Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Anise

[00:00:00] Hey y'all, welcome to this week's show. We're going to continue our series on medicinal bitter herbs but just like last week where we discussed licorice. Today's is anise. It's one that it totally depends on your taste buds. If like me you actually like the taste of licorice and anise which is incredibly similar. In fact nearly all licorice candy is flavored with anise and not

[00:00:29] actual licorice. I find it sweet. To me both licorice and anise are sweet flavors. Some people find them bitter. So I included them under bitter herbs for two reasons really. The first is that some people do consider them bitter but often they're combined with bitter herbs. Well just to change the flavor a little bit and make it a little bit more palatable. Whereas licorice though cannot be combined with ginship

[00:00:59] or andrographis or other very strongly bitter herbs because it'll actually cancel the two cancel each other out so they can neutralize each other. A little bit of anise can be. I don't know if that depends on your taste but you see a lot of bitters formula that have anise in them. Now it's just like in you know say you have like a Angostura bitters. Is it no it's Angostura? I never pronounce it but it's anise.

[00:01:29] Right. My favorite cocktail bitters are actually you know really good. They're an orange flavored bitter. They used to have chinchona in them. I don't know that they do anymore but anyway. Classic cocktail bitters. There are sweet herbs in there to kind of counter the very bitter herbs and you know that really works. But anise I guess can go either way for some people. I'm just going to put it like that. I mean if you like if you like licorice you can go.

[00:01:59] You're going to love anise. If you don't like licorice you're going to hate anise. So I'm going to throw in one wild card and we're going to talk about this a lot more in an upcoming episode. It is bugleweed and I wanted to mention it because it's in flower right now. In fact now is the time to harvest it. It's ajuga, ripens, riptens. I think there's a t in there. That means spreading. That's Latin for spreading. Ajuga is the official name. A-J-U-G-A. It is in the mint family.

[00:02:29] You know you can identify your mints because they have square stems, opposite leaves, mint-like flowers. This one is considered a weed to most people and most people try to eradicate it. I think it's wonderful. It is a very bitter herb. It is really one of the more bitter herbs. Probably the most bitter of the mint family.

[00:02:50] In fact the herbalists used to recommend it for inflammation of the liver because it is so powerfully bitter. It stimulates the liver. It helps detoxify the liver.

[00:03:03] It has a really interesting cardiotonic effect. It actually slows and strengthens the heart rate. It slows respiration. It can help with arrhythmia. It can be mildly intoxicating because of that narcotic type effect of slowing the heart rate and respiration. You eat the flowering spikes or you can make them into a tea or tincture. If you make them into a tea be sure to cover it so the essential oils don't gas off while it steeps.

[00:03:31] You know you put the herb in there. You pour simmering water over it in the cup. Put a lid on it. A saucer would be just fine. I usually just eat it because I don't mind bitter plants. You know it's no more bitter than say arugula or radicchio in a salad. You eat it maybe a sprig or two. The physiological I guess you would say result is almost like drinking a glass of wine or beer.

[00:03:55] I mean it's just like mildly relaxing but it's also quite a healthy herb. Really good to have on hand and can really come through in an emergency. Now with any herb that affects the heart rate you know you got to get the caveat that large doses could certainly be dangerous. But I just throw a couple sprigs into a salad. You know it's nice. A little salad with some milder lettuces.

[00:04:21] Maybe some green onion and feta cheese. A little cucumber and tomato. Good stuff. Really good stuff. Maybe a little vinaigrette. You know really good stuff. But it's a good herb and right now it's time to go out looking for it. But the little it really grows as sort of a ground cover. It has sort of you know oval leaves, round leaves, whatever you want to call them that grow kind of across the ground.

[00:04:47] And they will kind of vary depending if you're in shade or full sun from a dark green to a purple color. The little flowering spikes are up now. They occasionally get to six inches but they're usually more than three or four inches range. And they have little blue mint-like flowers on them. Super easy plant to identify. Really super useful. And a lot of people really don't want this herb in their yard because it kind of takes over like mints tend to do.

