Imagine that healing grew on trees and health sprung up as wildflowers - available at only the cost of the effort it takes to pick it! Imagine we could be healthy by just eating our way to optimal health! Imagine that your morning tea would restore your health. Imagine that the dressing you doused your salad with had all the healing power to strengthen your immune system? The ancient words of Hippocrates ring true in the 21st century; "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food". It really is that simple. It is attainable. However this post is not to argue against the medical narrative but to encourage you to take back your health.
My health journey has recently taken me hiking strange new terrain to make food - more specifically food that is also medicine! The rocky terrain has been a challenging hike as we learn how to survive off the land in ways we never imagined. If we had no more access to the modern amenities that we think are indispensable to our life and happiness, would we survive? At every opportunity I am learning about veld medicine from the locals and other invaluable resources. Recently I covered this in my introductory healing elixir Veld Oxymel. Oxymel very simply is a fermented herbal tonic. The basic ingredients are apple cider vinegar and honey with any combination of herbs or spices that you choose) The most famous oxymel is Fire Cider.
After my first Veld Oxymel I decided to tone the next Veld Oxymel down a bit by incorporating well known herbal choices. This time I have made a yummy Oxymel that is going to be used as Salad Dressing!!
We have just checked on our beehives and harvested some honey. It is delicious and will be perfect in this Oxymel. I pruned my lemon verbena which will make an interesting combination with the peaches that are now dripping off our tree. Yup! A Peachy Oxymel. But that's not all .... what healing veld medicine did I forage?
CancerBush! Sutherlandia is indigenous to South African and grows prolifically in our area. True to its name CancerBush has incredible healing powers and is used frequently by cancer patients. Its bright orange flowers are magnificent. Yesterday I was delighted to find plenty of them when we went hiking to see our waterfall after the night's rain.
My bubble was soon burst when I gleefully presented my treasures to one of the local experts; "Ah Sesbania!" she announced to my indignant splutters. What I learned is that Sesbania can be used in similar products that hemp is used for. The fiber can also be used for paper making.
However!! Medicinal Veld is my focus and this was my exciting discovery about Sesbania "All parts of the Sesbania grandiflora tree is used for its indispensable medicinal properties in traditional Ayurvedic medicines. It is beneficial in treating diarrhea, dysentery microbial infections and inflammatory diseases" WOW! Then a dilemma. I had decided on Sutherlandia. So I went foraging among my dried herbs for CancerBush.
PEACHY VELD OXYMEL:
Less than a third quantity raw organic honey
More than a third quantity ACV
The remaining third quantity is fresh lemon verbena, 2 peaches and 3 tablespoons dried Sutherlandia.
Because our honey is naturally self creaming it dissolves with difficulty. I also find it extremely sweet so I cut back but increased the ACV. In a sterilized jar I measured out the honey and ACV (apple cider vinegar) with the Sutherlandia. Then shake shake shake. Once mixed I popped in the halved peaches and lemon verbena. As an after thought - for the spicy contrast - I threw in a cayenne pepper and clove of garlic. Can't wait for that fermentation to begin!!
The reputation of CancerBush is truly impressive. I was delighted to learn that old Cape remedies made regular use of Sutherlandia to treat severe depression and even shock. Sutherlandia was used as a bitter tonic to topically treat eye infections. Apart from gaining the name CancerBush for its ability to fight cancer, Sutherlandia can also be used to treat ailments as varied as arthritis, chicken-pox, stomach complaints, bronchitis, bladder infection and even diabetes. For my purposes I included it for my growing medicinal knowledge of veld medicine. Of course, as the Peachy Veld Oxymel it will jazz up any salad with an explosion of flavour as well as boosting the immune system.
OH man, this is genius! I love how you really thoughtfully put the ingredients together and follow your intuition and your rational intelligence as well. And I love how the colours look - like they are MEANT to be together - and the extra dash of garlic at the end to make it more salad-dressingy (that's a word, right?). That's what I love so much about these oxymels - they can be used on anything and just be part of your daily diet. You watch - you're going to end up with a cupboard full of them now, bringing out tasting samples for guests! I think you could sell the veld oxymels at the market - what a cool idea that would be next to your goat soaps! I love the addition of peaches too - I can't wait til I get some fruits to do more fruity ones. Fighting the birds for the ripening raspberries now! Great post - mroe please! @riverflows
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Definitely a word! I'll use it in my next Voxymel post. I also love those colours together but I don't know that selling them at a market would be worth the foraging. The nearest one is over 300km away. Thank you for your enthusiasm @riverflows. Of course you inspired me to attempt the oxymel all those months ago...
Nice touch with the cayenne pepper and the cloves. Cloves are awesome with tooth pain, I used to chew some a lot! Beautiful pics, a big fan of Ayurvedic medecine!
Thanks. I don't like the intensity of sweet in salad dressing. The combination of flavours is perfect especially if you have a boring salad. Just to wait for the fermentation .... tick tock tick tock tick tock .... YAWN
Ahh! Preach!
Over the last decade I healed myself of an autoimmune disease by following this philosophy and I love your holistic salad dressing veld so much. You have inspired me to do a bit better in this department. I have a whole cupboard of herbs I grew and dried for the winter, but I think its time to see what's growing in the woods around me that I can nosh on too. At least a bit more than I have.
Now I am dying to know what flavor profile sutherlandia has because your healing salad dressing veld sounds so super yummy! I love the burnt orange color of the flowers!
Can you tell I adore your veld experimentation? Seriously awesome post, thanks for sharing all of this!
Very nice post on oxymels! Your salad dressing sounds wonderful! Roughly how long before it's usable?
Two weeks and should last six months. I'll keep it in the fridge once it tastes ready. My first is now a week old but still a very distinct vinegar with a dash of honey flavour
Two weeks isn't bad for a fermented product. Very cool!