Food as Medicine I

There have been so many medicinal food tidbits that I've wanted to share that I thought a round up of the recent gatherings would be a nice kick off for February (mid-February in any case!). So without further ado, five of my favorites for this month...



#1. Pictured above is some ridiculously delicious beef stock. Do you make your own or buy it? Do you buy the little salty cubes of bouillon? Well, making your own stock is such a simple, tasty, and incredibly healing mechanism of food intake that I hope you start soon if you haven't already. It's easy to make and you can freeze batches of it for future use in soups, sauces, stews, and just simply as stock for healing purposes. In Chinese Medicine making a stock out of bones (and marrow) is thought to increase the function of the kidney and all the physiological aspects that are associated with it (i.e. brain function, growth, bone strength, fertility, urinary function). From the Western nutritional perspective, bone marrow is particularly high in DHA which is an omega 3 fatty acid that contributes to the development of the brain and eyes, as well as other growth functions in children. DHA is now synthesized (primarily from micro algae) and sold in capsules (much like every vitamin and mineral out there) but it is best absorbed and used by the body when ingested in it's natural form. Low levels of DHA are associated with Alzheimer's disease (meaning, there is a lack of DHA). When I prescribe stock to my patients it is usually for : blood deficiency (which can manifest as anemia, loss of vision, dry skin, scanty menses, fatigue), post partum, post surgical, chronic fatigue, low immunity, poor digestion, for fertility, and just for general good health.



Another fantastic example of where East meets West in terms of nutrition theory (besides the kidney function and DHA mentioned above) is demonstrated very well here in a TED talk by Heribert Watzke where he goes into the link between human brain growth historically and eating cooked nourishing foods (such as stock). He says what separates us from the other primates is primarily this : cooked food. I think stock plays a great role in this theory.

I like to buy short and long (beef) bones from my local farmers market and make a beef stock, but I also make chicken stock (usually using the leftover chicken carcass after making a roast chicken), and fish stock (I buy a large fish head from the fish monger). You can also make pork, lamb, lobster (using the shells), and other bone based stock. Make a stock that works for your palate and cooking needs.

Beef Stock Recipe

Ingredients : 2 long bones with marrow, 1 large white onion, 2 celery stalks, 2 carrots, parsley, salt, pepper

1. Sear the bones in a little bit of oil until browned on all sides, add approximately 2 liters of water along with whole peeled onion, celery stalks, peeled and roughly chopped carrots, 2 stems of parsley with leaves (or substitute with correander/cilantro), 2 tablespoons sea salt, 1 teaspoon pepper (adjust this to taste).
2. Boil for 3-4 hours (or up to 6-8 if you have the time - you will need to add little bits of water as it gets more concentrated, without diluting the flavor too much) until the stock takes on an amber hue. Let it cool and separate into containers for freezing after straining out the bones and vegetables.






#2. Whilst in Turin, Italy back in October I ran across these fabulous little boxes of digestif pastilles. I love that there is a culture of helping your digestion in Italy. In fact, there has always been one everywhere in the world but recently we've been losing touch with this culinary ritual. One of the most important things you can do for yourself is to eat warm nourishing foods as your digestive function is like a furnace according to Chinese Medicine. Another way is to eat or drink something after your meal which is not only tasty but medicinal such as a digestif liqueur or a digestif pastille much like the ones shown above. In Chinese Medicine licorice root and anise are both used for these purposes, both of which are featured flavors in these pastilles. But they also have interesting other flavors such as balsamica, cinnamon (cannella), and currant (ribes).



#3. I know the health food brigade has been all over this one for some time (and in the Andean highlands where it is a food staple from Incan times, even longer!), but for whatever reason I didn't take to quinoa right away. Perhaps I didn't understand it well enough. However in December while I was in Colombia I had an amazing arugula, parsley, avocado, and quinoa salad paired with a succulent and crispy roast chicken, and I was in love. Quinoa has a bitter quality which is excellent for tonifying (i.e. treating) the heart according to Chinese Medicine. If you are finding yourself a little anxious, have heart palpitations, or are easily excitable, perhaps quinoa is a worthwhile exploration for you. It is also a starch that is high in protein and won't weigh you down so much when you're on the go during the day or when you want to sleep light and happy at night. Quinoa has all 9 essential amino acids and is considered a complete protein, therefore it is an excellent food to add into your diet if you are vegetarian. In addition, it's high magnesium content helps to relax your muscles and enhance blood flow, especially if you are tense, stressed, and your liver is suffering. In Chinese Medicine, the liver is the receptacle organ for stress and it is also interesting to note that foods high in magnesium tend to be foods which correlate to the liver, primarily dark leafy greens (quinoa is a relative of swiss chard). The key to cooking quinoa is to do so until the little tails uncurl from the grain and you are left with a sweet, nutty, and pliant grain. I like to cook it with beef stock and a little tomato paste to lend it more umami flavor.

