18th-century herbal traditions remain fresh in New London
Though much has changed since the 18th century, many aspects of daily life remain the same. We season our food with thyme and sage; we drink mint tea for stomach upsets; we enjoy the aromatherapy benefits of lavender — reliable strategies for which we can thank the women of the past.
Leslie Evans, a historian and director of the Avery Copp House in Groton, will illustrate just how industrious homemakers in the 18th century were when it came time to prepare meals, heal the sick and keep a healthy home on Saturday at the Nathaniel Hempsted House in New London. Her program, “Herbs for Hearth & Health,” will highlight the culinary and medicinal importance of herbs in an 18th-century household and pass on to participants some time-tested uses for herbs.
But Evans won’t be doing all of the work. Participants can expect to make herbal vinegar, a floral sachet and another food item (to be determined, depending on how high the temperature climbs on Saturday) to take home, and will taste a variety of teas and desserts — brewed and baked with herbs, of course. An avid gardener, Evans also will bring some herbs and plants to the program to familiarize participants with commonly used herbal components and share her recipes.
Evans learned much of what she knows about herbs from her mother, who learned herb lore from her mother — the same way women (mostly) of the 18th century came by their own knowledge of herbs after much trial and error.
“This knowledge would have been passed down generation to generation,” Evans notes. “When colonists came to America, they also learned new skills from Native Americans using plants that grew here.”
Necessity, though, provided the biggest impetus in 18th-century herb study. Synthetic medicine and dedicated medical schools were still decades away.
“At a time when doctors were very expensive and their medicine was very unreliable, it was really important for women to be able to have this kind of knowledge to be able to treat their family at home when they were sick or to prevent sickness,” Evans says. “So, it was just a part of life that people would have been familiar with.”
Some women became sought-after experts in the field of early medicine — midwives in particular.
“Usually every community had one or two women who were really known for their knowledge of plant materials and healing, and people would turn to them when they had a really serious ailment to deal with,” Evans says. “Those women would be even more knowledgeable than the average.”
Thanks to good reference materials, such as the diary kept by New London’s famous jack of all trades Joshua Hempstead, historians have been able to determine which herbs played a large part in 18th-century medicine cabinets. Among them: mint and sage, good for stomach upsets, headaches and fever; lavender, for its soothing and antiseptic properties; comfrey and yarrow for wound care; foxglove for heart problems; St. John’s Wort, also good for wounds and as a tension tamer.
Elsewhere in the home, lavender, wormwood and tansy might have been employed in kitchens and closets to ward off fleas, flies and moths.
Medical and household applications aside, herbs also provided cheaper ways to season foods in an era when spices like peppers, cinnamon and ginger were relatively expensive.
In the days before container gardening, Evans says, the best way for the average household to ensure a ready supply of herbs all winter was to harvest and dry them and build up a store of them. Evans notes that the ever-practical herbalists of the 18th century often would trade herbs with neighbors; so if one person had an abundance of thyme, he or she might trade some for another staple herb they were not able to grow successfully.
That ingenuity is what has driven Evans’ own study of herbs and history.
“People made do with the limited resources they had,” she says. “They were so creative and able to fashion what they needed out of what was around them.”
In advance of her workshop on Saturday, Evans offers some perspective to participants.
“Come expecting to explore the world of herbs from an 18th-century perspective and find out how much life has changed since the 18th century and in other ways how much it has stayed the same,” she says.
LAVENDER SHORTBREAD
2 cups flour
1 cup good quality butter, softened
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon rose water or vanilla
1 tablespoon dried lavender
Cream butter, vanilla and sugar until well blended. Add flour and mix thoroughly. Work the lavender blossoms into the dough. If dough is very sticky, add a little more flour until it is a consistency that can be rolled out. Roll dough approximately ¼-inch thick and cut with the cookie cutter of your choice. Bake on a sheet at 350 degrees for approximately 15 to 20 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Note: If not using lavender from your own garden, be sure that it comes from an organic source. Food-grade lavender is available online and at some natural food stores.
If you go
What: “Herbs for Hearth & Health,” a talk about the importance of herbs in the 18th-century household and herb craft program with historian Leslie Evans of Groton.
When: Saturday, Aug. 8, from 2 to 4 p.m.
Where: Nathaniel Hempsted House, 11 Hempstead St., New London
Cost: $15, materials included
Info: Space is limited and reservations are required. Email hempsted@ctlandmarks.org or call (860) 443-7949.
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