The Natural Chemist: A Guide to Natural Remedies

By Samir Siryani

Since the dawn of history, human beings found themselves alone in the midst of natures elements including plants, animals, water and sand. It was imperative that they look through these elements for their food, drink and treatment. This is how the link was established between nutrition elements and remedial plants and herbs.

In The Natural Chemist, author Samir Siryani presents a wide range of information on herbs, plants, fruit and food, including culinary and cosmetic remedies for numerous problems and for general health and well-being. Relying on extensive research into the writings of ancient and modern medicinal plant scientists, he offers a start-to-finish guide on using natural remedies and medicinal plants to their best effect, giving you detailed and helpful guidance throughout. These remedies serve as natural alternatives to treatments of Western medicine and can help you live a healthier and happier life.

Thorough and careful in its approach, this guide provides background and instruction on a variety of natural remedies and medicinal treatments.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: Dec 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781504303262

Samir Siryani

Samir Siryani was born in the old city of Jerusalem in Palestine. He immigrated to Australia in 1964 and started a business specialising in the manufacturing of trademark health foods and the blending of herbs, spices and legumes. The author of Saidaleat AL-Tabealt, he currently lives in Lugarno, NSW, Australia.

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Copyright © 2016 Samir Siryani.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5043-0325-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-0326-2 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 12/09/2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Middle Eastern Remedies

Important Notice

Introduction

Chapter 1. Preparation of Medicinal Plants

Chapter 2. Traditional Medicine

Chapter 3. Our Daily Nutrition

Chapter 4. Milk

Chapter 5. Honey

Chapter 6. Herbs and Plants

Chapter 7. Vegetables

Chapter 8. Fruits

Chapter 9. Pulses

Chapter 10. Nuts

Chapter 11. Contamination of Food

Chapter 12. Remedies guide using plants and herbs

Chapter 13. References

Chapter 14. Measurement Chart

Samir Siryani in Brief

THE MIDDLE EASTERN REMEDIES

Rapid remedies for:

Anaemia, Appetite, Breast Feeding, Burns, Cholesterol, Cold, Constipation,

Cosmetics, Diabetes, Diarrhoea, Digestion, Face, Face Wrinkles

Freckles, Gall Bladder, Hair, Headache, Indigestion, Insomnia

Kidney, Liver, Mental Exhaustion, Obesity, Physical Exhaustions

Potency, Rheumatism, Skin, Stomach, Urine, Varicose

Whooping Cough, Wounds and much more.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

This book contains a range of information on herbs, plants, fruit, and food, including culinary and cosmetic remedies. Before employing any remedy preparation, the reader is strongly advised to sample a small quantity to establish whether there is any adverse or allergic reaction.

The intent of this book is to provide information that you may wish to explore as a natural alternative.

Neither the author, Samir Siryani, nor the publisher can be held responsible for any adverse reactions to the remedies, recipes, recommendations, and instructions contained herein. The use of any herb, food, plant and essential oils is entirely at reader’s own risk.

This book does not take the place of your physician’s recommendations, and the author and publisher advise readers to consult with their physicians before trying any of the remedies reported in this book.

Every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this book is accurate and current at the time of the printing.

INTRODUCTION

Since the dawn of history, human beings found themselves alone in the midst of nature’s elements including plants, animals, water and sand. It was imperative that they look through these elements for their food, drink and treatment. This is how the link was established between nutrition elements and remedial plants and herbs.

However, the progress of civilization has not stopped the interest in nature’s elements for the treatment of diseases.

Ancient Egyptians, Chinese and Indians were the first to categorise the medicinal elements of plants and herbs. Ancient Egyptian papyrus papers displayed in a Berlin museum shows that the Egyptian king, Atotees, was the first to write a book on medicine.

Following on their heels, the Babylonians, expressed their interest in medicinal plants in 1940 BC. The ancient Greek followed suit and Hypocrite (459 BC) was one of their renowned experts in this field; notwithstanding Theophrastus, who also excelled in this field in 371 BC.

The Romans were as eager as their predecessors to explore and benefit from natural medicine. In 77 AD, Dioscoredes wrote his magnificent encyclopedia which contained 500 plants. Meanwhile, Pliny wrote a large volume on nature’s history, which contained descriptions and benefits of 1000 plants.

Galinos (130-200AD) produced twenty volumes on benefits of plants.

