November Herb Walk

How about a little herb walk around my house? In November, so late in the year? Come to think of it, there are still some plants we could look at. Be fun.

On with my wellies and raincoat, and out into the streaming Atlantic drizzle I go. With my beautiful dog tried and true.

There's a fine stand of watercress, Nasturtium officionalis, bright and green, in its rushing stream. I pick it often, and watch how it thrives as we move into the winter. The leaves so vivid, the stalk so delicate, yet happier and happier as this late season advances, when so many other plants have died or gone underground. A crucifer, like broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage and mustard, it has sulphur compounds that are great for detoxification and cancer. It's loaded with nutrients, so is good for building up the blood. Consider for someone weak and deficient. It really works in salads and sandwiches. Cream of watercress soup is a luxury; try with sauteed onion, cream, bouillon and a base of barley.

Two flowerheads of red clover, Trifolium praetense, nearby - surprising this late in the year. Red clover is in the legume family, along with alfalfa, soybeans (and tofu), beans, peas, lentils. The legumes are a fine source of the phytosteroid complexes such as genistein, beta sitosterol, daidzein. You'll see them extracted and sold on the shelves of chemists and health stores. Phytosteroids have a moderating influence on the sex hormones. Consider intense PMS - very swollen breasts, a lot of menstrual problems, very irritable - the lady's hormones are out of whack, she is in a state of excess. For her the phytosteroids balance, and she should take red clover in the first half of the cycle. Red clover is rich in nutrients and, like watercress or nettle leaf, it can be used for the depleted and deficient. Oh, and it has tiny amounts of coumarin, a blood-thinner, which is why we herbalists take terror and contraindicate it for people on the anticoagulant Warfarin. I'm dubious about the wisdom of this one, but the Law being firmly on the side of Warfarin, I am obliged to roll with the ball.

The Atlantic is on one side, and the wilderness of the bogs on the other. I'm on the fringe of western Connemara. Only little strings of scrappy green fields run here and there, squeezed between bog and sea and skirting the base of the mountains. This isn't the cosy swards surrounding Galway, where you'll find lots more herbs. What I'm saying is that it's a miracle I'm finding all these herbs.

Plenty of nettle, Urtica dioica, around, but the leaf is far past its prime, tough and gritty. The goodness has gone down into the roots and this is where we're going. The root has compounds that reduce prostate swelling. It works by inhibiting the activity of the enzyme alpha-aromatase, which converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone and the estrogen fraction estradiol, both aggressive steroid hormones that are highly stimulating to prostate growth. You want more testosterone, and less of its metabolites. Hence its use for benign prostate hypertrophy or prostate cancer. It makes a nice change-up from saw palmetto, which is used the same way.

On to the sea, the rockbound coast. This rock isn't the sweet limestone of Clare, so rich in minerals, on which the Burren plants thrive. No sir, it is granite, with traces of radon and lead. Nuala Eisling, homeopath of fame, has 'proven' Connemara granite - now it is in the constellation of homeopathic remedies. She gives it for emotional heaviness and depression, and cancer - all rather common in Connemara.

The tide is out and there's plenty of carrageen, of which I wrote in the last issue. Carrageen and all seaweeds are rich in minerals, the best source really. Other nice seaweeds I see are laver (Porphyra umbilicus) and Enteromorpha. Laver is delicate and tender and great in a salad or soup. Enteromorpha is nice stir fried with a bit of ginger and sesame oil, plus a sprinkling of poppyseed on serving. Just an appetizer. The bigger seaweeds like kelp (Laminaria) and bladderwrack (Fucus) are rich in minerals too, but they are tough. You can dry and powder them, and toss into the soup, or pop into a capsule and swallow. People like them for iodine, but forget about this. Plenty of iodine is added to supermarket salt, and all seafood and true sea salt are rich in iodine. This is why hypothyroidism, due to iodine deficiency, so common in the past, is now unlikely. I say again, forget the iodine.

Up on the rock a few feet above the high tide mark there's a glint of emerald. This is samphire, Crithmum maritimum. My herb and friend now, in that it is my 'discovery' for the year. It grows only in rock crevices and stone cobble right by the Atlantic. Nowhere else. I went out in a storm looking at it and it seemed to thrill, to glow. I think it loves storms and sea spray.

It was highly valued and much adulterated in Elizabethan England. Shakespeare's King Lear, deep in insanity, says: "Halfway down / Hangs one that gathers samphire: dreadful trade!".

This tells me that samphire was so scarce and so much in demand that people rappelled down sea cliffs to get it.

It is a fantastic sialagogue (makes the mouth water) and leaves the mouth aromatic and feeling pure for hours. Because the mouth feels so clean I have this strong sense that it also cleanses the digestive tract. Try a leaf, savor it. It really works for Spleen qi xu and Spleen yang xu. If this sounds Chinese, that's because it is. These terms describe digestive deficiency. The keynote is no appetite. Spleen qi xu means no appetite and tired after meals; spleen yang xu is no appetite, and cold after meals. In both cases, digestion is poor, the stools loose, the tongue is swollen and wet, and toothmarked around the edge, the pulse is weak and feels slippery, the face is wan, and there is general fatigue and muscular weakness. Samphire is fantastic for stimulating the appetite. On eating, it lends to the belly a long soft warm and happy glow, making it perfect for spleen yang xu. Culpeper, in the year 1653, wrote of samphire:

"It is well known to almost every body, that ill digestions and obstructions are the cause of most of the diseases which the frail nature of man is subject to; both which might be remedied by a more frequent use of this herb."

It is very strong so never eat in vegetable quantities. Use only as a spice, chopped into salads or tossed into soup or an omelette.

The samphire went to seed around Hallowe'en, Samhain. Its short and succulent leaves persist - how far into the winter I don't know, but I'm watching.

Here I stand on the granite coast in the soft sea drizzle, feeling the glow of my face. My beautiful dog, tried and true, races far off on the bog, coursing hares.