The Balsam Flower - Magic of Medicinal Herbs and Flowers

-


   
Balsam flowers

While a huge variety of seasonal flowers grow on our planet when it is neither too hot nor too cold, unfortunately some do have to put up with extreme heat or cold for a part of the year. In northern Indian plains, summer temperatures may easily exceed 40 Celsius in the months of April, May and June and it is only the early mornings and evening that are cool to get out into the garden and have late evening garden parties. However the difficulty at this time is what flowers to grow in the garden. Few can tolerate that heat. However, with the grace of the Lord, there are some. The most popular are Zinnia, the yellow Cosmos, Portulaca and Balsam.

The botanical name of the flower is Impatiens Balsamina.  It is an annual plant growing to 20–75 cm tall, with a thick, but soft stem.  Aside from the flowers the plant has beautiful leaves that are toothed and spirally arranged and that is something one has to look for in a pretty garden. The flowers range in color from purple to red, pink to white and shades in between.

The Balsam is a medicinal plant. The crushed leaves as well as flowers have a topical application on skin and hair. It is good for burns, skin blemishes and warts and on joints this application reduces pain.  The decoction of the flowers is great as a medicinal floral tea. It improves digestion, sex life for men and relieves constipation. It also purifies the system by promoting much forceful urination. Aside from folk knowledge there also exists a substantial body of modern scientific research on extracts of this plant. The interested reader may locate these easily through a Google search of the scientific name of this flower. Needless to say the tea is not recommended for those who already have a laxative stomach.

A Private Party Menu

Here is a full private party prescription just for two in romantic love and newly married couples keen to begin a family quickly on an appropriate and desirable occasion at the right time in a month,  that could get one steaming after the following simple dinner that does not have any thing expensive like caviar or Salmon on the list nor anything complicated as several courses, there won't be time for all that in any case on this one,

  1. Three or four days before the party, start drinking a cup of tea made from a mix of  dried Balsam flowers and dried Horny Goat weed leaves sweetened with honey. Use a tablespoon each of the dried herbs and flowers. In case you are on a regular medication for any condition, especially blood pressure skip the horny goat weed part and only use balsam flowers. Please do not have this tea for more than a few days a month. It can harm then. Perhaps the Lord has designed this tea with procreation in mind and that requires only a few days a month.
  1. The recommended drink for the evening party is two glasses of green coconut water. In case you consume alcoholic drinks at parties; you may add an ounce of scotch whiskey and some ice to the coconut water (name of the cocktail is Pee Johnny). However do not exceed two such drinks to be consumed before or through dinner.
  1. The snacks before the meal is almonds fried in butter but no more than ten each, and some or all of the following:  white/green table grapes, cos or iceberg lettuce central leaves dressed with just a hint of olive oil and vinegar (do not sprinkle any salt or the leaves will go limp), pickled olives ( green not ripe), thin slices of a strong cheese. All snacks in very small servings please so as not to ruin the dinner, to be eaten with  fingers.
  1. The menu for the dinner is sliced onions fried in butter sprinkled with a  bit of ground cloves instead of black pepper, a two egg omelet with sliced button mushrooms, and steamed asparagus tips/spears, and a small dinner roll or toast and butter. Use any sauce that you fancy with the dinner menu, white tartar, red ketchup or yellow mustard. However, the Chinese red chilli sauce would be the best. If you wish for the dinner to have an exotic touch sprinkle some grated black Truffle on the omelet and garnish the asparagus serving with some some freshly crushed dried buds of lavender. The fried onions may be piled on the toast cut in two halves like an open sandwich. Remember no wine is to be served with this meal, just the coconut water-scotch cocktail drink or plain coconut water and thereafter if one is thirsty just iced water during the meal and floral tea later as described next
  1. After dinner sip some of the Balsam plus Horny goat weed tea. In case you have Lavender or scented rose water add a dash of that to the tea. A few dried Lavender buds may be added while preparing the tea this time. Serve small chocolates broken into squares on the side. Extending the event is possible, in case you wish to stretch out the evening and are able to, by moving to the fireside rug with some chestnuts to roast in the fire.