Quinoa Recipe

Ingredients: quinoa, beef stock, tomato paste

1. Heat up a tablespoon of olive oil in a pot and gently stir 1 cup of quinoa until coated and lightly browned, add 2 cups of beef stock and 1 tablespoon of tomato paste. Bring to a simmer and cook for approximately 20 minutes, you can see it is done when it puffs up and the quinoa tail comes unfurled. Salt and pepper to taste and serve over a salad or as your starchy side to a protein.

*for more flavor saute 1/2 and onion until soft before adding the quinoa.



#4. Cinammon, love it or hate it it's a very powerful food/spice to use as medicine. You can use it simply to make a tea (pictured above) or you can add it to stocks and soups to lend a spicy roundness to the flavor. In Chinese Medicine cinnamon bark, or Gui Zhi, is used to warm and unblock. It is also good for beginning stage colds, joint pain, menstrual irregularities, and other pains (in particular those worsened by the cold).

Cinnamon Tea

Ingredients: 1 stick of cinnamon bark, water

1. Boil water and let cinnamon stick steep until tea is a delicate beige. Drink and then reuse all day up to 5 times or when there is no more flavor.



#5. And last but not least, ghee (clarified butter). A product which I came across some time ago but have only just now circled back to is the ghee (pictured above and below) produced from grassfed cows by Pure Indian Foods. Ghee has been used in Ayurvedic Medicine for thousands of years and is considered a very powerful medicinal food that can be used internally and externally. It is butter without the milk solids (thus clarified butter). Ghee is used to heal skin disorders, gastrointestinal issues, and neurological conditions. The only time to use ghee with caution is in cases of obesity and/or an abundance of phlegm. In which case you would use it sparingly. You can use ghee much like any cooking oil or butter. If you're lactose intolerant and were looking for a butter alternative, ghee is your friend. I often recommend it to patients who have high anxiety or neurological conditions as it is grounding and soothing for the nervous system. It also happens to taste good and has a high burning point unlike olive oil which can go rancid if you use it to fry things.

Travelling Medicine: Brittany and Normandy

November and December seem to always zip by so quickly, it's like the last burst of speed to the finish line, and then poof! There goes 2010. But we still have some time...and in that time, I've been to Brittany and Normandy (as well as Turin, Italy, but I'll save that for later). It was cool and breezy, with picturesque greys and greens. Everything was still lush from the rain, the oysters were out of control delicious and briny, the cows producing spectacularly silky dairy products for the richness that is the Breton and Norman cuisine, figs were oozing sweetness out of their purplish brown skins begging for a pungent aged camembert, and the walnut and chestnut tree's were half way through dropping their fruit for us to enjoy. I stocked up on sea salt in all it's shapes and forms along the way, and lugged it back in a borderline too heavy suitcase with an exasperated husband.

This trip was particularly tasty and it was hard to narrow it down, so I've focused on the seasonal and medicinal delights that we encountered along the way.



The first treat we got to nibble away at were tender, sweet, purple figs. Figs travelled a long way to get to France, as they were likely first cultivated 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor before reaching the Mediterranean. There are two seasons for figs in France, late summer and mid Fall to around November. From the perspective of Chinese Medicine, purple figs are excellent blood and digestive tonics given that they are sweet and reddish in color. In addition, their multitudinous miniature seeds which you ingest upon taking a bite of this fruit, are extremely effective in the treatment of constipation. In Chinese Medicine theory, seeds and nuts are used to help lubricate and move the bowels. Sexy stuff! For those that squirm when I mention your digestive regularity, fear not, figs are well worth it when in season, regardless of your intentions.


