The map
The four tastes
This house does not begin with a test. It begins with a cup. The four tastes are how the stillroom thinks — bitter, salt, sweet, sour — fire, water, earth, air. A plant is one of these. A body leans toward one, then another, as the weather of the day changes.
You do not have to name your blood to drink ginger. The map is here when you want to know why a bitter cools a fever, or why a salt follows a dry cough.
Bitter blood
Fire · bitter
First hot, then cold
Fire governs metabolism and the project. It is bile and fat, the head, heart, spine, eyes, liver and gallbladder. Under stress, excess fire can look like deficient water.
42 plants in this cupboard
Salty blood
Water · salt
Drying at first, then fluid follows
Water is relationship. It governs lymph, mucous, breasts, reproductive organs, feet, kidneys, and the shaping of the physique. Water always wins — but it needs a bank.
16 plants in this cupboard
Sweet blood
Earth · sweet
Initially warms, then cools. Softens.
Earth is security and status. It governs neck, throat, intestines, belly, skin, bones, knees, and teeth. We are made of the clay — healing often means going back to the taproot and the tree.
26 plants in this cupboard
Sour blood
Air · sour
Cooling · astringent
Air is the thought. It governs movement of fluids, gases, and nerve impulse — brain, nerves, lymph, lungs, shoulders, kidneys, lower back, legs, ankles, circulation. Freedom-loving, and easy to live too much in the head.
34 plants in this cupboard
The tenets sit beside this map — digestion as the root, taproots that go to the clay. Read the tenets. Or skip the theory and walk the cupboard.
Traditional kitchen and folk use only. This is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you are pregnant, nursing, on medicine, or unwell, ask a clinician before drinking anything as a remedy.