Mugwort is a perennial herb reaching a height of up to 1.5 m (5 ft) and growing wild in a number of similar forms throughout the northern hemisphere - from the Mediterranean to Lapland, from India to Siberia, and from Mexico to Alaska. Hence the Latin name vulgaris, meaning common or widespread. It is grown mainly in the Balkan Peninsula, Italy, France and the former USSR.
Mugwort is used as seasoning for roast meat, especially pork and mutton, as well as roast goose and duck. It is sprinkled on the meat before cooking, but sparingly. In Spain it is used to flavour onion and vegetable soups as well as fish and fish soups. It is also good in salads. Mugwort is easily grown from the seeds (achenes) even in poor soil. As a rule, however, this is unnecessary for it may be found growing wild on waste ground and by the wayside.
If it is to be used as seasoning then the tips of the young shoots must be harvested before the small flower-heads open. The reason for this is that the amount of bitter principles rapidly increases during flowering, thus making the plant unsuitable for use as a culinary herb. The shoots are best dried tied into bunches and hung up in a well-ventilated place. The dried herb retains its pleasant aroma for a long time if stored in air-tight containers.
The common barberry is a spiny deciduous shrub up to 2 m (6 ft) high with upright branches and yellow flowers. When insects alight on the flowers they brush against the stamens. These curve inwards towards the pistil in the centre, thereby pollinating the plant. The fruits are bright red, fleshy berries that ripen in September and often remain on the shrub until late winter.
Nowadays it is a relatively rare shrub in the wild because it is a host plant of one stage of the life cycle of grain rust (Puccinia graminis) and thus not welcomed by farmers in the vicinity of grain fields, where it is systematically eradicated. This will doubtless soon lead to the disappearance of its sour, pleasantly astringent berries, which are used, the same as rowanberries, to flavour compotes and tarts, as well as piquant sauces for game and roast beef.
The renowned Hortus sonitatis of medieval days recommends sweet woodruff for the treatment of all illnesses caused by heat' because 'drops of clew remain long !won this plant'. The dried top parts were already used in those days to give garments in the wardrobe a pleasant fragrance and continue to be used for that purpose to this day. - 15266
Mugwort is used as seasoning for roast meat, especially pork and mutton, as well as roast goose and duck. It is sprinkled on the meat before cooking, but sparingly. In Spain it is used to flavour onion and vegetable soups as well as fish and fish soups. It is also good in salads. Mugwort is easily grown from the seeds (achenes) even in poor soil. As a rule, however, this is unnecessary for it may be found growing wild on waste ground and by the wayside.
If it is to be used as seasoning then the tips of the young shoots must be harvested before the small flower-heads open. The reason for this is that the amount of bitter principles rapidly increases during flowering, thus making the plant unsuitable for use as a culinary herb. The shoots are best dried tied into bunches and hung up in a well-ventilated place. The dried herb retains its pleasant aroma for a long time if stored in air-tight containers.
The common barberry is a spiny deciduous shrub up to 2 m (6 ft) high with upright branches and yellow flowers. When insects alight on the flowers they brush against the stamens. These curve inwards towards the pistil in the centre, thereby pollinating the plant. The fruits are bright red, fleshy berries that ripen in September and often remain on the shrub until late winter.
Nowadays it is a relatively rare shrub in the wild because it is a host plant of one stage of the life cycle of grain rust (Puccinia graminis) and thus not welcomed by farmers in the vicinity of grain fields, where it is systematically eradicated. This will doubtless soon lead to the disappearance of its sour, pleasantly astringent berries, which are used, the same as rowanberries, to flavour compotes and tarts, as well as piquant sauces for game and roast beef.
The renowned Hortus sonitatis of medieval days recommends sweet woodruff for the treatment of all illnesses caused by heat' because 'drops of clew remain long !won this plant'. The dried top parts were already used in those days to give garments in the wardrobe a pleasant fragrance and continue to be used for that purpose to this day. - 15266
