Exploring Vanilla in the Rainforest and in the Kitchen: Part I

By Susan Belsinger

(Adapted from her article, “Exploring Rainforest Spices at Villa Vanilla,” featured in the 2019 issue of The Herbarist, the annual journal of The Herb Society of America.)

Vanilla in the Rainforest

P1110204 Before going to Costa Rica, I researched gardens, restaurants, herbs, spices, botanicals and the rainforest—places where I wanted to go, see, and experience. Once I visited Villa Vanilla’s website, https://www.rainforestspices.com/, I knew that I had to go there. I made reservations for the farm tour in advance. It was one of my favorite things in Costa Rica—I loved seeing the tropical spice plants up close and personal—and I got to smell and taste so many things, which was a memorable sensory experience!

During the half day Spice Plantation Tour, visitors experience the sights, tastes, and aromas of vanilla, cinnamon, pepper, and other tropical spices, essential oil plants, and a wide variety of…

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Magickal Properties and Uses of Viola, Violet Magic

Good Witches Homestead

Viola is a quiet, little magic. She springs up in fields, lawns, and at the edges of forests. Before her companions begin to bud, she’s blooming away, gathering in the cool, damp spring days. In spring’s quiet while everyone else has yet to awaken, Viola works her magic.

Violas come in a variety of colors and shapes. The ones herbalists are most sweet on are a species called Viola odorata, although we may well fall in love with some of her close cousins, too. Viola odorata sports blue blossoms. Viola tricolor, like the ones in my garden, bloom in deep purples, sometimes sporting a few yellow or white petals. Sometimes they’re called Johnny Jump-ups, Hearts-ease Violets, Sweet Violets, or Pansies by garden centers, sometimes just plain violets. Part of what makes V. odorata and her medicinal cousins particularly special is her scent.

Viola odorata or Violet is a…

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HSA Webinar: Weird Herbs

The Herb Society of America Blog

Herbs are expensive – Grow your own

Town & Country Gardening

Herbs Fresh or Dried purchased from your local Supermarket or Farmers Market are exceeding expensive.

These are sample prices taken from Walmart

The best solution is to grow your own Herbs. Herbs take up little space and are very forgiving if neglected.
Most herbs will do well in containers, window boxes and planted directly in your garden soil.
If herbs are conventionally located to you and your kitchen you are more willing and more likely to use them when cooking and serving meals.

Herbs Make Common Foods Taste Special

Sage is a herb that does well if properly cared for. It requires a lot of pinching and cutting to keep it from becoming woody. As a rule, sage will need to be replanted about every 3 years since it will become woody with few leaves no matter what, so keeping it in a pot makes this change that much easier…

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Join This Thursday’s Free Ethnobotany Webinar on The Development of Crofelemer – American Botanical Council

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

We are happy to announce the next webinar in the Sustainable Herbs Program (SHP) Toolkit Webinar Series: The Development of Crofelemer: Connecting Ethnobotany, Conservation, Biocultural Diversity, Indigenous Knowledge, and Global Public Health.

In this webinar, ethnobotanist, Steven King, PhD, will discuss his work creating a sustainable harvesting program for Croton lechleri, (the source of Crofelemer) for use in Crofelemer, the first oral botanical drug approved by the US FDA. King, in particular, will talk about his work with international partners and indigenous and local communities on conserving biological diversity, recognizing intellectual property rights, and meeting global human health care needs.

Dr. Steven R. King is an ethnobotanist who has conducted field research on the use of plants for food and medicine in the highland and lowland regions of South America, Africa and parts of Southeast Asia over the past 42 years. Dr. King holds a Ph.D in Biology…

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Pink Peppercorn – Herb of the Month

The Herb Society of America Blog

The Peppercorn That is Not a Pepper
by Maryann Readal

The pink peppercorns that are found in the colorful mix used in clear pepper mills are not the true pepper of the Piper nigrum vine. These rosy colored berries are from the peppercorn tree, Schinus molle. The dried pink peppercorns do have a slight peppery, resinous taste and add color and sparkle when ground over any light-colored dish. Their milder flavor also makes them suitable for use in pasta and some dessert dishes like ice cream and fruit, or sprinkled over a cheese board.