The Chinese are considered one of the earliest peoples who were interested in herbs and plants remedies. As early as 200 BC, a Chinese book on plants was written whilst Li Chin Chaing, wrote one of the largest books regarding Chinese medicinal plants in the tenth century AD. Chaing’s book contains more than 1893 medicinal recipes and the book was translated into English in 1959 under the title The Chinese Medicine.

Latin names were given to 900 plants mentioned in this book.

Indian medicinal recipes are no less important than that of the Chinese, Greek, or Romans. Many historians deemed that the Indians started their interest in natural medicine long before other nations. Sosorota, a book written by an Indian, contains information on treatments with natural methods.

We should also not forget the huge contributions of ancient Arab physicians to this field including the research, writings and experiments of Alrazi (865 AD-925 AD), Avicenna (980 AD-1037 AD), Ibn Bitar (1197 AD-1248 AD) and last but not least Daoud Alantaki, author of Daoud’s Ticket.

During the last years of the Arab Empire, Europeans started to research natural medicine. Many European scientists shone in this field, as they researched and experimented with the properties of medicinal plants and perfumes.

Medical magazines and researches on remedies had recently confirmed the benefits of resorting to the use of plants, herbs and different foods for many diseases, especially that most of these remedies have no side effects.

The reader may ask: Why write this book? Is it not enough to only consume nutritive food?

But on my part I would like to ask the following questions:

1. Do we know the nutrition value of tomato?

2. Do we know of the tomato’s remedial benefits?

3. Do we know when tomato can harm us and when it can benefit us?

4. Do we want to know more about tomato or are we satisfied to know only that it is aromatic with delicious taste?

And what about honey?

What do we know about its nutritive and remedial benefits?

For all the above reasons, I decided to research the writings of ancient and modern medicinal plant scientists before producing this book for the benefit of the reader.

The use of natural elements… is the use of nature as created by God.

Chapter 1

PREPARATION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS

The harvesting, drying, storing, and preparing of medicinal plants for markets and industries vary from one plant to another. This process depends on several important factors including the following:

• The plant’s ingredients

• Shape of the plant or the part sought for gathering and drying

• Whether the plant is harvested as a crop or taken from non-cultivatable land

Regardless of the location of collection, medicinal plants have to go through several important treatments and steps before being ready to go to the market. Following are the main steps of this process:

Harvesting

The gathering of non-cultivated medicinal plants depends largely on the people who are performing this job. Ignorance of the shape of the plant or carelessness on the part of the gatherer may lead to the harvesting of the wrong plant. Unless a recognized expert could define the scientific names of the plants, traders do not consider the uncultivated plants as a trusted source for medicinal consumption.

In regard to the cultivated plants the story is different. The following steps are taken when harvesting the crop:

• Harvesting of the plant, or parts of it, takes place when the effective medicinal material is at its fullest strength. As stages of plants’ development change from one area to another, and given that the climate in each area varies over the years, it is very difficult to designate a specific time for the gathering of medicinal plants.

• Leaves, flowers and stems are harvested at midday when the climate is dry. For roots, it is easier to collect and wash them when the soil is wet.

• Care should be given not to collect other plants or weeds, which if mixed with medicinal plants, decrease their quality and may render them useless. To this end, dirty plants and those sprayed with pesticides, diseased, or infested with insects, should be avoided.

Each part of a medicinal plant is gathered in a particular stage of its development, as is outlined in the following:

• Buds are gathered in springtime when they start to develop and before they blossom.

• Rinds are easier to harvest in springtime. But this should be done from relatively new branches, since old branches have low quantity of potent material.

• Leaves are gathered at the onset of, or during, the blossoming period, where they would have attained their complete development and are soft. Plants that blossom before their leaves had opened are left for harvesting after the blossoming had occurred. It is preferable to collect leaves by hand. They should then be dried, rubbed and cleared of rough materials.

• Flowers are collected at the beginning of blossoming to prevent some parts falling. As flowers are the most sensitive among plants, they should be placed in small baskets and covered to protect them from sunrays.

• Grass is gathered at the onset of blossoming period and cut at the leaves’ lower level.

• Fruits and seeds are harvested when the plants are ripe. After drying them, fruits and seeds are cleaned of dirt. In regard to fruits, they should be gathered in the early hours of the morning or the evening when they are completely ripe, but not during the day. Dirt should be removed from juicy fruits by means other than washing for fear of being spoiled. To prevent any potential damage, it is preferable not to move them from one pot to another.