[00:05:14] So if you see a neighbor with some in their yard and they don't mind you harvesting some, they'll probably be really glad for you to dig some up and transplant it. That happened to me. I had a neighbor who said, you know, we've just got tons of it. Take all you want. I said, well can I dig some up? He said, dig up all of it if you want. And they were serious. So I took a couple five-gallon buckets and I just started ripping it out of the ground. Brought it. Transplanted it. Now I have plenty of it. It's a really good herb.

[00:05:42] It does have a nice detoxifying effect. You will actually, you know, when I take it, I'm not looking for the narcotic effect. I'm looking for more of the tonic effect and the digestion and the detoxifying effect. It's also good for the immune system. It is mellowing though. It's a pleasant herb. You know, it's certainly very nice. But I only eat a sprig, maybe two. And you will smell it. You smell the, you smell it in your sweat.

[00:06:08] You smell it in your urine and it's always a good sign from a detoxifying herb. Of course, the poke greens, depending on where you live, poke salad is coming up. Also detoxifying can be used the same way. You will definitely, you will notice a noticeable change in your body odor if you use poke a couple of days in a row. Even just the leaves because it flushes the lymph system. Really good thing to do in the spring. That's what our ancestors used to call a blood cleanser.

[00:06:37] Another one, juniper berries. This time of year, look around for juniper berries. Eat a few of them a day and it will also have that so-called blood cleansing effect. And these, and ramps of course, spring ramps are also said to be a blood cleanser. And you're definitely going to smell ramps. If you live in the mountains or foothills and you can get some ramps. Oh, everybody's going to smell that. But anyway, really interesting herbs. And, you know, I just want to mention those. And like I said, we'll get more into Bugle another day.

[00:07:07] I believe I even did a show of it on that subject specifically under the Herbs and Weeds book. The Medicinal Weeds of the American South, which we've covered. So, go back in the archives, look at that. And now we'll talk about anise. And as I said, to me and to many, anise is actually a very sweet spice. And it is a spice. It's a seed of the anise plant.

[00:07:35] But to some, it has a bitterness. I don't get that. But some people say licorice is bitter. Some people say anise is bitter. Totally depends on your taste buds, which you were born with. You have a certain number. You're born with it births. Some people have a few. And some people have thousands. It's totally up to heredity. But like I was saying, it is very much included in traditional bitters formulas. And in fact, it features in the Swedish bitters.

[00:08:03] The medicinal bitters cocktail that I swear by. I mean, it's my favorite bitters. Really, all of the aromatic or cocktail bitters and the old medicinal formulas, probably to this day, but at least up until 100 years ago, had anise in them. Like I said, the Anisura, a Peixote, the Sweet Vermouth.

[00:08:31] It may even be in Dry Vermouth. I'm not sure. I'd have to double check that, but I know it's in Sweet Vermouth. Many of the cordials, the traditional beverages are still very popular in Europe. Never have been quite as popular except for Dry Vermouth and a Martini. That's probably really the only one of those herbed wines that ever really caught on in America. And of course, that was all the rage in the 20s and 30s and all that.

[00:09:01] But anise features in a lot of things. One of the most interesting that I found is a Dutch beverage. It's actually called, in English, anise milk. And I don't pronounce Dutch. It's something like anise milk, you know. And it's delicious, in my opinion. It's hot milk flavored with anise. It's popular in the Netherlands and actually in Michigan, up in the Upper Peninsula, where you've got a lot of people from that part of the world. It's warming.

[00:09:30] It's calming. It's actually considered a sedative and it helps induce sleep. A lot of people grow up on as kids. It's what they're given to help them sleep. And it becomes sort of like a comforting, warm winter drink. It's really good. If you like the taste of anise, you've got to try anise milk. It's just like really nice. So, you know, I like anything that tastes like licorice.

