Sherry

Simply because sherry is mentioned several times I thought I'd do a post on how sherry is made.

What is sherry?

I was surprised to find out that sherry is actually a type of wine. Though, if I'd thought about cooking sherry, this wouldn't have been a surprise. It is originated from Spain and there are several different types of sherry that range from pale to dark, as with most other drinking alcohols.

By Trabajo propio - Own work, GFDL

Sherry is a fortified wine, which means that after the initial fermentation is complete, grape spirits are added to bring the alcohol content up to 15-17% prior to aging. Dependent upon this final alcohol content is whether or not a layer of flor will develop thus preventing oxidation or not. If flor develops then a pale-colored final product is had, but if it does not, then slight oxidation is allowed to happen, producing a darker final product.

Development of the flor can be seen through this clear front.

By El Pantera - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

All sherries are initially dry due to fortification taking place after fermentation, unlike with other beverages, such as port wine, where fortification takes place part way through fermentation, thus retaining some of the natural sugars.

There are currently three varieties of grapes used to produce sherry. Prior to an insect infestation there were many, many more varieties used. These grapes are Palomino, Pedro Ximénez, and Muscatel. Palomino is very bland or neutral which lends itself to being easy enhanced in the sherry-making process, which is a desirable attribute. Pedro Ximénez is very sweet. On top of being very sweet, the grapes are usually dried for two days to enhance the sweetness by concentrating the sugars. Moscatel is similar to Pedro Ximénez but not used as often.

Sherry is blended in a system called solera. This is varying ages of sherry blended so that the final product does not have a particular vintage year. The solera system is a series of three to nine barrels used to blend new and old wines. New wine is placed in the first barrel and aged a certain amount of time, then some of the new wine is transferred into a barrel of older wine in the next cask down, using specific instruments called the canoa and rociador in the solera system so as not to disturb the flor. Solera is literally stacking with the youngest on top and oldest on bottom.

So there you have an ever so brief description of sherry and why Frank could only tolerate two glasses max!

Fionn and the Feinn

It is not known if Fionn was a real person whose actions have been overlaid with exaggerations and myths or if he is completely made up to form an epic tale, along the lines of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Feinn are actually troops, literally translated. Fionn was the leader of one of the groups of the Feinn.

Fionn seems to be the third leader in a succession of leaders of a group of Feinn. First his father, Cumhal, then Goll of the Clan Morna whom was Cumhal's opponent, then later Fionn.

Fionn translates to mean "fair." His young boyhood tales are told in a narrative by the name of The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn. There are many, many tales concerning him.

One of the folktales attributed to Fionn is his gain of supernatural clairvoyance through burning his thumb and placing it in his mouth while cooking the salmon of knowledge meant for another. But because he unintentionally ate some of the salmon, Fionn gained the knowledge instead. This would happen whenever he would place his thumb against his tooth. This is a similar story found in many other places all over the world, even if slightly different.

One of the tales has Fionn as an Irish giant and the Giant's Causeway is attributed to him and a rival Scottish giant, Benandonner. The Isle of Man and Leogh Neagh are also attributed to Fionn (Finn McCool) as he scooped up dirt (forming the crater for Ireland's largest lake) and throwing it at Benandonner where it landed in the sea forming Isle of Man.

Here is a little video that may be of interest ..... VIDEO .... it's of a possible Finn (Fionn) McCool sighting. This may be the type of thing Mrs. Baird was referring to when she mentioned that she had been to see the Two Brothers stone. Or perhaps it was the Walking Stones of Orkney she was referencing since she said she had been up north to see them. For the stones referred to as brothers are the Sueno's Stone located in Forres, east of Inverness, and Brother's Stones south of Inverness near St. Boswells. And then there is the possibility that it is a made up spot as is Craigh na Dun! The Scottish Highlands Folklore itself lends to this possibility among fictional literature.

There are so many different variations and separate tales altogether concerning Fionn, that it is hard to sift through them all. If you have a great interest in learning more, please visit Celtic Culture Blog >> Celtic Mythology for an easier to read accounting of the various stories about Fionn and the Feinn and National Geographic's Giant's Causeway of County Antrim.

