The Magic of Dry Fruit and Spices With Healthy Remedies and Tasty Recipes

Book excerpt: The Magic of Dry Fruit and Spices With Healthy Remedies and Tasty Recipes Table of Contents Introduction Dates The Hot and Cold Nature of a Date Weight Gain through Dates Date Seeds to Heal Wounds Suffering from Asthma? Multifarious Winter Ailments Cure Cashew Nuts Memory Enhancer Digestive Problems Cashew ice cream How To Make Coconut Cream And Coconut Milk How to Make traditional “Khoya” Cumin Seeds Cumin- water Suffering from Hemorrhoids? Suffering from Mild Fever? Suffering from Infected Skin Ailments – Including Acne? High Blood Pressure Remedy Conclusion Author Bio Introduction Being an avid botanist and herbal knowledge seeker since childhood, and later with a Degree in Natural Sciences, – Botany And Zoology foremost-I was happy to find that most of the plants, which I knew growing in my different gardens or in the woods just outside the boundary wires of our houses, nearly every plant had some medical, culinary or beauty use, coming down from the ages. The first medicinal compendium in the East was written more than 5000 years ago in India and before that, in China. In the West, also Western Wise men , especially in Greece, more than 3000 years ago began noting down the knowledge of the nature of plants and they are medicinal value and remedies, taught to them by their teachers and masters. One blesses the time, dedication, energy and effort taken in writing down all this knowledge, because in prehistoric times, all this knowledge was passed down through word of mouth. And most of it got lost because nobody had any visible and readable records of that knowledge. But the moment human beings got to know about writing materials like clay tablets, wax tablets, dried palm leaves and papyri as well as paper in China, this knowledge was preserved for the generations to come. We just needed to interpret it, and use it in the best way of which we knew. Most of this knowledge, when read from a scientific viewpoint is scoffed as quack remedies and sheer silly ignorance. I remember one of my acquaintances scoffing about an ancient Egyptian remedy, in which Egyptian grandmothers used to apply a paste of moldy bread, to a wound in order to cure it. That was done 4000 years ago. My sophisticated 21st-century totally scientifically minded friend shuddered at this idea full of ignorance, but what could you expect from such barbarians. When I told her that this remedy had passed down through the ages and was still in use, to cure infections. In 16th century Russia, every house had a moldy bread culture. Any bread, catching a mold would be put in a glass utensil, in which there was a little bit of water and some more moldy bread. And this culture was allowed to flourish. Anybody suffering from any cuts and wounds were immediately bandaged after the wound was washed, and treated to a moldy bread paste. When I told her that that same moldy bread was the basis of penicillin and other powerful antibiotics, discovered by Alexander Fleming in the 20th century, she blinked. These are the penicillins and sulfa drugs, which are being used by modern-day doctors. In the same way, she was equally surprised to know that the Gauls used to go to war, with huge quantities of fresh moss. The moment they suffered from wounds while fighting those Romans, those Vikings, those Juts, Firbolgs and perhaps even those Picts, -but not the Tuatha Danaan-they immediately scooped up a handful of moss, squeezed it, tied it on to the wound, bandaged it with a piece of any cloth or rope to keep it in place and continued fighting on.