After a pervasive search for Juniper berries, I finally found them. Their piney, earthy, but also sweet flavor inspired the determination to incorporate these berries into one of my favorite foods of the season: Sauerkraut. Besides being a tasty food, Sauerkraut (fermented cabbage) is a first-class probiotic that replenishes the digestive tract with good bacteria. While our digestive system exists in symbiosis with beneficial and adverse bacteria, the beneficial flora must outnumber the adverse in order to maintain balance. Therefore, when included in the diet, fermented foods sauerkraut, yogurt, natto and kimchee create a healthy environment in the digestive tract.
Juniper berries enhance fermenting cabbage with a piney, earthy, but also sweet berry flavor. Only a few are needed to achieve this unique taste.
Juniper berries are also used as seasoning for other foods. They give a surprising flavor to a bite in salads, soups and sauces and are part of familiar pickling spices. But pairing Juniper berries with cabbage adds even more distinction to sauerkraut as well as providing more health benefits.
Juniper berries are also used as seasoning for other foods. They give a surprising flavor to a bite in salads, soups and sauces and are part of familiar pickling spices. But pairing Juniper berries with cabbage adds even more distinction to sauerkraut as well as providing more health benefits.
Besides their wonderful piney aroma, Juniper berries have medicinal value. They are excellent for stomach and digestive ailments. They are cleansing for the blood and kidneys and are diuretic. As children we were given Juniper berries to eat as a spring cleanse. Starting with chewing one berry on the first day of spring and ending with thirty berries thirty days later and then doing it backwards. We thought no sickness would befall us during the year and it hardly ever did, or so I remember.
It is worth to take a closer look at spices. Although exotic in flavor and name, with experimentation, they will become familiar in the kitchen and even the medicine cabinet.
Over the past decade, turmeric, cinnamon, oregano have been celebrated for their powerful healing properties. Turmeric for example is lauded as a go-to for brain health, to reduce inflammation, pain, joint problems, colds and viruses. Oregano as well has a long list of ailments it supposedly alleviates. Cinnamon balances blood sugar. It is often used in diabetic conditions. These and other spices with health benefits could be used daily to enhance food. It is done in India. If flavors seem too dominant, turmeric as an example can easily be hidden in food since its taste is unobtrusive.
Seasons for spices never end. During the winter holidays in western countries is when spices are used mostly; these are the pumpkin spices, cloves, nutmeg, mace and cinnamon.
Spices have medicinal essential oils, clove oil for example. It is used for toothaches, as an antiseptic, in perfumes and to improve digestion. Cloves are used to expel parasites.
Nutmeg and mace grow from the same tree. It is a fruit that when ripe opens to expose a beautiful, scarlet mace membrane that covers the brown, oily nut inside. Both spices, mace and nutmeg, are now common flavorings, but over centuries these were used in Ayurvedic and Arabian medicine and in 17th century Europe they were considered cure-alls for many ailments.
One can find these spices and many more in stores, but there are big differences in levels of quality. The best quality cinnamon for example comes from Ceylon. The flavor cannot be compared to what one finds sold as cinnamon, which is cassia bark, the outer layer of real cinnamon.
The best vanilla comes from Madagascar. The bean is more flavorful than extract. Vanilla bean steeped in bourbon makes a fine extract. Cut out and use the soft inner part before adding alcohol.
Spices, and not to forget fresh green herbs, are healing and delicious. Not to include them in our daily diet is an opportunity missed. Achieving and sustaining good health ought to be our foremost concern. Looking into the far corners of the world to find what is available to improve health issues is exciting and easy with help of the Internet. It is even easier to use spices in food instead of encapsulated supplements when it becomes necessary to take these measures due to an illness.
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