Lavender oil to help you sleep--and for a deliciously soothing crème brûlée . . . fennel to aid digestion--and for a refreshingly cool salad with apple . . . garlic to cure infections--and for a great chunky gazpacho with lemon balm . . . dandelion as an effective blood purifier--and for a tasty lasagna with shiitakes . . . These are just some of the amazing uses and unique tastes featured in The Herbal Epicure, a one-of-a-kind treasury of practical gardening instruction, healing techniques, and fantastic recipes. Here are the miracle medicines that our great-grandmothers nurtured on sunny windowsills and in kitchen gardens, the folk wisdom passed from generation to generation, and the latest scientific confirmation of the efficacy of these traditional remedies. In addition, The Herbal Epicure provides a varied collection of innovative, contemporary and heirloom recipes for favorite and newly rediscovered herbs like burdock, nettle, lambsquarters, and lovage. Gardeners, health-conscious people, and haute cuisine and organic cooks are joining forces to spread the joy of herbal cooking for great taste and total nutrition. This carefully researched A-to-Z collection presents you with more than one hundred herbs, healing plants, and restorative fruits and vegetables--all selected for their health-promoting compounds, outstanding nutritive value, and indispensability for flavorful cooking every day and on special occasions. An experienced organic gardener as well as an inspired cook and recipe collector, Carole Ottesen tells you everything you need to know for tapping into each herb's potent properties, including: - How to cultivate herbs and plants, indoors and out - Knowing stem from stern: the uses of leaves, flowers, and roots - Botanical facts and healing traditions--including feverfew for melancholia and anxiety, heart's ease for heartache, and parsley for good digestion - Preparing medicinal teas, infusions, tinctures, ointments, sachets, syrups, beautifiers, and many other forms of application - Delicious recipes for blackbean cornmeal muffins; lambsquarters crepes; elderberry flower tempura; crab cakes with beebalm; peppermint sorbet, and dozens of other dishes that bring elegant new flavors to the dinner table Beyond an introduction to growing and using herbs, The Herbal Epicure gives you the wherewithal for a lifelong partnership with the earth--and all the joys of good gardening, good food, and good health.