Soups and Starters
Jelly with Welly!! |
This is a fruity and fun way of delivering some powerful immune enhancing medicinal herbs, plus a whole array of vitamins, minerals, and phytoprotectants. You may be wondering why on Earth this is in the starters section? Well, its because of my feelings on fruit consumption. If you are going to eat fruit with a meal, eat if FIRST. It is digested very quickly. If you consume it on top of a meal, you will cause fermentation in the GIT. And you really dont want that now do you?!?!
Recipe
1 cup of mixed berries (Blueberries, Blackberries, Strawberries, Raspberries)
300ml of freshly squeezed carrot and apple juice
300ml of herbal Echinacea and Calendula infusion
2 heaped teaspoons of agar agar powder
Method
Slice up the strawberries, and mix with the remaining berries. Place all of these berries into your favoured Jelly mould.
For the juice, use 1 large golden delicious apple and 2 large carrots.
For the herbal infusion, take 2 heaped tablespoons of echinacea herb, and 1 heaped tablespoons of calendula flowers. Add these to a pan filled with 300ml of filtered water, and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain the infusion and immediately add the agar agar powder. A certain amount of water will have evapourated, so top up with fresh filtered water to take the infusion back to 300 ml.
Add these two liquid elements together, and then pour over the fruit. Place the mould into the fridge until it has set.
Hey presto.......super duper immuno jelly with a whole lot of welly!!
Therapeutic Benefit
Blueberries
These delicious little critters are packed to the hilt with antioxidant nutrients known as anthocyanidins. These substances can help in reducing the much of the swelling and tenderness that we experience if we have an infection, as this inflammation is instigated by free radicals. Blueberries, like cranberries, can be a specific aid in infections of the urinary tract between the bladder and the urethra. The bacteria that cause these infections can only cause a problem if they are given the chance to adhere to the wall of the urinary tract. Blueberries have compounds in them that actually prevent this adhesion from occurring.
Strawberries
How often do you meet someone that doesnt like strawberries??? These summertime superstars have most deservedly earned the title of ‘superfood’. As well as being a fabulous source of vitamin C, strawberries have unique flavanoids present within them that are extremely useful when we are in the full throes of an infection. As we know, many of the symptoms that we experience when we have an infection (more technically known as the dreaded lurgey), are due to the normal inflammatory response gone a little haywire. The unique flavanoids present in strawberries have an ability to lessen the activity of an enzyme called cyclooxygenase (COX) - an inflammatory instigator.
Raspberries and Blackberries
These are included because of their high antioxidant and vitamin C content. Raspberries contain a unique compound called ellagic acid, which is known to be a useful cancer fighting agent.
Echinacea
This herb really needs little introduction. It is one of the most widely used herbs on the planet for treatment of upper respiratory tract infections. It has the ability to stimulate both the production and the activity of white blood cells involved in non-specific immunity. Echinacea causes these cells to migrate to sites of infection much more rapidly, and once there, to carry out their attacks much more aggressively.
Calendula
This is another herb that influences our immunity, although to a lesser extent. It again increases production of white cells, and increases their rate of movement through the lymphatic system. Calendula is also a wonderful anti-inflammatory agent, which, as described above, is essential in the management of infection - in the context of symptom relief.