A Curious History of Vegetables: Aphrodisiacal and Healing Properties, Folk Tales, Garden Tips, and Recipes

by Wolf D. Storl

Overview

Featuring gardening tips, recipes, and beautiful full-color pencil drawings of each vegetable, this book for farm-to-fork aficionados and gardeners with an esoteric bent explores the secret history of 48 well known and rare vegetables, examining their symbolism, astrological connections, healing properties, and overall character.
 
A fascinating introduction to vegetable gardening and cooking, A 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623170394
Publisher:	North Atlantic Books
Publication date:	06/14/2016
Pages:	364
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Wolf D. Storl, PhD, is an ethnobotanist and the author of some two dozen books on herbalism, alternative medicine, ethnobotany, and shamanism. Born in Saxony, Germany, he received his PhD in ethnology from the University of Berne, Switzerland. His early post-doctorate career includes research in a Swiss biodynamic farming community, teaching anthropology and organic gardening at Rogue College in Oregon, participant-observer research at a traditional Swiss farm, and two years in India as a visiting scholar at the Benares Hindu University. Always interested in local gardening practices in his travels around the world, 25 years ago Dr. Storl was able to put his learning to the test when he and his family moved to a mountain farmstead in southern Germany. There he maintains a year-round vegetable garden and continues to teach, also appearing on television in the U.S. and many countries in Europe as a spokesman for natural horticulture.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Plants That "Dance with Humanity," or Anthropochores 1

From Wild Gardens to Plant Zoos 2

Food as Medicine: The Healing Power of Common and Rare Vegetables and Wild Plants 5

Shamanistic Food 11

The Garden 15

The Healing Power of Vegetables 17

A Note on Astrological Classification 18

Common Vegetables 21

Asparagus 22

Bean 31

Bell Pepper and Chili Pepper 44

Cabbage Family 54

Carrot 65

Celery 75

Chicory 84

Corn 93

Cucumber 102

Eggplant or Aubergine 113

Evening Primrose 119

Fennel 127

Jerusalem Artichoke 136

Lamb's Lettuce 144

Leek 150

Lettuce 159

Okra 167

Onion 173

Parsnip 184

Pea 192

Potato 203

Pumpkin and Squash 215

Radish 224

Red Beet and Swiss Chard 232

Salsify 242

Spinach 249

Tomato 260

Forgotten, Rare, and Less-Known Vegetables 271

Burdock or Gobo 272

Daylily 278

Good King Henry 282

Green Amaranth 288

Knotroot or Chinese Artichoke 293

Mallow 297

New Zealand Spinach 303

Oyster Plant 306

Parsley Root 310

Parsnip Chervil 316

Shungiku or Garland Chrysanthemum 320

Skirret 327

Forgotten, Rare, and Hardly Known Lettuce Greens 333

Miner's Lettuce 334

Mustard Greens 338

Opium Poppy 345

Purslane 351

Rampion 357

Rocket or Rucola 362

Cosmic Cooking: the Planetary Cuisine of Arthur Hermes 367

Notes 377

Bibliography 385

Index 393

About the Author 413

Editorial Reviews

“Discover how nearly fifty vegetable, herb, and flower plants ‘dance with humanity’—and about wild gardens, nourishment as medicine, truly tasty simple gourmet recipes, the history and lore of plants over time, plus special garden tips. Be nourished with the skills and observations of Dr. Wolf Storl, a living library, a master farmer and gardener.”
—John Jeavons, author of How to Grow More Vegetables, Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine
 
Praise for the work of Wolf D. Storl
“The author, as you will quickly discover, is brilliant … and obvious from his writings, he has also delved deeply into the works of the old masters. Storl uncovers stories and teachings not often heard and masterfully weaves them into the modern-day context. Marvelous!”—Rosemary Gladstar, author of Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health

“In these times … gardening, especially organic gardening, is a path to freedom.”—Vandana Shiva, PhD, founder of Navdanya International and author of Who Really Feeds the World?

From the Publisher