Wild vanilla
Carphephorus odoratissimus
Leaf, wilted or dried · drying · vanilla-leaf
A field leaf that smells of vanilla when it dies — a scenting herb, not a pod.
On the nose
How it smells
Sweet vanilla from the leaf, especially when wilted or dried. Aromatic, lasting, the old scenting-leaf of a tobacco pouch.
More hay & vanillaIn the mouth
How it tastes
Vanilla only when wilted. A scenting leaf, not a cup.
Traditional use
Also called vanilla leaf. Folk stillrooms dried it to perfume a pouch or a jar. The smell comes as the leaf wilts. This is not kitchen vanilla and not a cup.
In the cup
Wilt or dry the leaves. Keep them in a closed jar. Smell them. Do not brew a pot.
Blood
Sweet blood · sweet
Sweet first warms, then cools, and it softens. It is relaxing — the reason sugar went into cough syrups — nutritive, building, and hormonally active. Sweet herbs feed the brain and nerves, nourish spleen and pancreas, and coat dry tissue. They cleanse by moving blood toward the organs that wash it.
Read sweet bloodReached for
The promise
A careful hand
A pinch or a rare pot — not a daily habit.
Scenting leaf only. Not a beverage. Not the vanilla of the pantry pod.
Read the whole promiseSits well with
Woodruff
Galium odoratum
Fresh it is quiet. Dried it is vanilla-hay — the May-wine leaf.
Limit the cup
Ground, build, and settle
Sweet vernal grass
Anthoxanthum odoratum
The hay that smells of vanilla when the scythe has been through.
Limit the cup
Ground, build, and settle
Life everlasting
Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium
Sweet everlasting — maple-hay in the hand, a scenting herb of the field.
Limit the cup
Ground, build, and settle
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.