(oysters vendors by the piers in Cancale)



Cancale, France is possibly one of my favorite places on earth. Allow your eyes to glaze over and see past the touristy bits of this quaint seaside fishing village, they have some of the BEST oysters I have happily slurped down in my life. That's saying a lot given that I would eat oysters for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in my dream life. They tasted like a trip across the ocean with the salty water and sun splashing on your face. Much like when you put a big shell to your ear to hear the roar of the ocean, these oysters tasted pure like that sound. And in Chinese Medicine they fall into the category of kidney tonics given their salty taste and briny beginnings. In France, oysters are being gobbled up in the November and December months and they are a common staple at the Christmas table. In popular (and ancient) culture, oysters have always been given aphrodisiac status, which falls in line with the kidney tonic theory that Chinese Medicine lends them as the kidneys are key in matters of fertility.


(walnut tree)


(fallen walnut)


(chestnut tree)


(saved chesnut)

Oysters aren't the only kidney tonics, walnuts and chestnuts also fall in line with this medicinal value. We were lucky enough to have access to a walnut tree in a family members back yard and a chestnut tree at a manor where we attended a wedding. Walnuts are particularly beneficial to the kidney yang aspect of the body, meaning : chronic cough with wheezing, infertility, chronic lower back pain and weakness, and impotence. Walnuts are thermally warming, have a sweet flavor, and reduce inflammation as well as eliminate pain (Healing With Whole Foods, P. Pitchford). Chesnuts, another lovely winter nut found in abundance during this time of year treat the kidney, stomach, and spleen, giving them the additional benefit of being digestive tonics on top of their kidney benefits.



Ahhh, the lovely cows everywhere we drove through Brittany and Normandy! They were all standing about chewing away peacefully until I would force whoever was driving to stop so I could take the millionth picture of another cow and it would inevitably turn around and face me, stop chewing, and wonder why I had to disturb it (much like in the picture above). Bovine dairy is a bit controversial at times, due mainly to poor breeding and production practices, but it also has it's place medicinally when you can access healthy dairy like the dairy found in Brittany and Normandy where the cows are out to pasture and aren't fed bovine growth hormone or antibiotics (primarily because they are out to pasture and there is no rush). From the perspective of Chinese Medicine, milk has building and strengthening properties so long as you are not suffering from any of the following (in which case, use in moderation or not at all): sinus congestion, chronic skin issues, obesity, or phlegm. If you want to know more about milk, see here for a previous post on it. In Brittany and Normandy, it was hard to resist the excellent butter, delicious milk, and not to mention the phenomenal cheeses (Camembert, Pays d' Auge, and the variety of chevres) everywhere we went. Many meals ended with a slice of fragrant cheese and prepared our stomachs for the onslaught of Thanksgiving feasting that was around the corner!


(whatcha lookin' at?)

Love from the Sea

The sea urchin (a.k.a. uni in Japanese or erizo de mar in Spanish): pure joy for your kidney's. This was my lunch today, straight out of the shell. It melted in my mouth. Salty is the flavor of the kidney's according to Chinese Medicine theory and thus much of the briney seafood will treat this organ system which is in charge of your essence i.e. sexual energy, bone structure, adrenal function, ability to cleanse and purify, and your overall grounding and stability on a physical and emotional level. Sea Urchin is also sweet and creamy and will target the digestive function. If you can get your hands on some of this joy - do it! Tossed with fresh pasta, spread on a crispy baguette (much like roasted bone marrow), gently placed on a piece of rice as sushi, or eaten as I did today, plain and out of the shell from the wonderful Dirk's Fish Market in Chicago (Dirk and all the people that work there make the trip worthwhile!).



The soft beige roe is gently removed from the shell and washed of it's surroundings before you either eat it right there and THEN or you choose one of the aforementioned methods of preparation.

Circulating Chives

Chives are another of the lovely young onions popping up in the Spring. Along with their magenta colored flowers they are a wonderful addition for the culinary and medicinal palate. In Chinese Medicine chives specifically target the kidneys, liver, and stomach. Which means, they can influence those organs specifically along with influencing the functions of those organ systems. Chives dry dampness (dampness can manifest as lethargy, obesity, loose stools, cloudy-mindedness, phlegm, and sluggishness). According to Paul Pitchford chives are also excellent in the treatment of bruises and swellings from injury, you can apply them directly (crushed and juiced) onto the affected area and/or consume 2-3 cups of chive tea per day (or consume 2 ounces fresh). Chives increase the circulation and warm up the body. The purple color of the flowers places it in the category of being further influential on the circulation of blood, as red colored foods often will be. The acrid taste is also very moving, you can almost feel this as you bite into a fresh chive and it emits warmth and spice.




