There comes a time — mid-January, maybe February — when the thought of dragging your long underwear on becomes unbearable, and there aren’t enough words in the English language to express your gripes with the season: stiff, stircrazy, sun-starved, sniffly, impossibly pasty and cold. You don’t want your partner to put her cold hands on you in bed, and if your nephew sneezes great globs of mucus all over your good wool coat one more time, you’ll quit your job and retire to somewhere where no one sells wool anyway.
I happen to know that places like that do exist, because I come from one, and so of course this post is particularly written for all of you who grew up in a climate where no one could fathom a use for “long underwear.”
What I have learned since moving to this frigid region is that, while many folks develop a grin-and-bear-it attitude to this gray and immobilizing season, what they often fail to share are the secret recipes that get them through the slush and sleet. Yup, that’s right: you can cook and herbally medicate your way through the most miserable of winters.
Foods and herbs that support circulation, stress, immunity, and energy levels can be invaluable allies in preserving your intimate relationships when you’re once again marooned at home by the prevailing Nor’easter. What have many cold-weathering traditional peoples long known about surviving harsh conditions? That seal blubber is medicinal (the sheer amounts of Vitamin D!), but there also exist myriad other foods and herbs that can please your palate and help maintain your vitality in the bluster. If you looked in the mirror this morning and barely recognize your papery wintery self, check out the herbs and recipes below for some ideas about keeping the internal fires steady when the season begins to drag.
Reishi
Maybe you are one of my friends who thinks that eating something known as a “Shelf Mushroom” is perfectly normal, or maybe you’re more like my mama, who is pretty sure that eating something gathered off a tree in the forest is the grossest thing since the invention of toddlers who throw up directly into your hands (my brother was really good at this).
However, when you consider the fact that that the 20th century’s most powerful antibiotics come from fungi (penicillin, streptomycine, and tetracycline), perhaps it makes sense that Reishi could be one of your biggest allies when it comes to cold and flu season. If your immune system is one of your foremost concerns, then some preparation of Ganoderma (encapsulated powder, liquid extract, tea) should be within your regular reach.
Reishi has so many names! In Chinese medicine it is called Lingzhi and “the mushroom of immortality). The name Reishi also encompasses two different Ganoderma species, Ganoderma lucidum, which grows on hardwoods, or Ganoderma tsugae, which grows on conifers like Hemlocks, and this is the species most well-known and studied from its use in traditional Asian medicine systems. Artist’s Conch (Ganoderma applanatum) may be used similarly. These shelf mushrooms are hard and woody, and I do not recommend taking a bite out of one uncooked, unless you have some amount of termite DNA.
The Ganoderma mushrooms (and other medicinal mushrooms as well, such as Turkey Tail, Trametes versicolor, or Shiitake, Lentinula edodes) are famous for the chemical compounds known as beta glucans, which are made up of polysaccharides, glycoproteins, triterpenoids, and ergosterols (which are compounds similar to steroids and create vitamin D from exposure to sunlight). Research has shown these constituents to increase the quantities and activity of T and B lymphocytes, natural killer, and macrophages. While much of the current research around Ganodermas is focusing on anti-tumor and cancer-inhibiting activity, Reishi and its ilk are essential components of your winter medicine cabinet.
So how do you get the stuff down? Many of the active compounds are water soluable, but I myself don’t care for the flavor of Reishi tea. I recommend encapsulated powders, or liquid extracts that use a process to ensure extraction of the polysaccharides. Reishi is considered a tonic herb, safe for long-term use, although folks with liver disease or autoimmune conditions might check with the health provider before adding it to their daily regimen.
St. John’s Wort
I find it far more difficult to maintain my pep when the sky remains that gunmetal gloom and the sidewalks feel more like gauntlets than pedestrian-safe zones. Its hard to stay positive in winter, and no one should feel bad about that.
The past decade has seen a LOT of research on St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) and a lot of investigation as to the quality of St. John’s Wort products on the market. Please, friends, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater! St. John’s Wort (or as my sweetheart likes to say, “St. Joan’s Wort” — I like to use these interchangeably) has been used for millennia to treat nervous conditions, and I don’t just mean of the Victorian variety. St. Joan’s Wort could be shore up your resilience when it comes to the wintertime blues.