Yes, a bit of effort to collect the whole lot of ingredients from the stores and garden (shade dried leaves and flowers from a home garden can be used for the tea) but then who said such things were meant to be organized at the drop of a hat; if you can not locate an ingredient or two suggested here, still go ahead, there is enough in there for fireworks anyway, :). The interested reader may learn more about the horny goat weed through a Google search perhaps beginning with this 


Horny Goat Weed

It may however be reminded that spiritual persons only recommend this sort of entertaining when procreation of new life is desired, best for young married couples looking forward to starting a family, and not for entertainment since far superior, long lasting rather than brief, forms of entertainment that elevate a soul lie in spiritual pursuits marked by abstaining from lust that leaves one drained of physical and spiritual energies when the event is over.  When such an indulgence is devoid of romantic love the loss is much greater. It is one of the major factors that ties the soul of a human to the ground and prevents it from rising to higher levels. An escape from it however does not lie in hypocrisy or suppression because that may lead a soul to the doors of hell. An escape from it occurs by an exploration and experience of higher goals.


Images Courtesy of:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Balsam_flower_at_lalbagh7353.JPG
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.



http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rowdy_Lamb_Herb.jpg
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
 

Comments

ProfAshok said…
The party plan posted at first had become complicated and confusing and has been replaced with a simpler better organized plan just now.
April 22, 2015 at 7:22 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

From Birds to Telepathy

-
Image
  Sparrow by  Laitche T he house that I live in presently was built in stages  beginning in 1991 during  vacations and sabbaticals in my career. By 1995, the ground floor of the house was more or less complete except for some finishing that continued later. In the center of the roof of the living room was a hole meant for a center light. To hide the protruding wires a small round plastic sheet covered it with another circular hole in the center of it for the light. A similar one existed in the front porch of the house. I lived in the house through most of 1995 with frequent visits of three or four days to Delhi. At this time a pair of house sparrows occupied the porch roof cavity and made it their home. There were no complaints about that since it was not intended to fix a light there in a hurry. Sparrows are cute little birds anyway and I often leave seeds out for them in the garden. Sometime later the female of the pair moved into the living roo...
Read more

The Palash Tree - Magic of Medicinal Herbs and Flowers and Back Pain

-
Image
The Palash Tree Flower B efore modern medicines became prevalent, humans treated many ailments with flowers, leaves, roots and barks of plants and trees. Ayurveda,  an ancient Indian medicinal science, makes use of many herbs and plant materials without substantial extraction of active ingredients as modern medicine does. The idea is that additional compounds in a medicinal or edible plant is an organic whole and a part of life that supports other life.  The complimentary compounds appear to play a useful balancing role whereas individually extracted and isolated compounds can be harmful. A modern example in wide use as food is sugar, a pure chemical isolated from the juice of sugar cane. Indeed there is no food or herb that does not contain a compound or two that could be from mildly to extremely dangerous if isolated and consumed but is beneficial as a group with other compounds. That is the reason why alcohol distilled from a natural fermented fruit juice and ...
Read more

You are what you eat, and drink

-
Image
C onsume an ounce of whiskey and you will notice the change in mood and behavior immediately. However, it is not just whiskey everything we drink, even the quality of water, or anything we eat has some subtle or significant influence on our behavior. Consumed over a period, not just the weekend binge, the type of food we consume literally shapes our personality prompting ancient thinkers like Hippocrates to remark, “You are what you eat”. Some question this by saying that it is our experiences and habits that shape our personality but the two are linked because it is our habits that shape our tastes and food choices. In another post in this blog it was  mentioned that a human personality is shaped by memory and experiences and one might ask which of the two is more significant - food or experiences?. My understanding is that humans gravitate towards the foods and actions that agree with their inner inclinations and personality and so in the end both causes are two sides of th...
Read more