• Roots are usually collected in early spring or autumn when effective materials are at their peak. Dead or corrupted parts are taken off and roots are cleaned with cold water.

Cleaning

Cleaning is the process of freeing plants from dirt. Roots are cleaned from mud by shaking, hitting them with a stick, washing them under a cold water current, or discarding the muddy outer crust. The cleaning starts immediately before the drying process takes place, to prevent humidity from corrupting the roots.

As for plants, whose leaves, flowers and fruits are used for medicinal purposes, cleaning is limited to eliminating dirt, which if not cleaned, may get mixed with the medicinal component of the plant.

Drying

Drying of the raw material is one of the most important operations and assists in preventing damage of the medicinal material.

A fresh medicinal plant contains a degree of humidity, which has no effect if the plant is to be used while fresh. But when the medicinal plant is stored and milled, humidity may lead to many damages including:

• Growth of parasites and plant decadence.

• Activates the enzymes and water breakdown leading to undesirable changes in the makeup of the effective parts of the plant. Drying ceases the enzymes’ activities in a fast manner.

• Facilitates the crushing of the plants before starting the process of extracting the material by dissolvent.

Methods of drying can vary according to the brand of plant, its composition, the constituents of its effective material, and percentage of humidity. Drying can be either natural or artificial.

• Natural Drying

Natural drying is done either by sun or wind. Some plants can be exposed directly to sunrays, others by depositing them in covered but well ventilated places. When drying them, plants should not be put in thick layers. They should be overturned continuously so that they don’t degenerate and should be covered to protect them from dew or rain. The disadvantages of this method are;

• It is difficult to control temperature, humidity, wind speed and rain.

• Plants may be exposed to soil and dirt.

• This process needs several days and large areas.

• Artificial Drying

This is an ideal method if performed accurately and in a way that ensures effective materials, shape and odour are not affected. Following are the advantages of this method:

• Controlling the required temperature and humidity for drying.

• Controlling the hygiene of the plant and saving time.

Packaging

The packing of dried materials is a process on which the marketing of the medicinal plant depends.

When handling plants, care should be given to their nature. There are some plants that absorb humidity in packages and other plants could have been infested with insects. Special pesticides should be placed inside the package but away from the material itself. In general, plants should be placed in sealed packages so that humidity cannot penetrate them.

Storage

This is the last stage before the medicinal plant is ready for marketing, and it is also a very important process. If the plant loses its properties in storage this means that all our efforts had been lost.

To protect plants from corruption or damage in storage, the following steps should be adhered to:

• The storeroom should be dry and free from humidity.

• The temperature at the storeroom should be low. High temperatures have adverse effect on plants.

• Lighting should be kept to the minimum at the storeroom. Powerful lighting may damage the colour of the plants and decrease their commercial value.

• Provisions should be made to prevent the storeroom from being infested with pests, and plants should be protected from bad bacteria by following approved handling procedures.

Manufacturing medicine from grass and therapeutic plants

Some manufacturing methods could be done at home and others need the resources of a pharmacist. Following are manufacturing methods of several medicinal plants’ products:

Grass and medicinal plant juice

A - Grass and plants are minced.

B - Minced plant is placed in a piece of cloth and squeezed by hand

C - Juice is then placed in a glass bottle or pottery jar and sealed to protect it from air leaks.

D - Juice can be preserved for one week at least without being corrupted.

Ointment

Grass and medicinal plants’ juice are mixed with unsalted animal butter to get rid of as much water as possible

Syrup

Plant or grass juice is placed in a pot containing honey - not sugar.

Honey

A - A cup of juice is added to two cups of honey and then simmered for three minutes only.

B - As soon as a thin layer of foam is formed over the juice’s surface it should be taken out immediately.

C - Juice should then be placed in small-sterilized bottles. (The sterilization of bottles could be done by washing them first, then heating them up gradually in the oven and leaving them inside the oven until they cool down progressively.)

Tea

• There are three methods to make tea:

• Boiling - This is the preferred method for roots and crusts, which are placed in a pot and soaked with water. After boiling, the pot is taken off the fire and the water is dished out. This method ensures that the tea is free from excesses that may have stuck into it. Boiling also clears the product from salts.

• Blending - This can be done through the use of fragrance oil and rich flowers or leaves. These are placed in a pottery pot (not steel pot) and covered with