This is a special episode of An Herbal Diary. I am organizing a virtual herbal bake club and this is the first companion podcast episode. Please consider joining me! I have also started a newsletter on Substack. Please subscribe for all the details, recipes and zoom link for the meeting.

If you are not yet subscribed to my new Substack, please head to notesfrommykitchenapothecary.substack.com to join. I would love to have you join!

If you are subscribed to my Substack, you are automatically invited to Herbal Bake Club meetings. Check your inbox for the recipes and Zoom link.

Our first Herbal Bake Club Meeting: Saturday, October 25th at 2 pm EST.

We will be making two herb infused desserts, banana panna cotta and lemon butter cookies. We have two special herbal guests - ashwagandha and cardamom. We will meet on Zoom.

I've introduced ashwagandha in the last few episodes.

Link to Ashwagandha Monograph episode.

Sources for Herbal Ingredients:

Cardamom Pods

Ashwagandha Tea

Ashwagandha Root

I hope that our herbal bake club will give us a chance to smile a bit together, immerse ourselves in kitchen herbalism and bake lovely creations.

Sending you warm baking and gathering together thoughts and thank you for listening!!

---Deepest gratitude to Andrea Klunder, my podcast boss. Find her at thecreativeimposter.com.

Original music by Dylan Rice

Please send me your comments, requests, or feedback. Send me a message, voice or write an email, my email is [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you!

To get herb inspired recipes, plant profiles and read more about herbal medicine, visit my website at: theherbalbakeshoppe.com

Subscribe to Notes from a Kitchen Apothecary on Substack

Connect with me on Instagram

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow or subscribe where ever you like to listen to podcasts! And if you have time, kindly share with your friends and family.

ABOUT DINA

Dina Ranade is a Registered Herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist. She is also a mom of three humans - two daughters and one son all now living their young adult lives - and one sweet Pomeranian named Maci.

This episode highlights Ashwagandha, a medicinal herb that originates from the Indian Ayurvedic tradition. I'm spending time with this nourishing plant today with an herbal monograph episode. An herbal monograph is also called materia medica. It is a collection of knowledge about one plant that helps to describe the plant as a material of medicine. In the last episode of an herbal diary, I spoke about a general category of plants called adaptogens. If you've listened to that last episode, you will remember we talked about how there are only a few herbs that through research can be clearly defined as adaptogens. Ashwagandha is one of these herbs.

Ashwagandha's botanical name: Withania Somnifera

Plant Family: Solanaceae

Link to Adaptogen Episode

I'm excited to tell you about a new Herbal Diary spinoff. It's a virtual baking club. We will highlight at least one herb each time we meet, you can bake along with me or just watch. I will send recipes ahead of time. More details to come very soon! If you have ideas or want to join, please email me [email protected]

Sending you warm autumn thoughts and thank you for joining me!

---Deepest gratitude to Andrea Klunder, my podcast boss. Find her at thecreativeimposter.com.

Original music by Dylan Rice

Please send me your comments, requests, or feedback. Send me a message, voice or write an email, my email is [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you!

To get herb inspired recipes, plant profiles and read more about herbal medicine, visit my website at: theherbalbakeshoppe.com

Join me on Patreon

Connect with me on Instagram

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow or subscribe where ever you like to listen to podcasts! And if you have time, kindly share with your friends and family.

ABOUT DINA

Dina Ranade is a Registered Herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist. She is also a mom of three humans - two daughters and one son all now living their young adult lives - and one sweet Pomeranian named Maci.

Plants labeled as adaptogens take the word literally. These herbs lend us a way to adapt, a way to adjust to what life throws at us. You can't go wrong taking adaptogens, but you can go wrong in how you take them. There are two paths to careful selection. Work with an herbalist who can guide you to adaptogens that fit you best or arm yourself with deep study. I hope this episode will help with the deep study path. I am beginning a series on adaptogens. In this first episode, I focus on the basic foundational principle that adaptogen is considered an herbal action. We talk about the body's stress response and the role adaptogens play in stress relief. We also talk about how social media may be a way of community herbalism.

Resources to find Herbalists:

The American Herbalist Guild

Herbmentor

HerbRally

Book Mentions:

Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief by David Winston, RH(AHG)

The Alchemy of Herbs : Transform Everyday Ingredients into Foods and Remedies that Heal by Rosalee de la Foret

Link to Ashwagandha Chai Episode

Sending you warm summer thoughts and thank you for joining me!