[00:09:54] And let me just say, did you ever, are you familiar with the actress and Olympic skater Sonia Henney? Well, you're probably not. Your grandfather would have been. She was a huge movie star and Olympic skater. And in, gosh, I guess the 30s, 40s, if you ever get a chance to see the old Glenn Miller film,

[00:10:24] it was the whole Glenn Miller orchestra, right? It's called Sun Valley Serenade. She played the female role in there. I mean, whenever, okay. This is like totally off subject, obviously. But when I think of like people from that part of the world, I think about how drop-dead gorgeous she was. So, drinking a lot of anise milk sure didn't make her fat. I can tell you that much. She was amazing. The most phenomenal skater and dancer I have ever seen.

[00:10:53] And just absolutely gorgeous. And I love Glenn Miller's music. Man, I can listen to big band all the time. Love Glenn Miller. Benny Goodman. The Dorsey Brothers. Man, I love that stuff. But anyway, back to anise. The first records of anise being used medicinally are found in ancient Egypt. But most of what we know about its tradition comes from the, well, both herbalists and naturalists,

[00:11:18] people who just wrote about plants in general and farming because it was also raised as a spice, a food, you know, a food plant, from ancient Greece and Rome. And Pliny the Elder, and I have been told by people in Italy it is pronounced Pliny. I always said Pliny. It looks like Pliny to me, but it's Pliny. He was should know fewer than 61 remedies in which anise was used. Pliny the Elder. I do not have time to read all 61 of them.

[00:11:49] But I can maybe see if I can hit the highlights. He said, let's see. He said a lot. I mean, so much. But he said it was good for promoting the appetite. Good pounded, a juice of it taken sort of as an eyewash.

[00:12:16] Combined with saffron and wine. Good for cancers of the nose, believe it or not. But definitely that's how they would do the eyewash. And it was particularly good for getting rid of objects that had gotten into the eyes, he said. So like dust or whatever. Mixed with hyssop and oxymel. Good as a gargle. A cure for quincy. In combination with rose oil. Good as an injection of the ears.

[00:12:44] So good for ear inflammations and infections. Parched anise purges off phlegm from the chest. Especially if taken with honey. For a cough. Mixed with almonds. Powdered almonds and honey. Good for a cough. You'll find anise in a lot of old cough syrups and such. Taken as a drink, anise promotes sleep. And, you know, that's why it's used in the hot milk. As I said, that anise milk. It does have sort of that sedative type effect.

[00:13:13] Boy, did he write a lot. Good for dysentery. Even that's time it was used to any concoction with opium. Because opium is so bitter. It was used to make it a little more palatable. Said good for lumbago. The seed pounded of it. Pounded with mint. Was good for dropsy. Mixed with parsley. Good for women in labor. I have no idea if that's a good thing or not.

[00:13:43] He said it was good for epilepsy, of all things. I mean, it's just amazing. All the stuff he said. It was, you know. Anyway, but Diaschorides was, you know, a little more of a professional herbalist. And he said that it was pain easing. Dissolving. That means helps dissolve kidney and urinary tract stones and all that. But urinary, that means basically diuretic, makes the breath sweet.

[00:14:11] Yes, anise was a traditional, like, breath mint. I mean, really, they were really big on that in ancient Greece and Europe. Because, you know, people didn't have toothpaste and toothbrushes. And they often had some bad breath. And so they actually used a lot of herbs and spices for their breath. People have always, you know, been vain. You know, maybe that's not even vain. Maybe it's just polite. I don't know. But nobody wants to stink, I guess. It says, taken in drink, it takes away the thirst caused by dropsy.

[00:14:40] It is also good for removing the poisons of venomous creatures and gaseousness. It stops discharges of the intestines, draws down milk, and incites sexual union. Believe it or not. Okay, it was supposed to be a galactic. It means increased women's mother's milk. Also thought to be an aphrodisiac. Hey, if you were around Sonia Henning, you probably wouldn't even need it. But inhale into the nostrils. It quietens the headache.

