Some Sage Advice (Sage)

Member Name: steerpyke

Product:	Sage
Date:	09/12/04 (248 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: low maintainance, many uses, smells great

Disadvantages: none

Sage, thats the herb that goes with the onion to make a stuffing for the Christmas or Thanksgiving diner, isnt it. Well thats probably as much as most people think about this most versitile of plants, but thousands of years before Pilgrims sailed to America, and turkeys found their way to the European dinner table, people all over the world were celebrating the healing qualities of the plant. Indeed the very name, Salvia, comes from the latin "to heal". There is an in joke in the medical community that if you consult enough alternative manuals on the uses of Sage you will find that it is the cure for all known diseases. Sage is no cure all but does have a wide range of uses.

In the garden theSage is a perennial evergreen shrub that reaches to about 3 feet and produces flowers of pink, white, blue or purple. Good drainage and plenty of sunshine are required and if a cold spell is expected a good mulch should protect the plants enough to ensure their survival. New plants can be propogated from seeds or cuttings and will be well established after about two years. After about four years the plants become woody, less productive and less potent in their effectiveness and so ensure that you have a new set of plants on the go each year so that you can discard the older plants and to ensure the most useful supply of Sage.

Pliny, the Roman naturalist listed its use in association with snakebites, epilepsy, chest ailments and menstruation. In the 10th century Arab physicians believed that it extended life to the point of immortality, an idea that was brought back with the crusading knights and led to the saying " why should a man die when sage grows in his garden?" Its uses were recorded all over the world and through out history, Icelandic herbalists, Dutch explorers and Chinese and Ayurvedic traditions were all aware of its properties.

Toute Bonne, its French name means "alls well" and though this may be over selling its potential it does have a wide range of uses in the healing category. Sage when ingested has also been shown to cut perspiration by 50% in a lot of tested people and so acts as natures anti-perspirant, even being used in over the counter product in Germany.

Like many common garden herbs, Sage has an affect on infection causing bacteria and so is useful in dressing wounds . In the past Sage would be bound on to the hand, but in this age of claen water its probably enough to use it as a temporary emergancy cleanser and just wash some into the wound before bandaging.

Due to its ability to slow oxidization in meat it has long been used as a food preservative. Indeed the reason that we use such flavours as Sage, Rosemary and Thyme is not just to please the taste buds, but due to its widespread use in food preparation in pre-refridgeration days. Like most culinary spices, Sage acts as a relaxant and aid to digestion due to its soothing properties within the body.

Tests in Germany have shown that diabetics who drink Sage infusions on an empty stomach experience a reduction in blood sugar. The warning here is that Diabetes is a serious condition and I would not advocate the use of Sage in this instance with out consulting your doctor.

Other uses are as a hot gargle for sore throats and tonsillitis. Sage has been known to cause an inflamation of the lips, but the chemical responsible for this is made inpotant by heat, so if gargles and infusions are always taken hot the risk is negligable

An infusion is made by adding dried leaves to boiling water in the same quantities that you would make a cup of tea, sage unlike many natural out of the garden infusions does taste pungent and reasonably pallatable and as such is easy to fit into your daily routine or diet. Sage oil is however known to cause toxicity in some people and should only be used externally and never ingested.

Sage has often been used for smudging, the practice of burning small bundles of the plant in an area to purify it. It does create a pungent smell and in more open areas create a nice background smell to cooking or other unwanted smells. An alternative to this is to use a concentrated oil extraction as a freshener either as a pray of by putting some drops on the radiator, fireplace or on candles. Just soak a jar of fresh sage in sunflower oil and leave for a couple of weeks.

Sage and Rosemary burnt on the barbeque whilst cooking will add some lingering flavours to the meat and make the place smell fresh and remind you of woodlands.

So not just for stuffing into the business end of a Turkey dinner, Sages has a mass of uses and is easily grown in a well light garden, try using it from time to time, you may be surprised but the worst that can happen is that your food will taste better and the house will smell nice.

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