Wild marjoram

I've gone back to the more traditional cure alls for this post and 

hopefully won't get sidetracked onto the more gruesome 

cures as before!

Wild Marjoram, according to Culpepper's Herbal 1653, also called Organy and Joy of the Mountain is a herbal cure-all. Made into a tea or infusion "stengthens the stomach and head much, there being scarce a better remedy growing for such as are troubled with a sour humour in the stomach, it restoreth the appetite, helps the cough and consumption of the lungs, helps the biting of venomous beasts and such as have poisoned themselves by eating hemlock, henbane or opium. It provokes urine and the terms of women, helps the dropsy, the scurvy, scabs, itch and yellow jaundice."

I like this recipe tho!

Sir William Paston's recipe for a 'pleasant mead' 1669

To a gallon of water, put a quart of honey, about ten sprigs of sweet majoram, half so many tops of bay. Boil these very well togethere and when it is cold bottle it up. 

It will be ready in ten days.

These days, essential oil from the leaves of wild marjoram is popular. 

It is used in massage to relax tense muscles or to support the nervous system, 

and is often simply used for its soothing aroma.

Other interesting facts about the plant.

Bees like it!

The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that the goddess of love first cultivated marjoram and that her gentle touch had given it its fragrance, so newly married couples were crowned with marjoram wreaths.

• The Greeks dressed their hair and eyebrows with a fragrant pomade made from marjoram.
• A bunch of sweet marjoram was placed beside milk containers during thundery weather as it was thought that this would prevent the milk going sour. 

Old fashioned cures versus high street chemists

Perhaps it's easier to walk into your nearest chemist but you could also 

try a few of the traditional remedies for what ails you.

Take Herb Bennet for example, above, now it is seeding it is 

a good time to use to cure spots.

Place the root into wine then use to 'scoureth out foul spots if the 

face be washed daily.

It also refresheth the heart and maketh it merry.'

This is one that I would not recommend.

To cure the thrush, take  a living frog place it in a cloth  so

 that it does not go down the child's throat and place the head of 

the frog into the child's mouth until it is dead. 

Then take another frog and do the same again.

Found this article in the Telegraph about Frog snot!

The mucus of a rare frog that lurks in the south Indian jungle could provide the basis of a powerful new class of drugs to combat influenza.

It is found to " host defence peptides" that proved able to destroy numerous strains of human flu, whilst protecting normal cells.

Don't get too excited tho as people  are advised to treat this with caution as three out of the four of the peptides found in the mucus were found to be toxic to humans. 

Some flu cure!

In Peru they use frogs along with white bean broth, honey, 

raw aloe vera, maca; a quick whizz in the blender and there you have

 an aphrodisiac called The Peruvian Viagra! 

Or another use for a frog!

To cure the Black death, place a live frog on the plague sore. 

The frog will swell up and burst. Keep doing this with further frogs until they stop bursting. Apparently some people say that a dried toad will work better.

Sorry, I started writing this in the intention of illustrating a 

few 'nice' floral and herbal remedies but I seemed to have gone 

off in a different direction!

Perhaps tomorrow!