[00:15:10] And yeah, it has some aromatherapy type aspects. Definitely helps with a headache. Pound it into small pieces, dropped in the ears with rose oil. It helps heal the cracks in them. Maybe, I don't know. Cracks. I've never had a crack in my ear. I don't know what he's talking about. I'm thinking he's talking inflammations. The best is new. Yeah. We'll get on to, we'll move on here. It was one, anise was one of the herbs that was ordered by the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne

[00:15:40] to be grown in gardens for medicinal use and for food in his document, the Capitulaire. This is what started a lot of the physic gardens, the monastic medicine of the Holy Roman Empire. Christianity was spread throughout Europe, not by conquest, believe it or not, but regardless what your liberal history teacher told you once in college. No, it was spread throughout Europe by monks and nuns and priests who would establish free

[00:16:09] hospitals, orphanages, and schools. And the Benedictines were all big on teaching people agriculture. They really lifted most of Central and Eastern Europe and, well, a lot of Western Europe too, out of starvation, teaching them actually the Roman practices of farming. And, you know, that was part of it. And the Capitulaire, the emperor said, this is what you need to grow in your garden because you have to care for the sick. That's now your role.

[00:16:38] That's your job. And if you look at the Order of St. Benedict, when he established the Benedictine monastic order, it said, first care for the sick. That was their primary. I mean, they had to, they had all kinds of prayers they had to say. They had all kinds of things they had to do in church. They had to go to mass daily and, you know, all kinds of religious duties. After that, first care for the sick. And, you know, a lot of those monastic hospitals are still standing.

[00:17:06] You can go tour them in Europe today and it's amazing how sophisticated their medicine really was. In the monastic tradition, we get to German folk medicine. And this is much later. This is like 1890s. So, Father Nape said, anise, like fennel, is to be recommended highly. Its operation on gases or winds is far superior to that of fennel. In most cases, both remedies are mixed together. That's true.

[00:17:33] We often contain combined fennel with anise and it's very good for the stomach, especially indigestion and gas on the stomach. And it also has some antispasmodic qualities. It helps with intestinal cramps and such. He says, the oils of anise and fennel can be obtained from a chemist shop. 1890s, he's talking about pharmacists and good luck getting them in America in a pharmacy today. You're going to have to order that online.

[00:17:58] So, he said, well, he said you could use the oil and it would be a little stronger. Of course it would. Father Nape, well, his protege, Brother Aloysius, recommended anise for indigestion, intestinal cramps, wind or gas, headache, dizziness to improve and increase lactation, abdominal gripe,

[00:18:21] that's cramping, constipation to dissolve phlegm, and helps with asthma and good for dysentery. Now, in fact, in the Polish tradition, Sophie Hotteroik-Snapp says that the herb was brought to Poland by Benedictine monks and grown in monastery gardens, as well as the gardens of somebody with a Polish name. He must have been a king. I'm going to try it. Kazimierz.

[00:18:52] I don't speak Polish. Sorry. Many times I've said I love the culture. I love the food. Again, beautiful women. Absolutely gorgeous. But Polish is a language I don't think I could ever master. But this guy must have been named Kazimierz the Great. And he must have been a king in the 1300s, 1310 to 1370.

[00:19:17] As an herbalist of his time noted that here in our more delightful gardens, it begins to be seen more frequently. And mentioned that there were two types of anise. One was helpful for women and the other for men. I'm really not sure about that. In later centuries, it was grown in the region. And, you know, one could have been anise and the other fennel because they do smell a lot alike. You know, I don't know. And the anise would have been the more feminine because it does increase lactation.

[00:19:45] In folk medicine, anise was used for stomach ailments, mainly in distention. It also reduces temperatures and acts as a diuretic. Helps with fever, in other words, and acts as a diuretic. It's expectorant and even an anti-asthmatic. Now, that's because until recent times when we've introduced a lot of bad chemicals into our environment, a lot of plastics and petrochemicals. And stuff that our ancestors had no experience with.

[00:20:14] And we put a whole lot of sugar in our diets. And artificial flavors and colorings and all that kind of stuff that RFK Jr. keeps talking about. Most asthma now is inflammatory. It's not spasmodic. In the time of our ancestors, most asthma was spasmodic. In fact, inflammatory asthma was rarely ever discussed in medical books. It must have been rather rare.