Chives are thermally warm so they can treat cold conditions such as arthritis that is affected by cold, or a digestive system that is cold in nature (whereby you may get instant loose stools upon ingesting a cold beverage). You should avoid chives if you are experiencing any outwardly hot condition such as red inflamed acne, red eyes, or red inflammations. If you want to learn how to grow chives (which can be dried and stored for winter use), then go here.

You can add chives to virtually any dish it seems. I like them in scrambled eggs. I've also been adding them to salads and salad dressings, sprinkled over a meat dish, and chopped into soups. Do with them as you wish, but definitely have some on hand for your medicinal and tasty arsenal. If you have any additional chive recipes or wisdom please do share below!


Scrambled Eggs with Chives
farm fresh eggs
chives with flowers
butter
salt
pepper

1. Gently saute eggs on a low heat and add chives half way through. Salt and pepper to taste. If you want to cut the onion taste a little with sweetness, add a dollop of goat cheese.

Oysters in Paris

We just celebrated a lovely Christmas in Paris. Here is a little taste of what we had, briney and succulent oysters. We are right smack in the season for these, but you can use the general rule of thumb to calculate when to have them: all the R months, meaning OctoberR, NovembeR, DecembeR..and so on. In Chinese medicine these are considered good for your kidneys, and therefore your fertility and sexual energy. Must be why everyone says they are an aphrodisiac...more on oysters another time. Have a wonderful holiday!

More Than Tubers

November is at the cross roads between the colorful bounty of summer and the underground tuber-laden foods of winter. My last jaunt to the farmers market contained: fresh chesnuts, green star cauliflower, onions, garlic, farm fresh eggs, grass fed beef (bone marrow & ground), stone ground coarse cornmeal, maitake (hen of the woods) mushrooms, blue jacket potatoes, and monster size red beets. It's a wonderful thing how nature mimics what you need when you need it just by the nature of the food it gives us.

Fresh chestnuts arrive in time to provide plenty of vitamin C just as all the fruits of summer are disappearing. Chestnuts treat the kidneys, stomach, and spleen. Winter is kidney time in Chinese medicine, with it's cool dark climate it mimics the exact properties that are the kidneys : black, cool, and salty. Chestnuts warm the body up when it's cold. They strengthen all that is weak: digestion, sexual function, fatigue, and cold extremities. Chestnuts are also the one nut that is almost as high in starch as the potato (don't run away carb-loathers!). This also makes them very low in fat. If you get lower back pain in the winter then a chestnut may just be your favorite nut right about now.



Ahh...farm fresh eggs. I can not say enough about these. Forget the gummy elastic ghost of an egg that you find in a supermarket, these don't even cost much more than that! They also contain good cholesterol i.e. of the omega 3 variety (think: salmon craze). However, farm fresh (free range, hormone-free, etc.) eggs are higher in omega 3 than their mass produced counterparts. Egg whites are good for your lungs and egg yolks are good for your kidneys. Eggs are also thought to "calm a fetus" in TCM, so if you're pregnant and the baby is kicking up a storm, boil up an egg and devour. They are also wonderful post partum, building up your energy and blood.



You can very simply see the difference in a farm fresh egg, the yolk is a deep beautiful orange instead of the pale yellow flabbiness in other eggs. And the taste is a whole other beast, let me put it this way: do not waste your time on store bought eggs if you don't have to.



Blue jacket potatoes, sounds like a potato going to a party every time I hear it. And this potato should throw a party anyway because it absolutely gives more than it's white counterpart. There are so many colorful and wonderful potatoes out there that aren't of the white Idado variety that a whole post should be dedicated just to the potato. Suffice it to say, these blue potatoes are a must try, and they will boost your blood and circulation along with amp up the vitamin and mineral presence. Even Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance endorses the colored potatoes amazingly enough, if only they would cover Acupuncture treatments more regularly!