The peppercorn tree is native to Peru and is also called the Peruvian or California peppertree. This drought resistant tree is evergreen and can be grown in warm parts of the United States, Africa, India, Australia, and New Zealand. In fact, it has naturalized in some areas outside of Peru, and is considered invasive in…

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Herbal Hacks, Part 3: Garden Care and Herb Drying Tips

The Herb Society of America Blog

The good ideas just keep coming! Read on for the third installment of reader-submitted herbal hacks: garden care and herb drying tips.

flowers-5792157_1920_Image by Prawny via Pixabay In summer, I dry herbs in paper bags in the rear window of my car. It only takes 2-4 days, depending on the amount of sun. – Gail Seeley

Fill a lidded, plastic trash can with water, then measure out and and add your favorite water soluble plant food. Store your watering can inside. This tip will make caring for plants in containers much easier. –Holly Cusumano

Folded and rolled towel cropped_Carol Kagan Excerpt from Herbal Sampler, 2nd ed. You can dry herbs in your frost-free refrigerator. This method results in good quality and keeps the bright color of the herbs. Make sure the herbs are clean and dry. Remove the leaves from stems and place on a section of paper towel. Roll or fold the towel to cover the herbs…

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American Botanical Council

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

We are happy to announce the next webinar in the Sustainable Herbs Program (SHP) Toolkit Webinar Series: COVID and the Botanical Industry: Perspectives from the Field.

How is the unprecedented growth in the botanical industry impacting producer groups around the world? What can ingredient suppliers, finished product companies, and consumers do to support the work these companies do to source high quality botanicals from their regions?

In this webinar, SHP Director, Ann Armbrecht will speak with Puspa Ghimire, from ANSAB, Nepal; Tarun Prajapati from Cultivator Natural Products, India; and Paulo Barriga from Pebani, Peru about the challenges of the past year in producing and supplying high quality, sustainable, and fairly traded botanicals to the global market.

COVID and the Botanical Industry: Perspectives from the Field
A conversation with Puspa Ghimire, from ANSAB, Nepal; Tarun Prajapati from Cultivator Natural Products, India; and Paulo Barriga from Pebani, Peru
Thursday, January 21…

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Hello January 2021

Good Witches Homestead

We wish you all a very Happy New Year and hope that you are feeling rested, rejuvenated and ready to take on whatever opportunities and challenges 2021 has in store for us.

2020 was an unusual year in so many ways, so much so that looking back it seems that it has acted as a bridge between two very different realities. We are left with a sense of completion and the recognition that there is no going back to how things were at this time last year, too much has changed.

Despite all the difficulties this feels like a positive step forward and we look forward to what is coming next, with both interest and curiosity.

The previous twelve months has been dominated by the effects of the Saturn/Pluto conjunction in Capricorn with its focus on destabilising and dismantling old worn-out forms, be these old thought forms or inflexible corporate…

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Parsley – Herb of the Month and Herb of the Year

The Herb Society of America Blog

By Maryann Readal

The spotlight is shining on parsley this month. Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) is The Herb Society of America’s Herb of the Month for January and the International Herb Association’s Herb of the Year™ for 2021. The three most common varieties of parsley are P. crispum or curly-leaf parsley, P. crispum var. neapolitanum or flat-leaf Italian parsley, and P. crispum var. tuberosum or turnip-root parsley which is grown for its root and is used in soups and stews.

Parsley has an interesting history dating back to Greek and Roman times. To the Greeks, parsley symbolized death and was not used in cooking. However, according to Homer, the Greeks fed parsley to their chariot horses as they thought it gave them strength. The Greeks believed that parsley sprang from the blood of one of their mythical heroes, Archemorus, whose name means “the beginning of bad…

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