---Deepest gratitude to Andrea Klunder, my podcast boss. Find her at thecreativeimposter.com.

Original music by Dylan Rice

Please send me your comments, requests, or feedback. Send me a message, voice or write an email, my email is [email protected].

I look forward to hearing from you!

To get herb inspired recipes, plant profiles and read more about herbal medicine, visit my website at: theherbalbakeshoppe.com

Join me on Patreon

Connect with me on Instagram

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow or subscribe where ever you like to listen to podcasts! And if you have time, kindly share with your friends and family.

ABOUT DINA

Dina Ranade is a Registered Herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist. She is also a mom of three humans - two daughters and one son all now living their young adult lives - and one sweet Pomeranian named Maci.

Sassafras is a richly nuanced medicinal tree that also has a distinctive place in the culinary world. Sassafras root bark is responsible for the flavor of root beer, but it is no longer used due to a Food and Drug Administration ban. The reasons for this fortunately do not transfer to sassafras leaves which have a long history of being essential to classical Southern gumbo. I think sassafras falls into the category of underutilized herbs. Despite questions about safety and bad publicity, sassafras is distinctive and very much worth getting to know.

Links to Gumbo Mentions:

Toni Tipton Martin

Jubilee Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking: A Cookbook by Toni Tipton Martin

Lena Richard

New Orlean"s Cookbook by Lena Richard

My favorite sources for gumbo file:

Red Stick Spice Co.

Mountain Rose Herbs: dried sassafras leaves

Join me in this episode for more on sassafras…the unique features of its leaves, its medicinal qualities and some safety concerns. Sending you warm winter wishes and thank you for joining me!

---Deepest gratitude to Andrea Klunder, my podcast boss. Find her at thecreativeimposter.com.

Original music by Dylan Rice

Please send me your comments, requests, or feedback. Send me a message, voice or write an email, my email is [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you!

Episode Website

To get herb inspired recipes, plant profiles and read more about herbal medicine, visit my website at: theherbalbakeshoppe.com

Join me on Patreon

Connect with me on Instagram

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow or subscribe where ever you like to listen to podcasts! And if you have time, kindly share with your friends and family.

ABOUT DINA

Dina Ranade is a Registered Herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist. She is also a mom of three humans - two daughters and one son all now living their young adult lives - and one sweet Pomeranian named Maci.

What makes a fruit or vegetable easy to find in grocery stores? While there are many answers to this question, a lot of edible medicinal herbs are not, herbs like nettles, burdock root and elderberries. To this list, I am adding sumac berries. Sumac may not give us delicious fruit, but there is good reason to get to know it better and I am doing this in my kitchen. And in case you are wondering, this is a totally different plant than toxic poison sumac.

My favorite sources for dried sumac:

Mountain Rose Herbs

Burlap & Barrel

Join me in this episode for more on sumac…its uses as a culinary spice and as an underutilized medicinal herb and also the difference between sumac and poison sumac.

Sending you warm summer thoughts and thank you for joining me!

---Deepest gratitude to Andrea Klunder, my podcast boss. Find her at thecreativeimposter.com.

Original music by Dylan Rice

Please send me your comments, requests, or feedback. Send me a message, voice or write an email, my email is [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you!

To get herb inspired recipes, plant profiles and read more about herbal medicine, visit my website at: theherbalbakeshoppe.com

Connect with me on Instagram

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow or subscribe where ever you like to listen to podcasts! And if you have time, kindly share with your friends and family.

ABOUT DINA

Dina Ranade is a Registered Herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist. She is also a mom of three humans - two daughters and one son all now living their young adult lives - and one sweet Pomeranian named Maci.

What makes a tree medicinal? The answer to this question depends on the medicine we are searching for. Especially in spring, trees can be medicine for our eyes. After the grayness of winter, glorious flowering trees like dogwood and magnolia are sweet visions. Aside from landscaping decoration, both dogwood and magnolia along with many other trees,have long been used for strong medicines derived from their bark.Tree bark has phytochemicals that make it bitter, astringent, and highly antimicrobial. Bark is a tree's protective layer, helping it to survive through winter cold and other dangers like bacteria, fungi and troublesome insects. The same phytochemicals in tree bark offer much medicine to humans as well.

