STarting a new chapter: FORGOTTEN TASTE

In this new chapter, we are exploring how day-to day groceries were and are used as life supporting and healing foods, how a lot of them disappeared from our menu and are now re-discovered along with the knowledge. "Weeds" were plants used for eating and healing, and when you get to know their appearance, you suddenly see so much more forests and grasslands.
 
What was the ecological significance of wild plants and herbs, in the history of medicine and science, or in our own kitchens or cultivated convent gardens? Connecting the topic with art, literature, philosophy or poetry, VITAL FORCES explores.

Great events and dinners to sign up for. Stay tuned!

In times of war and post-war times, the ribwort leaves were used as salad and provided a source of vitamins.  You can harvest it from April to August and find it all over any grassland and  fields, next to nettles and dandelions. If you get nasty insect bites, you can levigate it and spread it on your bite. It has a soothing and cooling effect.

Plantago lanceolata

A species of flowering plant.

Family: Plantafinaceae
Other Names: English plantain, narrowleaf plantain, ribwort plantain, ribleaf and lamb's tongue

Wikipedia entry calls it a "weed" ! How sad!:
"It is a common weed of cultivated land"...., "It is considered an invasive weed in North America. It is present and widespread in the Americas and Australia as an introduced species."

Well, here in Germany, we eat it in our wild herb salads and I must say, they are delicious leaves! Further:

Ribwort contains several Iridoidglycoside, which are produced by plants act primarily as a defense against herbivores or against infection by microorganisms.
Here a few of the iridoids and their healing powers:
- Aucubin, was found to protect against liver damage
- Catalpol, stimulates the production of adrenal cortical hormones
- Organic silica, very important overall to strengthen our cellular connective tissue