Folkways
by Maya Brown
PREPARING FOR COLD AND FLU SEASON
not thick enough return to the
pot and simmer a few more min-
utes. Remove from heat and add the
remaining ingredients; stir well.
I know some of this recipe is visu-
al; I wish I could show you in person,
but we don’t have that available. You
can also order this from fancy food
places for about 30 dollars for 8
ounces. To me it’s worth the trouble
to make it yourself.
Photo courtesy of Maya Brown
n the fall I think all of us, wherev-
er in the Northern Hemisphere we
live, become in large part squirrels,
saving the harvest for when winter
comes. As I am sure you all know, I
work regularly at several farmers’ mar-
kets, and even with all that available
to me there are foraged and garden-
grown foods I cannot procure with-
out doing the work myself. These
recipes are what I make at home,
beyond kombucha, elderberry syrup
and drinking vinegars. I think many
of these come from the old country
and are both healing and nourishing
in the way our gramma’s soup is heal-
ing and nourishing.
Traditionally used for lung condi-
tions, there are several pinecone or
pine bud syrup recipes, probably as
many as trees in a forest. Here is ours.
Please use organic or hand-collected
pinecones if you possibly can.
Pine Syrup
2 ¼ lbs. soft, green pinecones
3/4 cups honey
1-3 cups water
¼ cup fresh lemon or lime juice
I
or other citrus juice
The peel from the lemons, limes
or other citrus
Gather your pinecones when they
are small and green. I have a friend
who gathers them for me up north
after all the cones here have hardened
and turned more brittle and amber.
Make sure the place where you gather
them is not sprayed with poisons.
They can be up to about 1.5 inches
long; the truth is bigger should be fine
as long as they’re green and young.
Older ones won’t be as soft.
Place your cones in a stainless steel
or glass pan and add about half the
water and all the honey. Bring to a
simmer. 15 minutes’ simmer is a good
time to start with. The color will
change to a gorgeous amber. Add
more water if the syrup gets too thick;
when it cools the honey will crystalize
or be much too thick.
When you think it is ready,
pour about a teaspoon on a plate
and allow it to cool. When it gets so
thick it doesn’t, run it’s ready. If it’s
Spruce or fir syrup
2 cups honey
2 cups fir or spruce tips, gather
them when they are soft and
fresh, using only the tips, the
small soft ends, under
conditions that have not had
poison sprayed.
1-2 tablespoons lemon
juice (optional)
Put the ingredients in a canning
jar. Leave some head space, do not
seal. Use cheesecloth or a clean cot-
ton t-shirt to cover the jar. Tie with a
string, as you might with a rubber
band, and leave until the honey
tastes citrusy and yummy; after three
weeks is a good time to start check-
ing. This makes a tasty glaze instead
of lemon for lemon chicken.
Onion cough syrup (I swear it
taste better than it sounds)
Take a variety of onions such as
vidalia, purple, yellow, white, sweet,
big and tiny. I also like to mix it up
with what the farmers have, what I
can barter for or what they are giving
away because of a bumper crop. Peel
and slice onions and place in a can-
ning jar, leaving about an inch of
head room. Pour honey over onions,
again leaving about an inch of space.
Cover with cheese cloth and tie
tightly. Place in fridge on a plate
(really use a plate—the process of
fermentation is happening, and the
honey may come out the top). Use as
needed for coughs, colds and sore
Cenizo
throats. This is one of those things
you can’t mess it up. They did this in
medieval Europe, so if they could do
it you can do it.
Garlic honey and vinegar syrup
(I’ve shared this recipe before but it’s
one of my favorite things to drink
when I’m not feeling up to par, and
it’s another ‘I swear it tastes better
than the name makes it sound’
recipes.)
Fill a mason jar with garlic cloves.
Break them apart. If I am feeling like
it, I roughly chop them, or not, your
choice.
Fill the jar half with honey and
half with good apple cider vinegar.
Cover with cheese cloth and tie with
string (do you see a common ‘thread’
here?). Put on a plate, store at room
temperature. If you put a tight lid on
this the fermentation process will
break the glass. This will bubble and
burple and be wonderful. Wait a
couple of weeks and you’ll have a
fantastic syrup that’s tastes like bum-
blebee honey with a note of garlic.
Great for kicking the cold out of
your life.
My final recipe is from my grand-
pa. In a non-reactive pan ½ full of
water place an entire head of
chopped garlic, skin and all, and a
whole chopped organic grapefruit,
skin and all. It is important to use
organic garlic and grapefruit. Simmer
till super mushy - as it simmers mash
it a bit, adding more water as need-
ed. Strain, reserving liquid. Add
plenty of honey and drink while still
warm. I don’t add honey, but I like
the garlic grapefruit flavor. Grandpa
Joe used this when he felt an illness
coming on. If you are sick, drink 2
or more cups a day. Otherwise a
tablespoon or two will keep you
healthy. I use it pretty solidly the
entire winter. Eventually people stop
mentioning the garlic perfume I’m
wearing.
Blessings upon you all, Maya
Fourth Quarter 2019
15