Join me in this episode for more on tree bark and the medicine of dogwood and magnolia trees. Sending you lovely spring thoughts and thank you for joining me!

---Deepest gratitude to Andrea Klunder, my podcast boss. Find her at thecreativeimposter.com.

Original music by Dylan Rice

Please send me your comments, requests, or feedback. Send me a message, voice or write an email, my email is [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you!

To get herb inspired recipes, plant profiles and read more about herbal medicine, visit my website at: theherbalbakeshoppe.com

Join me on Patreon

Connect with me on Instagram

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow or subscribe where ever you like to listen to podcasts! And if you have time, kindly share with your friends and family.

ABOUT DINA

Dina Ranade is a Registered Herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist. She is also a mom of three humans - two daughters and one son all now living their young adult lives - and one sweet Pomeranian named Maci.

Plant energetics is a way to understand how a plant can affect the body through our senses and how it feels in the body. Energetics is subtle, but so helpful when choosing herbs. The difference between warming and cooling plant energetics is like feeling the warmth of the sun versus a cool plunge into the ocean. In this episode, we delve deep into warming energetics and match these with a group of trees that provide great examples: evergreens. These trees have great potential for kitchen uses and herbal remedies. We talk all about juniper, fir, hemlock and spruce trees.

Some examples of herbs with warming energetic qualities:

ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cayenne pepper, turmeric, garlic, rosemary, cumin, black pepper.

Sending you the warmest thoughts and thank you for joining me!

---Deepest gratitude to Andrea Klunder, my podcast boss. Find her at thecreativeimposter.com.

Original music by Dylan Rice

Please send me your comments, requests, or feedback. Send me a message, voice or write an email, my email is [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you!

To get herb inspired recipes, plant profiles and read more about herbal medicine, visit my website at: theherbalbakeshoppe.com

Join me on Patreon

Connect with me on Instagram

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow or subscribe where ever you like to listen to podcasts! And if you have time, kindly share with your friends and family.

ABOUT DINA

Dina Ranade is a Registered Herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist. She is also a mom of three humans - two daughters and one son all now living their young adult lives - and one sweet Pomeranian named Maci.

Pine trees are trees that are very familiar especially because of their long thin needles and pine cones. But they seem overlooked for their culinary and herbal remedy benefits. In this episode, I am back in my kitchen with elegant pine needles brewing a tea blended with warming spices and preparing a skin healing salve. I'll talk you through all the steps.

Thank you for joining me!

Pine Needle Chai:

1 cinnamon stick

1 teaspoon dried ginger

2 teaspoons dried orange peel or zest of 1 orange

1 allspice berry

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

2 tablespoons chopped fresh pine needles or 2 teaspoons dried

1½ cups (12 ounces) water

Combine all spices (not pine needles) and water in a small saucepan covered with a lid.. Bring water to a gentle boil on medium heat. Turn down to the lowest setting, simmer for 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat, add pine needles, continue to steep covered with lid for at least 30 minutes. Strain into a tea mug, add milk and honey to taste. Reheat as desired.

Pine Needle Infused Oil:

2 tablespoons dried, powdered pine needles

8 ounces olive oil

Heat 2 inches of water in the bottom of a double boiler to simmer. Combine dried pine needles and olive oil in the top of the double boiler and place on the bottom portion of simmering water. Place a paper towel on top of the pot and then cover with a lid. Heat oil and pine needles just to warm for 30 minutes, do not allow to simmer. Remove from heat and infuse for 30-60 minutes. Repeat the warming and infusing process three times. Strain through a double layer of cheesecloth and squeeze out as much oil as possible.

Pine Needle Salve:

1 ounce (28 grams or ⅛ cup) beeswax pastilles

4 ounces (120ml) pine needle infused oil

20-30 drops pine essential oil

Stainless steel tins with lids or other heat proof containers.

Heat 2 inches of water in the bottom of a double boiler to simmer. If using beeswax in the form a a block, grate or pound with a hammer to break into small pieces. Add beeswax pastilles or small pieces from a block into the top of the double boiler with hot water in the bottom portion. Continue to heat on lowest setting until beeswax is melted. Add infused pine needle oil, this will cause beeswax to slightly solidify again, stir with oil until melted again. Remove from heat, add essential oil. Ladle mixture into the tins and leave at room temperature until salve has hardened. Cover with lids and label.