The Giant's Causeway

County Antrim, Ireland

and Fingal's Cave, Isle of Staffa, Scotland

Sweet broom

During the walk back from the pub with Mrs. Baird, Claire mentions Lamb's ear and Cinquefoil in bloom and Sweet Broom about to burst forth with bloom.

Genista racemosa

As it turns out Sweet Broom is not edible and not medicinal. However, it has fragrant yellow blooms and apparently used to be used as an actual broom! Just about all of the broom plants used to be used as brooms.

So if you would like to have a fragrant border of woody shrubs in a somewhat dry area, then this is the plant for you.

Cinquefoil

This is the second plant mentioned during Frank's and Claire's walk with Mrs. Baird after leaving the pub!

Potentilla erecta

Also known as Common Tormentil, Five Finger blossom or grass, Barren Strawberry, and Blood Root (Bavarian).

Cinquefoils are holarctic or almost exclusive to the cool to cold regions of the world.

The cinquefoil, P. erecta, which is specific to the Scottish Highlands has been used for inflammation and gastrointestinal disorders. In fact, research is being done on its safety and efficacy on disorders such as ulcerative colitis. Other species of cinquefoil, P. discolor and P. mutlifida are used in Chinese medicine for diabetes treatment. Obviously, Claire would be limited to using P. erecta.

Potentilla spp. roots, or actually their rhizomes, are used as an astringent due to unusually high tannin levels for an herbaceous plant. A decoction can be used as a mouthwash for loose teeth, spongy gums, thrush, and periodontal disease as well as can be put on infections, sores, and rashes. It can be taken as an aid for dysentery and diarrhea as well as for fevers and weakness (debility). Powdered root/rhizome can be used to stop bleeding. Fresh juice mixed with honey relieve and relax sore throats and coughs.

In beauty regimens, an infusion of the leaves can be used in a lotion for skin cleansing and soothing. It is an ingredient in many anti-wrinkle creams.

Other uses include using the roots as a red dye for leather and to make a bitter herbal liqueur called Blutwurz, which means "Blood Root" - not be confused for Sanguinaria canadensis which is also called Blood Root.

As with the other herbs covered thus far, the young shoots may be eaten raw in a salad or used as a pot vegetable.

Interestingly, cinquefoil was used in many recipes for magic. One such recipe called "Witches' Ointment" called for the juice of five finger grass, smallage, and wolfsbane to be mixed with the fat of children dug up from their graves and added to fine wheat flour. It was also used in many love potions - likely due to the root's red color.

The cinquefoil is used on the Scottish Clan Hamilton's arms of chief. 

Cinquefoil; P. erecta

Lamb's ear

Claire and Frank are walking down the street with Mrs. Baird after visiting the pub, with Frank swishing a stick through the roadside weeds - which Claire identifies in her thoughts: lamb's ear, cinquefoil, and sweet broom .... this post will be about lamb's ear!

In the book, versus the televised version, Frank and Claire are in Inverness near Beltane, not Samhain, thus why flowers are just beginning to bloom!

Stachys byzantina

Also known as woolly hedgenettle and synonymous with Stachys olympica and Stachys lanata

Grown often in children's gardens for it is easy to grow and fun to touch. It is often used as an edging plant in gardens. The flowers are pollinator-friendly (big plus!) so use this as an opportunity to teach children how to be around bees harmoniously. If you yourself do not know how, ask a local beekeeper or send me a message. I'm a beekeeper who is allergic to bees, yet I can walk through my hives without a bee suit on without fear.

This soft little plant combats Staphylococcus aureus. (That's the dreaded staph infection, y'all!) Even to that which is resistant to vancomycin. S. byzantina is quite useful against gram positive bacteria which is comforting since so many are becoming resistant to man-made drugs. This is likely due to singling out constituents rather than using the whole plant as nature intended in which multiple constituents work harmoniously together making a complete "drug" where man-made drugs are incomplete. This leaves open the door for infectious diseases to become resistant. Thankfully, when these missing constituents are used in the form they were intended, they tend to overcome the resistant varieties.

