Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets of Ancient Fermentation
Written by Stephen Harrod Buhner
Narrated by Daniel Thomas May
4/5
()
About this audiobook
The ancient beers, created . . . between 10,000 and 30,000 years ago, were quite different from what we know as beer today. Many were sacred beers . . ., and hundreds contained medicinal herbs. -From the book
The author's beautiful and provocative exploration of the sacredness and folklore of ancient fermentation is revealed through 200 plants and hive products. This book includes 120 recipes for ancient and indigenous beers and meads from thirty-one countries and six continents-and the most complete evaluation of honey ever published.
Stephen Harrod Buhner
Stephen Harrod Buhner (1952–2022) was an Earth poet and the award-winning author of many books on nature, indigenous cultures, the environment, and herbal medicine. He comes from a long line of healers including Leroy Burney, Surgeon General of the United States under Eisenhower and Kennedy, and Elizabeth Lusterheide, a midwife and herbalist who worked in rural Indiana in the early nineteenth century. The greatest influence on his work, however, was his great-grandfather C.G. Harrod who primarily used botanical medicines, also in rural Indiana, when he began his work as a physician in 1911. Stephen's work has appeared or been profiled in publications throughout North America and Europe including Common Boundary, Apotheosis, Shaman's Drum, The New York Times, CNN, and Good Morning America. www.gaianstudies.org
More audiobooks from Stephen Harrod Buhner
The Transformational Power of Fasting: The Way to Spiritual, Physical, and Emotional Rejuvenation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Herbal Antibiotics: Natural Alternatives for Treating Drug-resistant Bacteria Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHerbal Antivirals: Natural Remedies for Emerging & Resistant Viral Infections Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers
Related audiobooks
Fermentation as Metaphor: Follow Up to the Bestselling "The Art of Fermentation" Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Plant Spirit Medicine: A Journey into the Healing Wisdom of Plants Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Iwígara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Forager's Calendar Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fermented Man: A Year on the Front Lines of a Food Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Journeys with Plant Spirits: Plant Consciousness Healing and Natural Magic Practices Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Food for Free: 50th Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Plant Teachers: Ayahuasca, Tobacco, and the Pursuit of Knowledge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Spice: Advice, Wisdom, and History with a Grain of Saltiness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tasty: The Art and Science of What We Eat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Magic of Mushrooms: Fungi in Folklore, Superstition and Traditional Medicine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Business of Botanicals: Exploring the Healing Promise of Plant Medicines in a Global Industry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Practice of Traditional Western Herbalism: Basic Doctrine, Energetics, and Classification Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Apothecary Garden: Homegrown Remedies for Beauty and Well Being Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blackthorn's Botanical Brews: Herbal Potions, Magical Teas, and Spirited Libations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHerbalism 101: How to Grow Herbs, Learn About Holistic Health, and Become a Herbalist From A to Z Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Grow Your Own Medicine: Handbook for the Self-Sufficient Herbalist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Terpenes for Well-Being: A Comprehensive Guide to Botanical Aromas for Emotional and Physical Self-Care Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ancient Brews: Rediscovered and Re-created Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wild, Wild Yeasts Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Flavor of Wood: In Search of the Wild Taste of Trees, from Smoke and Sap to Root and Bark Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hermetic Herbalism: The Art of Extracting Spagyric Essences Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Herbal Healing: Herbalism for Beginners Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Wellness For You
The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Silent Patient Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: Built for This: The Quiet Strength of Powerlifting Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Highly Sensitive Person Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last House on Needless Street Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grow Up: Becoming the Parent Your Kids Deserve Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Happiness Makeover: Overcome Stress and Negativity to Become a Hopeful, Happy Person Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Forever Strong: A New, Science-Based Strategy for Aging Well Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It. Goes. So. Fast.: The Year of No Do-Overs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Am I Doing?: 40 Conversations to Have with Yourself Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Living Untethered: Beyond the Human Predicament Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Switch on Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Electricity of Every Living Thing: A Woman's Walk in the Wild to Find Her Way Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Not Die Alone: The Surprising Science That Will Help You Find Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Life Council: 10 Friends Every Woman Needs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Heart Is a Chainsaw Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers
39 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Man, this book makes me want to run right out and start brewing! It's got lots and lots of recipes for making ale and beer out of any sort of plant one can think of, and even some one cannot. Mustard beer, anyone? Yeah, me neither.
It's an erudite compendium of plant lore, an interesting collection of recipes, and an intriguing collection of anthropological detail.
Recommended for people who are apt to read cookbooks like fiction. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Wow, this book is wild. The essential premise is: at this time Western culture consumes only two alcoholic beverages; all beer is a watery solution of fermented barley and hops, and all wine is fermented grape juice. But many societies, including Europe before the Reformation, consumed lots of different fermented beverages made from different sugars, juices, grains, and herbs, all with varying degrees of alcoholic and nutritional content.
Those beverages are what this is about. Sage beer. Gruit ale. Mugwort. Mead. Molasses beer. Maple syrup beer. Er...even banana beer and pine ale. I think there's hundreds of these variations, and for many of them the historical background is given. There's extensive quoting of historical sources throughout, such as old brew cookbooks and alewife's instructions.
Many home brewing books and resources prohibitively complicate things. What this book helps you realize is that alcohol fermentation doesn't have to be hard; all you need is a sugar source and a yeast source in solution (aka water). I mean Nigerians drink the watery sap from palm trees which is already being fermented off the tree by native yeasts.
So everything else besides yeast sugar is optional and up for ideas. So look outside the confines of just hops and malt. This book can help you think about other flavors or herbs you might like to try.
What's bad:I don't trust the recipes, they're all over the place, so use them like guides.
Despite being all about ancient brewing methods, he kinda distrusts wild yeast and still resorts to storebought packets of yeast for all his recipes. Using the simple instructions in Sandor Katz's "The Art of Fermentation" I've got a pretty vigorous wild yeast starter from honey that I've sustained for a few months now. I don't think our ancestors got crazy about purchasing purified yeast strains.
Several probably dangerous and strongly psychoactive herbs (e.g. wormwood and many others) are freely discussed and recommended to the reader. The author has a low regard for drug laws and a sacred regard for altered states of consciousness. I don't know much about these plants, but I'd advise caution in seeking out any ingredient you don't already use and know.
Aside from that there's a lot of sketchy herbal medicine in here. I don't have a problem with generally accepted herbal medicine—I mean, via this book I just made a chamomile ale—just quackery. One herb "shows promise in treating Reynaud's disease." What does that even mean? "Fever patients" are told to drink wormwood ale "for thirty days"—I don't know what a month of wormwood does to you, but if you have a fever for thirty days, please get yourself to the ER. It's always "scientists are discovering" and "studies are showing" that X herb works like chemotherapy or Y herb helps with pneumonia or diuresis. Many sentences are taken up with this sort of thing, and for me this stuff just gets in the way.
My recommendation? I assume if you want to brew plain-jane beer at home, you would not buy this book first. If you're looking into 'wild' and 'natural' fermentation methods, go to Sandor Katz. But either way at some point read this book for the the possible ingredients and ferments that are out there.