A curious history of vegetables: aphrodisiacal and healing properties, folk tales, garden tips, and recipes

Description

Plants that "dance with humanity," or anthropochores -- From wild gardens to plant zoos -- Food as medicine: the healing power of common and rare vegetables and wild plants -- Shamanistic food -- The garden -- The healing power of vegetables -- A note on astrological classification -- Common vegetables. Asparagus ; Bean ; Bell pepper and chili pepper ; Cabbage family ; Carrot ; Celery ; Chicory ; Corn ; Cucumber ; Eggplant or aubergine ; Evening primrose ; Fennel ; Jerusalem artichoke ; Lamb's lettuce ; Leek ; Lettuce ; Okra ; Onion ; Parsnip ; Pea ; Potato ; Pumpkin and squash ; Radish ; Red beet and swiss chard ; Salsify ; Spinach ; Tomato -- Forgotten, rare, and less-known vegetables. Burdock or gobo ; Daylily ; Good king Henry ; Green amaranth ; Knotroot or chinese artichoke ; Mallow ; New Zealand spinach ; Oyster plant ; Parsley root ; Parsnip chervil ; Shungiku or garland chrysanthemum ; Skirret -- Forgotten, rare, and hardly known lettuce greens. Miner's lettuce ; Mustard greens ; Opium poppy ; Purslane ; Rampion ; Rocket or rucola -- Cosmic cooking: the planetary cuisine of Arthur Hermes.;Explores the secret history of 45 well known and rare vegetables, examining their history, symbolism, astrological connections, healing properties, and overall character. A fascinating introduction to vegetable gardening and cooking, The Curious History of Vegetables sets horticulture in its historical, cultural, and cosmological contexts. The author offers his deep understanding of the theory of biodynamic gardening and useful tips on light and warmth, ground covers, composts, crop rotation and weeds. Woven in with folk tales and stories from history, each entry also includes delicious historical recipes for each vegetable.