S. byzantina is anti-microbial seeing as how it's properties include being anti-bacterial, antiseptic, and anti-inflammatory. For these reasons, the fuzzy leaves make good wound bandaging when needed. They tend to help blood clot faster on top of being absorbent like a bandage.

Other uses listed by Fig & Honey include: infusing bruised leaves to make an eye wash for pink eye and sties; a tea, which apparently has a slight pineapple flavor, for sore throats and mouths, diarrhea, fevers, internal bleeding, and weakness in the liver and heart; bruised leaves (to release juices) can be put on bee stings, hemorroids, and used postpartum to reduce swelling.

Young, tender leaves may be eaten raw in a salad or may be lightly steamed as greens.

A camping tip: leaves may be used instead of toilet paper and dried leaves can be used as fire tinder! Suburban Stoneage found some pretty unique uses for our sweet little plant. This one seems to be another in which it's invasiveness may come in handy simply due to how much one can use it for! I know I'll be giving it a go for cleaning my chicken waterers.

S. byzantina is a perennial herb, considered an evergreen even though it may 'die back' some in the winter, in which new growth is regenerated from the crown. Flowering takes place in late-spring/early summer with small purple flowers on a stalk.

If you have problems with deer or rabbits, you'll be happy to hear that according to The Spruce, S. byzantina is deer-resistant and the flowers are rabbit-proof! 

 

Plant Press versus Hanging

What's the difference and what difference does it make?

A plant press flattens out a specimen for preservation while essentially blotting away all liquids.
Hanging allows plant materials to dry while preserving much of the volatile oils which are of great medicinal value.

So the big question becomes what are your goals for a particular plant? If you simply want to preserve a plant for display - whether for a project or your own personal pleasure, then a plant press is the way to go. However, if you desire to use a plant medicinally then hanging is the way to go.

Guess what! You can make your own plant press and, of course, you can hang your own plants! Here is a set of instructions to build a plant press yourself ...

American Museum of Natural History's How to Build Your Own Plant Press curriculum

An example of pressed plants for display.

To hang plants, it is even more simple ... simply loosely twine string around the lower stems and secure upside down to a rafter/beam or string line or drying rack until completely dried. Some examples are:

Now, Claire had been using books to press her specimens. To do that it would look similar to this...

Notice how the coloring of the plant material stains the pages though. This is why if you need to use a book that you should put the plant between paper towels, newspaper, or some other paper that doesn't matter should it be ruined.

Have fun and be sure to let me know if you do any pressing of drying!

Brandy-and-Splash

I must admit defeat here .... I cannot locate anything specifically as brandy-and-splash :((
However, it does seem to be that it is brandy with a splash of club soda! Oh I could be totally wrong and I'll gladly take correction if someone can not only correct me but give me a source (a book, a magazine, a website, etc).

Lager-and-Light

What exactly is a lager-and-light or light-and-lager as it is also called?

I'll tell you what was in my mind when I first read it but don't laugh! First, everyone was down at the pub. Second, I know what lager is. So I assumed it was a pint of lager and a cigar or cigarette lol I was on the right track but not exactly close to what a lager-and-light is.

As it turns out, it is a bottle of light ale and a half pint of lager in a standard pint glass. Interesting. Easy as this seems to be to order, it apparently isn't so easy to receive! There are several variations of what one might receive though generally in the same vicinity of one another. For instance:

- a bottle of light ale and a half of a half pint because they used a half pint glass

- a bottle of light ale and a nearly full pint of lager

- a full pint of lager

and several other varieties.

I found a list of possibile variations here at A Light and Lager. Too bad this is the only post. I was getting ready to settle in and read about his light and lager adventures.

Since I couldn't read about his light and lager adventures, I decided to see what is the difference between and ale and a lager. The Beer Store has a great little break down of ales, lagers, and more! Please click the link and read the article for much more information.