St. Joan’s Wort is a vigorous plant whose small brilliant yellow flowers prefer full fields of sun – the herb came by its name on account of its tending to flower around the summer solstice (St. John’s Day, according to the British Empire). A fun fact: If you hold the leaves of Hypericum perforatum up to the light, you can see little speckled perforations. One of my favorite things about this herbs is that the tea or oil made from fresh or dried plants comes out an unbelievable scarlet.
Researchers seem to think that it’s most active ingredients, hypericin and hyperforin, act on the nervous and immune systems, which are both targets for those of us dealing with our winter issues. Aforementioned researchers also believe that St. Joan’s Wort combats mild depressive states similarly to pharmaceutical SSRIs, in that it inhibits reuptake of noradrenaline, seratonin, and dopamine, allowing these happiness hormones to circulate longer in the body.
So what’s the catch? Well, I already talked about unscrupulous companies sell false St. John’s Wort products on the market. (Easy solution: find scrupulous herbal medicine manufacturers, like Gaia Herbs or HerbPharm.)
Also, hyperforin has been found to activate the enzymatic P450 pathway, which causes certain medications to be metabolized quicker. This is not great if you’re taking medications that need to be circulated in certain levels in your body, so definitely check with your provider about adjusting dosages of medications or St. Joan’s Wort.
Another effect of St. Joan’s Wort is photosensitivity — hypericin has proved effective in photodynamic therapy against cancer and against HIV in stored blood. Ew. Wait, there’s more: cows grazing in fields where St. John’s Wort is prevalent have been known to get sunburned! So maybe St. Joan’s Wort is not the thing to be taking regularly while vacationing in the Caribbean, but for those of us bundled and sun-starved, St. John’s Wort could be how you get more rays into your days.
St. John’s Wort oil is fabulous for healing burns and diminishing scar tissue, and it’s great for massage if you’re dealing with edema. If you’re looking to take it internally and you’re good at slugging your medicine back, find a trustworthy source (see above!) of encapsulated or tinctured St. John’s Wort. I myself enjoy drinking this aromatic herb as tea — for an uplifting blend, combine St. John’s Wort with calendula, damiana, and lemon balm.
Rosemary
They say that a shrub of rosemary growing by the door allows only love to enter. This has not been my experience per se, but I do know that when I liberally lace my chicken-and-dumpling soup with rosemary leaves, I find that I thaw myself out enough from the cold weather to entice my sweetheart towards the bedroom.
That’s what rosemary is really known for: getting the blood moving. Considered a stimulant, this herb increases circulation to all parts of the body and especially to the brain, which is maybe how it came to be known in Shakespeare’s time by Hamlet’s Ophelia: “There’s Rosemary, that’s for remembrance.” This circulatory stimulation can help with cold hands and feet, mental clarity, energy, and mood. Although this is not a strictly winter usage, I myself love rosemary hair oil for the moisture and shine it brings.
Chemically speaking, aromatic plants like rosemary contain volatile oils; the volatility circulates the aromas to those of us with the scent receptors to receive them, and these oils quickly evaporate into the surroundings. The flavanoid known as diosin has been found to increase assist in strengthening fragile capillaries, while a combination of the constituents have been shown to increase blood flow through the coronary artery. rosmarinic acid and other of the plants antioxidants have long been used in food preservation, while a whole host of the plant’s constituents display antimicrobial actions.
You know what would be great for a bout of winter congestion? A hot steam with a few drop of the essential oils of rosemary, tea tree, and eucalyptus. (And, ok, ok, my sweetheart say that, ethically, I have to mention the neti pot too. It really does work wonders.)
This small wood shrub is in the mint family, bears an unmistakable aroma, and boasts small blue flowers, which are just darling (truly!). In many climates it grows perennially, but I know some gardeners who keep their rosemary in pots in order to bring the fragrant creatures indoors come heavy cold.
So what are you going to go do right now? Add some rosemary to your above-mentioned tea blend, rub it all over the meat you’re marinating for dinner, and toss an extra handful into that chicken stock you’re putting up for later. Really, folks, its difficult to have too much of this herbs in your lives.
Stay Tuned!
If you’re hungry for more homestyle ways to nourish your way through winter, check back later for my upcoming post on sweet and savory recipes for battling back the chill!