Green star cauliflower. I'm not certain that is how they refer to it, but that is what it looks like to me every time I buy one. I buy it for it's beauty but it also provides itself as an antidote to heat in the lungs and stomach which can often manifest as the infamous GERD, or acid reflux. Given that Thanksgiving is creeping up, perhaps a little pureed cauliflower would be in order along with a dash of anise liquor to help ease the path for all that heavy food.



And what about the maitake mushrooms, corn meal, beef bone marrow, and all the other goodies I brought home? Well, bone marrow is used to treat joint issues (arthritis, pain in the joints, etc.) as well as the kidneys. Maitake mushrooms deserve a post of their own much like the potatoes, but they are excellent for the liver and in fighting cancer. Corn meal will cure that colic or stomach ache you've been feeling (provided you don't eat a donut afterwards).

I made a beautiful meal with my bounty (and no pictures are provided because it was simply...that. good.) :

Baguette served with roasted bone marrow & parsley, red onion, & lemon salad
Seared grass fed New York strip steaks
Creamy polenta with buttery maitake mushrooms
Romaine lettuce with poached eggs, thick sliced crisp bacon bits, & shallot vinagrette
Creme Caramel

Building with Black Beans

Some of you may be happy to know that black beans are medicinal in many interesting ways. One of those ways is something I've mentioned here before and will likely keep mentioning, they are good for your blood. I feel like I may need to explain this whole "good for your blood" thing a bit more as it is becoming a common thread and it may seem a bit vague and possibly vampiric. I've mentioned it in the beef noodle soup, beet, and mochi postings. As you may recall in the beet piece I touched on how Aphrodite was the goddess of beets and that it was said that this was because beets were good for beauty, well blood is your beauty in essence. In fact, it is your essence, and just so happens to be a very important thing to nourish. This does not mean you have to be blood deficient (ie. anemic or anything along those lines) in order to take care of this blood thing. Rather, it's something that you maintain always so that you keep your bases/building blocks stable, healthy, and yes, beautiful (for men & women!) for as long as possible. In TCM blood is considered one of the essential building blocks (in fact, it is likewise in western/modern medicine as well) and it is not just the stuff that oozes out when you cut yourself, but it is the body's sustenance. Your body's daily culinary feast is blood. Therefore, I'd say you need to make that blood pretty good in order for your body to be happy. I won't get too technical beyond this (though it would be fun for me to), but if any of you want more details and more technicality, ask/comment away! Now that we're done with the good for your blood thing..

Back to black beans. They are a part of the legume family and legumes are considered drying and diuretic in general. Each bean has it's separate characteristics within this. The black bean while diuretic, is also warming and sweet in nature, builds fluids and blood in the body, and is supportive of your kidney and reproductive function. Some examples of situations to eat lots of black beans: (during times of blood loss) pre and post menstrual cycle, post-partum, post-surgical; for lower back pain (you would have to eat them for a long while, 3-4x/week minimum); anemia; and infertility. Separately, black bean juice can be used for hoarseness, hot flashes, kidney stones, and urinary difficulties. There are more situations but this is a general outline which should be a good start. You can simply eat black beans to give your blood a boost once in a while, and just because they are tasty!

Black beans are thought to be native to Mexico and appeared some 7,000 years ago. There are a million ways to prepare them and many things to likewise pair them with. I cooked a simple version of black beans last night and paired them with a slow stewed piece of osso bucco (you can pair them with chicken, steak, fish, up to you!). Here is how I did it:

1. Ingredients: 1.5 lbs of dried black beans (this will feed 10 people!), onion, garlic, powdered cumin, fresh oregano (excellent digestive and consequently much like garlic, an anti-microbial), cilantro, bay leaves, salt, pepper, chile morita (you can use serranos, jalapenos, dried chili flakes, up to you), vinegar, 1-2 tomatoes
** I was missing celery and some cured pork fat in my opinion, I strongly suggest you add them (if you do add cured pork fat or celery - you should at the beginning so they stew slowly with the beans)





2. Rinse the beans a few times and make sure there are no pebbles or straggling bits of earth. Soak the beans for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight (covered in 2 inches of water). I soaked them 4 hours and they turned out fine but overnight will likely give them that extra flavor. The idea is to rehydrate them so that they remain intact and therefore nutritious during a slow boil.




