cups stemmed fresh elderberries or reconstituted dry berries
½ cup sugar
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. (large pinch) salt
2 Tbsp. flour
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
Line a pie pan with pastry and fill with elderberries. Mix sugar, nutmeg, salt, and flour together and sprinkle over berries. Add lemon juice. Cover with top crust. Bake in very hot oven (450 degrees) 10 minutes; reduce temperature to moderate (350 degrees) and bake 30 minutes longer.
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Elder Vinegar. Put dryed Elder flowers into Stone or double Glass Bottles, fill them up with good Wine Vinegar, and set them up in the sun or by the Fire till their Virtue is extracted.
—The Receipt Book of John Nott, Cook to the Duke of Bolton, 1723
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Books to Read
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Who's China Bayles?
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She's the beloved fictional herbalist in Susan Wittig Albert's popular mystery series, set in Pecan Springs TX. For more about her books, visit MysteryPartners.com.
For more about herbs and the passing seasons, read China Bayles' Book of Days.
For more news and notes from Pecan Springs, read China's blog.
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Please forward this newsletter to anyone interested in mysteries, herbs, and gardening.
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To read this e-letter on our website, click here: mysterypartners.com/dayletters/061120.html
This newsletter is a publication of Susan Wittig Albert and it is provided free, via e-mail, to anyone, worldwide. ©2006 Susan Albert
Feel free to forward this newsletter to friends and colleagues with appropriate credit to Susan Albert.
This newsletter is designed, written, and edited by Susan Wittig Albert & Peggy Moody.
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email: salbert@tstar.net, webmistress@mysterypartners.com
web: mysterypartners.com
Susan's blog: susanalbert.typepad.com/lifescapes
China Bayles' blog: susanalbert.typepad.com/pecanspringsjournal
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