[00:20:44] Inflammatory asthma is essentially an allergy. Spasmodic asthma can be caused by an allergy. Or it can be caused by trauma, nervous excitement, various things. Anything that could throw your lungs into spasm. And so antispasmodic herbs were used for asthma. They're still effective. They still help a lot with inflammatory asthma because the inflammation will cause the lungs to go into spasm.

[00:21:13] But that's not the root cause. So, yes. Anise is anti-asthmatic in that case. Mixed with lard and swallowwort, which is vicinotoxicum. I'm not familiar with that plant at all. It served as a salve for lice and nits. The oil of anise was rubbed on the body to repel troublesome insects, especially mosquitoes. It's a very good insect repellent.

[00:21:41] In ancient times, it served to flavor liquor and improved the taste of medicine and was an additive to dishes difficult to digest. And, yes, a lot of old recipes do include anise for that very reason. In Russia, anise, according to Igor Vilevich Zevin, was one of the first herbs accepted by Russian herbalists from the southeastern herbal traditions. Anise has been very common in herbal remedies in Russia since the beginning of the 19th century

[00:22:10] when a landlord began cultivating it in the province of somewhere I can't pronounce. Folk herbalists recommended adding a few crushed seeds to a cup of hot milk a half an hour before bedtime to promote a restful sleep. That's the anise milkin, or however they pronounce it. And it is really darn tasty, I have to admit. Anise seeds promote the production of milk in nursing mothers, and they also help alleviate painful menstrual cramps.

[00:22:38] So, yeah, it is a good woman's herb. So, anise spread throughout the spice routes and eventually became popular medicine in England. And Girard, in 1597, wrote about it. And again, he said, it doth engender the milk. Remember, it's Elizabethan English, so I'll try to simplify it as I can. He said, the seed wasteth and consumeth the wind. Or more plainly, he also said, it is good against belching.

[00:23:07] There you have it. It's good against belching. And gripings of the belly, it provoketh urine and maketh abundance of milk. And stirreth up bodily lusts. So, if you need to stir up bodily lust, try some anise. I doubt it's going to work. But you can give it a shot. Makes your breath smell better, so that might help. So, again, he said, it's good for lask or bloody flux. Or even white flux, it's leucorrhea.

[00:23:35] So, we're talking, you know, anything from bloody diarrhea to a discharge. Being chewed, it makes the breast sweet. It is good for them that are short-winded and quenches thirst. And I'm rather short-winded today because of all the pollen. I wish I had some anise. Good for those that have dropsy. I don't, he said, it helpeth the yuxing or hiccups. I think that means hiccups. No, I'm thinking it means hiccups.

[00:24:04] So, that would be both when taken in wine or just eaten dry. And the smell of doth there also prevail very much. So, I guess he thought smelling anise would help with hiccups. Antispasmodic, it would definitely help taken internally. Taken with honey cleanseth the breast very much from phlegmatic superfluity. So, from phlegm, from congestion.

[00:24:32] Given to young children and infants that have the following sickness. So, again, by 1500s, they were still saying it was good for epilepsy, essentially. But I don't know how, well, it could be antispasmodic. Okay. Probably wouldn't be very strong, though. Let's see. The Irish tradition, John Kehoe, this is 1700s, said it is an aid in expelling wind from the body. And to prevent convulsions.

[00:24:59] Given to infants in a hot feed to prevent convulsions and gripes of wind. Okay. Let's see. Miss Grieve, 1930s, gives us a lot of history about where it came from, how it got into Europe, how it spread, how it was valued in Virgil's time as a spice, all the wines it was added to. I mean, I love this kind of stuff, but I'm not going to bore you with it.

[00:25:26] Good for infantile catara, infantile congestion. Stimulative and carmenative, that means help sell the stomach. Antisoyl is good at antiseptic. She said mix it with the mint of peppermint or wintergreen. Oh, and also good to repel insects, especially when mixed with oil sassafras. That would be very pleasant. And yeah, I can see how that would work. We'll get up to modern use. Plants for a Future said,

[00:25:57] Anise seed has a delicious, sweet, licorice-like flavor and is common use as a very safe herbal remedy. It is well-suited for all age groups from children to the elderly. However, its use has declined in recent years with the advent of cheaper substitutes. That's right. Most anise now is synthetic. If you get anise flavoring, probably not going to have any anise in it.