Ales are a top-fermentation brew, brewed at cellar temperatures. They are darker than lagers and more full-bodied with a variety of individual character to each. Ales can come in many varieties including Abbey Ales, Bitters, Milds, Nut Browns, and Pale Ales to name a few.

Lagers are bottom-fermented stored at near freezing temperatures for months. Longer storing times gives them a smoother finish. They can range from sweet to bitter and pale to dark.

If you have experience with lager-and-lights, leave a comment telling of your experience!

Ales

Lagers

Photo from Duck & Drake

Blood of a Black Cock

Ahhhh, the superstition of making appeasement. According to Frank, nowhere is there such a deep rooted mix between Roman Catholicism and Pagan superstition as there is in the Highlands of Scotland. In the book, the vicar, Reginald Wakefield, explained to Frank that many in the Highlands believed that the war came to them because they had been leaving off making appeasements to the earth spirits, such as making sacrifices when new homes were built. Such as it were, immediately after the war, residents took to remedying such a situation. Now let's take a look see about the real superstition and what may or may not have happened in Inverness, Scotland.

Black cocks are ill-omened and often associated with sacrifice, according to Whimsy's Superstitions and Old Wives Tales page. So we've got that so far.

Then there is the tale of Saint Odhran who is said to have sacrificed himself to be buried under the foundation wall of a chapel. It is said that every morning the workers would come to see all of their work undone. A voice told Columba that the chapel would not be able to be finished until a living sacrifice was buried under the foundation. After Odhran sacrificed himself, the workers progress was no longer impeded. Sometimes, due to similarity in name and story, Odhran and Odran are mixed up. Odran is the first Irish Christian Martyr who also sacrificed himself to further the work of another Saint.

Now while there is evidence that humans were buried as foundation sacrifices, it long pre-dates any contact with Rome. Many of the stories of human sacrifice described by the Greeks and Romans may have been exaggerated out of disdain for the "Celtic barbarians." If you would like to read more about sites with human remains found at foundation walls, check out Archaeology magazine's article entitled "Celtic Sacrifice."

Apparently, in the early AD years, human sacrifice began to be frowned upon and was then replaced with animal sacrifice. Even that has become less and less favored as a combination of Christianity and simple lack of religious belief has spread.

Groutweed

Groutweed aka Goutweed

Aegopodium podagaria 'Variegatum' 

Also known as Goutweed, Bishop's weed, and Ground Elder among a few other local common names.

There is some confusion on the web concerning this herb as it is called Goutweed in 99% of references. However, I found a reference in the book Zone 5 by Robert, David, and Steven Waugh, in which it was called Groutweed with the scientific name of Aegopodium podagaria which is also the same scientific name as Goutweed. Herein, this is a lesson right off the bat that I teach all my herbal students - one can never rely on the common name for anything, so learn the scientific names!

Grout/Goutweed is more commonly used for gout and arthritis. The anti-inflammatory portion of the plant however, does lend itself useful to treat hemmorhoids as well. This is noted in Handbook of Medicinal Herbs, Second Edition by James Duke, at Mountain Herb Estate and a few other little sites.

Here are a couple of photos of our little Aegopodium podagaria. 

Use of Aegopodium podagaria has fallen out of favor in modern times even though medicinally it still provides the same services. Leaves and roots are boiled together then used as a poultice on the affected area. This is good for arthritis, gout, sciatica, hemorrhoids, and the like. Taken internally Aegopodium podagaria acts as a diuretic and mild sedative.

Young leaves used to be eaten the same as spinach, providing they were picked prior to flowering when the leaves would begin to turn bitter. In fact, it is said to pick the youngest shoots before the leaves have even unfolded fully. The stem is also as much the vegetable more so than the leaves. Frying them up in olive oil the same way one would sauté spinach leaves is said to be the best way to bring out the flavor. Considering this plant is so invasive, one could potentially have a never-ending supply of greens to live off of.

The name Bishop's weed or Bishop's mantel came into play because it was found around monastery's quite often and is still found around monastic ruins. This is because monks used it medicinally quite often and is even referred to in monastic writings such as Phsyica by Hildegard von Bingen who was named Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.