The healing power of anise hyssop
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Anise hyssop belongs to the mint family and grows to a height of 60 centimeters to 1 meter 50. It is a perennial plant that can be used in the kitchen, but it has also been used in traditional medicine around the world for thousands of years. The leaves of this plant taste like anise but the whole smells somewhat like licorice. Anise hyssop is native to North America. The hummingbird and butterflies love the blue-violet flowers of this plant; hence, gardeners like to plant it in the garden. Anise hyssop likes a sunny position and can tolerate light shade well.
Contents:
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Culinary use anise hyssop Naming anise hyssop Use with the North American Indians Traditional Chinese Medicine Tea Science and licorice plant
Culinary use aniseed syrup
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The flowers, the leaves and the seeds of this plant are edible. You can use the leaves in cakes, pancakes, bread, cookies, pies and other pastries. It is also a great herb to enrich the taste of salads and soups. It is also one of the few herbs that it is a good idea to sprinkle on fruit, especially sour fruit. In the past, the plant was used as the basis for a candy with liquorice flavor. You could also use the edible plant parts to make tea. The Indians of North America used this herb as a flavoring for tea. It has a sweet taste and thus makes a tea sweeter in a natural way.
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11 minMain dishpeanut oil, tofu stir-fry cubes finely seasoned, stir fry sauce sweet and sour, thick noodles, carrot julienne, beetroot julienne, yellow bell pepper, watercress,rainbow salad with tofu -
45 minMain dishRed cabbage, mild olive oil, quinoa plus, forest outing, lemon, sesame oil, soy sauce less salt, Bio Today tahini white in pot, tap water,grilled red cabbage with quinoa salad -
30 minDessertBrie, Roquefort, port salut, gruyere, Camembert, walnut, garlic, thyme, honey, grape, baguette, Red onion, red grape, raisins, Red wine, Red wine vinegar, Brown sugar,generous cheese plate with onion marmalade -
30 minDessertFull Milk, whipped cream, macaroon, custard powder, vanilla sugar, sugar, protein, amaretto, almond liqueur, basic recipe cooking pears,macaroon pastry with casserole
Naming anijshyssop
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The Latin name of anise hyssop is Agastache Foeniculum. An alternative name in Dutch is licorice plant. In English, the plant bears the same two main names as in Dutch: anise hyssop and liquorice mint. The name licorice plant refers to its earlier use to make licorice and anise hyssop is a nod to the fact that the leaves taste aniseed-like.
Use with the North American Indians
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Anise hyssop has an anti-inflammatory, heart-strengthening digestive and slightly diaphoretic effect. American Indians used the licorice plant as a breath freshener. An infusion (strong tea) of this herb was used to solve breast problems. It works well for a cough, especially a cough where the lungs feel painfully burning. The throat can hurt and this plant has a healing effect. The root of anise hyssop was used by Indians to treat colds. In addition, the plant was the basis for a remedy for diarrhea. The Indians used a tea from this plant to reduce a fever. The same happened with the Korean brother of this plant in China and Korea.
Traditional Chinese Medicine
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Traditional Chinese medicine uses the local variety of anise hyssop, agastache rugosa. This family member is known under the name Korean mint and is very similar to the licorice plant in terms of plant and effect. Chinese naturalists use it to treat fever, sore throat and headache. A paste is made from the plant to heal ulcers and burns. In addition, an infused oil is used as a massage oil for painful joints and arthritis. Like the Indians, it was smeared on the chest for chest problems such as congestion.
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5 minDrink without alcoholbananas, cool fresh apple-pear raspberry juice, Soy drink vanilla,soy fruit shake -
20 minMain dishsauerkraut, sticking potato, liquid baking product, half-to-half minced, Spice meatballs, pineapple, olive oil, liquid baking product,gratin sauerkraut dish with minced meat -
40 minMain dishlemongrass, fresh ginger, Red peppers, onions, tomato cubes, fresh cod fillet, coriander, oil, ground turmeric (koenjit), coconut milk, salt,fish in creamy coconut sauce -
15 minSide dishsweet potato, soft goat cheese, egg, spring / forest onion,stuffed sweet potato with egg
Tea
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Anise Hyssop is an ideal tea plant for the do-it-yourselfer. Funnily enough, you don't often find tea blends with this plant in stores. You could grow and harvest anise hyssop yourself in July and August, during flowering. The flowers dry quickly and easily in a shady spot. To preserve the taste, it is wise to keep the flowers whole in a closed pot after drying and crush the flowers in a special mortar for tea herbs just before making tea. Two teaspoons of finely ground herbs are enough for a teacup in which you let the leaves steep for 10 minutes. You can drink this tea perfectly pure, it tastes sweet with a light hue of licorice in the background. It is also a good plant for making medicinal tea blends tastier without much flavor. Tea specialist Rudi Beiser recommends mixing this tea with equal parts lemon balm, mint and fennel then with marigold and chamomile Wild Anise Hyssop / Source: Kurt Stüber, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA-3.0)
Science and licorice plant
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A nice scientific fact is that there is methyl-eugenol in licorice plant and this keeps fruit flies at bay. For the rest, the medicinal effect of anise hyssop has been very little researched and there is still beautiful unexplored territory for enthusiastic scientists in science. In general, medicinal plants from traditional folk medicine have all kinds of active ingredients and it is not uncommon for the pharmaceutical industry to imitate the active components and make them into pill form.