23/01/2022
So well said!
Tonight's reminder on why to buy herbs from an herbalist: On visiting a local, reputable healthfood store, something caught my eye. A very brown-looking jar of borage herb. On closer inspection I could see that someone had stocked a brown, finely cut root, not borage at all, three inches on top of some rather brown to slightly green flecked borage leaf. I brought this to a manager's attention and he marched it off the floor muttering 'How the heck did that happen?'.
It's not as important 'how' it happened as it is 'that' it happened. Unsuspecting people, with knowledge levels the same as the person stocking that jar, could have potentially ended-up with an herb that was not right for them, making them sick, or worse.
Now, borage is a green herb, not a brown one, so that was part of the problem. It was the same color and looked roughly the same as the brown root piled on top of it. Whose problem was it? The person who accepted it when it arrived and didn't send it back to the supplier. And what about that supplier? Are they not aware the herb is green when dried, not brown? How about the farmer, are they trained to do this work and didn't notice that the green-growing plant went brown, a sign of decay. Brown decay, you know, when your lettuce starts turning brown and tastes real bad?
Here's a visual example. This photo sample on the left is what is being sold by a popular supplier as nettle, non-medicinal stem and all. On the right is what is being grown by a regional herb farm; nettle leaf. Which would you rather have in your cup of tea? Me too, that's why I purchase-in this fresh green nettle leaf for our community, grown on an herb farm. No decay, hooray!
Your farmer ought to be an herbalist. The supplier, if any, needs to be trained in organoleptic testing; inspecting, smelling, tasting, sensing and possibly in botany as well. The person who purchases, stocks and sells you herbs ought to be an herbalist. There are hundreds of them out there, and me, here. Let us do our job, what we are trained to do, and help keep you safe, and healthy.
