Mustard seed
Brassica juncea
Seed · hot · drawing
A kitchen fire for the chest plaster and the pot.
In the mouth
How it tastes
Pungent heat, nutty when toasted. A spice, not a tea.
Traditional use
Seed in the pot is food. Seed as a paste on cloth is the old drawing plaster for a cold chest or a creaky joint — heat that pulls blood to the skin.
In the cup
Culinary: crush into vinaigrette or cook in oil. Plaster: mix ground seed with flour and warm water, spread on cloth, keep a thin cloth between paste and skin, minutes only.
Blood
Bitter blood · bitter
Bitter is first hot, then cold. It speeds digestion, moves lymph and waste, wakes circulation, and calls bile from the gallbladder. As that hot, caustic bile travels, the body cools — which is why the old bitter cups were given for fever. Bitter is the strongest medicine in this tradition.
Read bitter bloodReached for
The promise
A careful hand
Some people, or a long pot, need extra care.
A mustard plaster can blister. Minutes, not hours, and never on broken skin or a child. Eating the seed is the safer daily use.
Read the whole promiseSits well with
Ginger
Zingiber officinale
The stillroom’s first answer to a cold belly or a coming chill.
Nausea · Indigestion · Chill & congestion
Warm, move, and stimulate
Horseradish
Armoracia rusticana
A white fire in the root — it opens a closed head like a door kicked in.
Closed sinuses · Cough · Chill & congestion
Warm, move, and stimulate
Garlic
Allium sativum
The house charm that also went into the broth.
Chill & congestion · Cold hands & sluggish blood · Sore throat
Warm, move, and stimulate
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.