[00:26:21] So, it's kind of weird that anise is a substitute for licorice, but most of what is now used is a substitute for anise. You know, you can grow this in your garden. I mean, it shouldn't be expensive or hard to get. I don't really understand why people would rather use chemicals than a natural product, especially when it costs you nothing just to save some seeds and grow a couple of plants. I mean, this is ridiculous.

[00:26:46] But anyway, I'm not here to explain how and why the world works. Now, it does have a, the essential oil now, has a slightly estrogenic quality. Another reason why it increases milk and it helps with the menstrual cramps. It is slightly, mildly estrogenic. And it says that this effect may substantiate the herbs' use as a stimulant of sexual drive and of breast milk production. Yep.

[00:27:11] But, the essential oil should not be used internally, absolutely, and never used by pregnant women. The seed is antiseptic, antispasmodic, aromatic, carminative, digestive, expectorant, pectoral, meaning it's actually kind of good for the heart and chest. That can be, that can be heart and lungs, really. Stimulant, stomatic, and tonic.

[00:27:32] It is of great value when taken internally in the treatment of asthma, whooping cough, coughs, and pectoral affections, as well as digestive disorders such as wind, bloating, colic, nausea, and indigestion. Externally, it is used to treat infestations of lice, scabies, as a chest rub, and in cases of bronchial disorders. A strong decoction of the seeds can be applied externally to swollen breasts or to stimulate the flow of milk. Anise is really great.

[00:28:02] It was widely popular in the ancient world. It was one of the main spices. It was so popular, it was even used as a currency. If you were in, say you were in Roman territory and you had to pay the taxes, you could pay it with anise. So, I mean, you could actually just grow a few plants and collect the seeds and pay it with anise. It's amazing, isn't it? Pythagoras wrote of its virtues in the 6th century BC. Hippocrates recommended for cough.

[00:28:32] Pliny said it removed all bad udders from the mouth and could prevent bad dreams. So, you can see why it was so important. And here's one of the more interesting things. I said, you know, you pay taxes with it in rum. It was used in a lot of desserts in rum. It was used in a lot of savory foods, too. But it was used in a lot of desserts. But they came up with this little cake to follow a heavy meal. And it was an anise-flavored cake. And it seems that that's actually the origin of the wedding cake.

[00:29:00] So, wedding cakes used to be made flavored with anise. And that would be an aphrodisiac as well. And there was a lot of, you know, potential lore attached to that. So, now we hardly ever use it. It's a shame. Because anise has been a foundational herb for everything from cakes, cookies, candies, bitters formulas, cough drops or cough sweets as they used to call them,

[00:29:30] aperitifs, digestifs, wines. And, yeah, I mean, it's like really one of the most important herbs in history. And you could spend just hours, days just going through the history of it. And so many great recipes that use anise in the kitchen, not even medicinally. But definitely one to look into, definitely one to look into growing.

[00:29:58] And, you know, there's no need to use a synthetic product when you could just grow it yourself. So, y'all have a good one. I'm going to leave it there. And I will talk to you next time. The information in this podcast is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition. Nothing I say or write has been evaluated or approved by the FDA. I'm not a doctor. The U.S. government does not recognize the practice of herbal medicine,

[00:30:27] and there is no governing body regulating herbalists. Therefore, I'm really just a guy who studies herbs. I'm not offering any advice. I won't even claim that anything I write or say is accurate or true. I can tell you what herbs have been traditionally used for. I can tell you my own experience and if I believe in herbs that help me. I cannot nor would I tell you to do the same. If you use an herb anyone recommends, you are treating yourself. You take full responsibility for your health.

[00:30:52] If humans are individuals and no two are identical, what works for me may not work for you. You may have an allergy, a sensitivity, an underlying condition that no one else even shares and you don't even know about. Be careful with your health. By continuing to listen to my podcast or read my blog, you agree to be responsible for yourself, do your own research, make your own choices, and not to blame me for anything ever. Thank you.