Home

Hera

Spiced Milk with Honey

Mon, 07/28/2008 - 10:36 — kitchenwitch
Ingredients:

1 quart milk
1 tablespoon honey
4 cardamom pods
4 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf

Tie up all the spices in a cheesecloth square, or, if you don't have one you can just put them right in the pan and strain the milk before serving. Combine spices, milk and honey in a saucepan.

Notes:

This is marvelous before bedtime after a long hard day playing in the snow. It warms the heart and soul, as well as the body and casts a sleepy spelli. It's marvelous for topping off the Imbolc festivities just before sending the little ones off to dreamland. Its energies promote familial love, strong bonds and a feeling of being nurtured and loved.

Quick Witch Tips:

Tomatoes

Sat, 12/29/2007 - 10:09 — DawnBlack
Botanical Name:

Lycopersicon esculentum

Zones:
5-10

Tomatoes are members of the nightshade family along with potatoesi and eggplants. They are either upright and bushy in habit, or they grow in trailing vines.

Propagation:

Tomatoes like lots of sun, at least six hours. Plant them deeply in good soil in the sunniest location in your yard. Compost the base of the plant. As your plants get taller, you will probably need to stake it to keep it upright. You can do this with a stick and some string, tie the string to the plant and then to the stick (Don’t hogtie the plant to the stick) or you can use a tomato cage. Occasional pruning will produce bigger fruits.

Tomatoes grow well in containers. Use 3 gallon buckets or larger. Don’t let the soil dry out completely, but don’t over water either. Be sure to water the soil and not the leaves to prevent fungal infections. Cut back on watering and stop fertilizing when the tomato begins to fruit. Tomatoes reseed readily.

Depending on the variety, tomatoes may be red, orangei, yellow or green when they are ripe. Tomatillos (little green tomatoes inside husks that look like Chinese lanterns) are ready when the husks starti to split. Be sure to harvest your tomatoes the moment they are ripe, or their skins may start to split or the birds and squirrels will eat them. Tomatoes reseed readily. A fruit abandoned to rot on the ground will return next year, whether you want it or not.

Tomatoes often have problems with hornworms.

History and Folklore:

The botanical name for tomatoes means “edible wolf peach”.
Tomatoes are native to Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador where they have been cultivated since time immemorial. Common folklore says that when Christopher Columbus first landed in South America he decided the Orinoco River in Venezuela (where he discovered tomatoes) was the gateway to the Garden of Eden.

Tomatoes were once considered a powerful aphrodisiac and associated with the temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden. Their French name, Pomme d’amore (apple of love) and the Spanish name poma amoris, reflect this. Hungarians called it paradice appfel (Apple of Paradise). The Greeks called it pomadora, Golden Apple, and associated it with the Hesperides and the golden applesi of Hera.

At any rate, it was about 150 years after their discovery before Europeans considered them safe for civilized consumption and even then they were only suitable as ingredients for sauce. Those who weren’t afraid they would succumb to uncontrollable lust at the taste feared their teeth might fall out.

In 1820, Robert Johnson of New Jersey announced that he was going to publicly eat a tomato. People came from miles around to see what they were sure was a foolish act that would end in a horrible death. He, of course, survived.

Harvesting & Storage:

Tomatoes will last for several days at room temperature. Their flavor is best if they are not stored inside a refrigerator. If they aren’t completely ripe when picked, they will ripen off the vine.

Tomatoes do not freeze well, but they can beautifully and can be made into sauces and salsa and canned for use later in the year. Sun dried tomatoes are delicious.

Household Use:
Magical Attributes:

Tomatoes are associated with Venus and with Aphrodite and Hera. This plant is feminine in nature.

The presence of a tomato help protect from negative influences. Putting one on the window sill will prevent evil from entering the house.

Eating the fruit inspires love and passion. It is a good addition to romantic dinners and also good to eat to inspire creativity.

A much anticipated summer treat, tomatoes are suitable offerings for first harvest festivals and are especially suitable for Native American deities.

Although the flavor is completely different, tomatoes can be used in place of applesi in many magical spells. They can also be used in place of other members of the nightshade family.

Healing Attributes:

Tomatoes are rich in vitamin C, lycopene (an antioxidant), potassium and citric acid making them a valuable addition to the diet for the general maintenance of health. They aid in liver function and help cleanse the body of environmental toxins. They are also said to aid in the digestion of fatty foods and help maintain the health of the circulatory system. They are also excellent for rehydration after a fast or strenuous exercise.

Tomatoes are acidic in nature and they may upset some peoples’ stomachs. Some people are also very allergic to them.

Culinary Use:

Tomatoes are great raw or cooked. They are excellent marinated, in salads, or sliced and sprinkled with sugar or salt, or not as you prefer, or made into sandwiches with mayo or cream cheese. They are great roasted with other vegetables, stewed and served with pasta or as a soup base, or made into sauces for pasta, rice or couscous. Some tomato varieties are more acidic than others. Adding a bit of sugar will help cut the acidity.

Practical Kitchen Witchery:

Maple-Pecan Yams & Apples

Wed, 12/05/2007 - 12:14 — kitchenwitch
Ingredients:

A handful of pecans
1 cup of apple cider
1 apple, washed, cored, cubed
2 Yams or sweet potatoesi, washed, cubed
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the cubed apple and yams in a baking dish. Pour cider over all and stir to coat.
Cut the butter into tiny squares and sprinkle over the top.

Notes:

This is a fabulous recipe for your Feast of the Dead at Samhain as the yams celebrate the chthonic deities while the applesi are the food of immortality.
This is also a great thanksgiving meal for harvest celebrations and its energies help to draw prosperity to the hearth.

Quick Witch Tips:

Harvest Salad

Thu, 11/29/2007 - 15:07 — kitchenwitch
Ingredients:

2 green applesi chopped
2 red apples chopped
1 cup green grapesi
1 cup red grapes
1 cup plain yogurt
2 tbsp lime juice (or to taste)
2 tbsp honey (or to taste)
Candied walnuts or candied pecans

Rinse and chop fruit and place in a bowl. Set aside.

Notes:

This is best eaten right away. If you store it too long, the dressing starts to separate and if you store it with the nuts in the nuts will lose their crunch.

This is a great recipe for newlyeweds as it contains energy to enhance feelings of love and to promote prosperity and fertility. If you're more into the fertility than the prosperity, you can bring in some color magic by omitting the green grapesi and applesi and use more red, if you're more into the prosperity than the fertility, use more green.

Quick Witch Tips:

You could use lemoni, lime or vanillai flavored yogurt as a quick dressing for this and omitt the lime and honey. But it won't be as good.

Syndicate content