Source for Dried Pine Needles and Beeswax:

Beeswax pastilles: Mountain Rose Herbs

Beeswax block: Mountain Rose Herbs

Pine needles: Foraged

---Deepest gratitude to Andrea Klunder, my podcast boss. Find her at thecreativeimposter.com.

Original music by Dylan Rice

Please send me your comments, requests, or feedback. Send me a message, voice or write an email, my email is [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you!

To get herb inspired recipes, plant profiles and read more about herbal medicine, visit my website at: theherbalbakeshoppe.com

Join me on Patreon

Connect with me on Instagram

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow or subscribe where ever you like to listen to podcasts! And if you have time, kindly share with your friends and family.

ABOUT DINA

Dina Ranade is a Registered Herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist. She is also a mom of three humans - two daughters and one son all now living their young adult lives - and one sweet Pomeranian named Maci.

Herbal teas are a lovely way to be creative and experience herbs on a daily basis. Brewing herbal teas can take on different forms and tastes, including juice-like creations when dried berries are used as the main ingredients. These berry teas are a wonderful way to gain nutrient benefits from herbs. In this episode I am sharing my current favorite method for brewing herbal tea that feels more like a juice. Thank you for joining me.

Tea "Juice" Decoction

¼ cup dried elderberries

¼ cup dried hawthorn berries

¼ cup dried sea buckthorn berries

⅛ cup dried goji berries

⅛ cup dried rose hips

1 tablespoon hibiscus

1 tablespoon dried ginger

1 cinnamon stick

2 pieces turkey tail mushrooms

6 peppercorns

8-9 cups water

Combine herbs and water in 4 quart stock pot. Cover and bring to gentle boil on medium heat. Turn to lowest setting, simmer for 40 minutes. Remove from heat, continue to steep covered until cool. Strain into Mason jars and refrigerate.

Source for Dried Herbs and Berries:

Mountain Rose Herbs

Oshala Farm

Northwest Wild Foods

Favorite Herbal Podcasts:

HerbRally

Herbmentor Radio

---Deepest gratitude to Andrea Klunder, my podcast boss. Find her at thecreativeimposter.com.

Original music by Dylan Rice

Please send me your comments, requests, or feedback. Send me a message, voice or write an email, my email is [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you!

To get herb inspired recipes, plant profiles and read more about herbal medicine, visit my website at: theherbalbakeshoppe.com

Join me on Patreon

Connect with me on Instagram

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow or subscribe where ever you like to listen to podcasts! And if you have time, kindly share with your friends and family.

ABOUT DINA

Dina Ranade is a Registered Herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist. She is also a mom of three humans - two daughters and one son all now living their young adult lives - and one sweet Pomeranian named Maci.

The Little Herb Saver:

Lemon balm is like a blanket of peace, calming a nervous stomach, reducing anxiety, elevating a gloomy feeling, and providing relief for sleepless nights. That's a lot, but that's also not all.

Lemon balm is easy to grow, lovely to eat or drink as tea, powerful in its own right but not in a way that lends caution to using it. To get more lemon balm into our lives, can only be a good thing. And this is why I deem it a little herbal saver.

Thank you for joining me for this part 2 lemon balm monograph. (Episode 52 is part 1)

Lemon Balm Vinaigrette:

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1 teaspoon chopped lemon balm

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar and dijon mustard. Whisk together until blended well. Stir in chopped lemon balm and salt and pepper.

Store in the refrigerator. Serve with fennel and radish salads.

Photo of Lemon Balm from Henriette's Herbal Homepage

Sources for Lemon Balm Starter Plants:

Companion Plants

Strictly Medicinal Seeds

---Deepest gratitude to Andrea Klunder, my podcast boss. Find her at thecreativeimposter.com.

Original music by Dylan Rice

Please send me your comments, requests, or feedback. Send me a message, voice or write an email, my email is [email protected].

I look forward to hearing from you!

To get herb inspired recipes, plant profiles and read more about herbal medicine, visit my website at: theherbalbakeshoppe.com

Join me on Patreon

Connect with me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow or subscribe where ever you like to listen to podcasts! And if you have time, kindly share with your friends and family.

ABOUT DINA

Dina Ranade is a Registered Herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist. She is also a mom of three humans - two daughters and one son all now living their young adult lives - and one sweet Pomeranian named Maci.