Using Herbs In Perfume

By Elizabeth Marsh

Using herbs in beauty and body care products may only seem to take the value of herbs skin deep. But in a time when the cosmetics industry, with its confusing messages and deceptive promises, has gone so far astray, coming back to our roots and learning simple, herbal ways to take care of ourselves is truly valuable. In this series of articles, I'll be sharing with you my own explorations in the use of herbs for beauty – from head to toe!

I’m not going to start at the “head” though. With Valentine’s Day approaching I couldn’t resist starting with the use of herbs in perfume, and brewing up some heady herbal scents in preparation!

While the use of perfumes dates back to ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, modern perfumes are said to have originated in the 14th Century with Hungary Water, reputedly formulated in 1370 for Queen Elizabeth of Hungary. The details of this early fragrance are somewhat debated, but it was around this time that perfume really took off in Europe, flourishing in the Renaissance period. By the 18th Century, France had become the centre of the perfume trade, a role which it continues to hold to this day. Early perfumes were sometimes used and valued for their therapeutic benefit as well as their pleasing scent - Hungary Water for example was considered beneficial for gout.

By Rachel Corby

A healthy body helps the development and maintenance of a positive mental attitude and a healthy emotional balance. Diet also affects the balance of friendly bacteria within the body, supplying the immune system with the nutrients it needs. It is generally accepted that a lack of nutrients contributes to disease, and that there is a link between diet and disease resistance.

Seasons Eatings

By Debs Cook

The festive season is a time when everyone indulges in foods that are traditionally associated with Christmas, countries around the world all have their own traditional festive fair and specialities such as Stollen in Germany, Pannettone in Italy, Pepperkake in Norway (gingerbread-like spice cookies flavoured with black pepper), Gravad Lax in Sweden and Vánocní Cukroví (Christmas cookies) in the Czech Republic to name but a few.

Herbs and spices traditionally associated with Christmas include Sage, Rosemary, Bay, Juniper, Thyme, Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg, Cloves and Mace, it would be easy to write something about each of these tasty ingredients. Iinstead I thought I'd take a look at the at a few of the traditional Christmas dishes we eat in England that contain these herbs and spices and offer a few of my recipes that others may like to try.

By Sarah Head

Why do we use sage? Some will only know it as a condiment, mixed with onions as a stuffing for a fatty meat such as pork or goose or as a flavouring to replace salt in a salt-free diet.

The stinging nettle so common in Britain is also found across Europe, Asia, S. Africa, Australia, America, where it has become naturalised in several States and Japan. It hardly seems necessary to detail that it is a perennial plant, growing and spreading freely by runners in almost every kind of soil, but preferring it to have been disturbed in some way. The tallest nettles grow in damp ditches and can be far taller than the usual height of about 1 metre.

The leaves are opposite, ovate and have toothed edges. The tiny green flowers hang down in long clusters. The related pilulifera was introduced here by the Romans for using to sting their limbs against our cold climate. The pilulifera nettle is rarely seen wild in Britain now.

The other stinging nettle U.urens is the stinging nettle used in homoeopathy for treating urticaria and can be distinguished from dioica by the fact that it grows each year from seed in fairly light, usually cultivated soil. Also the lower leaves are shorter than their stems, the root is not the bright yellow of U. dioica and both male and female flowers are on the same plant. The homoeopathic preparation and treatment are entirely different from herbal use although in this case both homoeopath and herbalist treat similar conditions with the same plant.