3. Since I used dried chile moritas, I had to soak them in water while the beans soak too.




3. Once the beans are done soaking you will notice that the water has turned a beautiful dark color. This is where many cooks/chefs will diverge on theory. Do you throw the water out or not? Some say yes in order to avoid the flatulence factor. The rest (and I am with those) say no, that's hogwash, and the water has harnessed a beautiful dark color and flavor for a reason. I kept the water. Here is how it looks:





4. Next, you start this bountiful bean feast boiling, put the pot on the stove with the soaked beans AND their juice (if the water line is below one inch, please add so there is at least one inch above the bean line), add all the ingredients: crushed garlic (I put in 4-5 cloves, you can add more/less to taste), 2-3 bay leaves, 1 tspn cumin, 1 chopped up onion (it cooks down so it can be a rough chop), 3-4 cilantro stalks chopped up with the root and the leaves, 1 tbspn or more of oregano leaves, salt, pepper, I added a chicken bouillon cube (if you have cured pork fat, no need to add this), 1 chopped up tomato, 3 rehydrated chilis, approx a tbspn of vinegar. Bring to a high boil for 5 mins then reduce to a simmer for at least 2 hrs (3 is a good amount however). Recipes are very hard to translate into what your water is like, your stove is like, etc, and also what your taste is, so please please just play with this, taste, check, then taste and check again! The beans should not get dry ever so add water when they start sucking it all up. You want it somewhat brothy but this is not a black bean soup, it's a black bean dish. Moist but not dry.





5. Your beans should be done in 2-3 hours, you can let them simmer for longer if you want. TASTE them and decide for yourself. Some people like them beanier (more bean roughness), some like them mushier like peas. Up to you. At this point you will want to make what is referred to as the sofrito, which consists of what you started with at the beginning. There are many variations on sofrito much like most recipes, so you can play with this as well. They even sell it in bottles in the Mexican or Latino-catered stores. If you are making it from scratch, mince up 4-5 cloves garlic, 1/2 - 1 onion, 1 tomato, cilantro, a green pepper, olive oil, salt, pepper, and blend - you can add as much as you deem necessary (to taste) to your black beans. If you have leftover sofrito you can freeze it and use another time. Here is a link to a few more recipes for this:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sofrito/Detail.aspx

6. During this whole bean thing you should have cooked what you chose to accompany the beans, I cooked rice, a slow simmered osso bucco, and I also added a garnish and sliced avocado. I like a good garnish to bring out the flavors of a dish sometimes using what was originally in the dish. A quick digression here, I am currently reading Bill Buford's book Heat and he mentions that Mario Batali calls this type of garnish a "high note", I quite like this reference as it is indeed the high note of the dish bringing out all the other notes. In Thailand they often do this, adding a bit of raw to a cooked dish whether that is vinegar or a garnish. For this dish, I prepared a garnish of cilantro, vinegar, onion (minced), and sea salt. I added a dollop of that to each plate on top of the beans, along with the rice, bit of meat, and sliced avocado. Oh and of course, I served a hot sauce on the side (Franks, which is vinegary and not so hot).





Other ideas for black bean dishes: black bean salsa in the summer, black bean hummus (I'll definitely do that one next), black bean and corn soup, and on and on. I hope you enjoy some black beans next time you're feeling the need to build yourself up a bit. I woke up feeling great today post black bean feast.

**Medicinal note: some signs and symptoms of "blood deficiency" as per TCM are brittle nails, dry skin, scanty menses (for women), brittle hair, thirst/dry mouth

ADDENDUM RECIPE:

After cooking with the black beans, a few weeks later, I decided to go for it again but this time I did it with Flor de Mayo red beans (similar medicinal value to black beans), I added two smoked pork hocks, corn, carrots (towards the end so they didn't disintegrate), celery, Thai chili's (instead of chipotle since the pork is smokey enough and I wanted more kick) and extra onion - otherwise the recipe is exactly the same as above and you should follow those steps. This I must say turned out amazingly well and I liked it even better, you have to cook the hocks in the beans for at least 3 hours so they get soft (and they impart a lovely smokey flavor), take them out and slice up and place back in the beans, served with sliced avocado and a dollop of yogurt (in lieu of sour cream).