Love in a Cup:
Abuelita’s Healing Garden
by Thea Fiore-Bloom 
I began to fall for big, tough, tattooed Rico right after he told me stories of the woman who raised him, his cherished abuelita (“little grandmother” in Spanish). Maria Estefana Santiago was an indigenous woman of the Zapotec people of Mexico who showed her love for her grandson Rico and granddaughter Elizabeth in her kitchen.
Like many boys in his village, Rico had to quit school at fourteen years old to work in the agave fields with his strict grandfather six days a week in order to bring in enough income for the family to survive in their cash-strapped, beautiful region of Mexico called Oaxaca (wa-HA-ka). But on days when there was a deluge of rain, Rico got a magical reprieve. On those mornings he would wake up to what would become two sense memories that would never leave him: the sound of rain plunking down on the tin roof of the casita de adobe (small adobe house) and the smell of warm pan (bread) and chocolate (hot chocolate) being readied by his abuelita in la cocina (the kitchen).
Rico still gets excited when he spies storm clouds on the horizon. I think it’s because his brain now associates rain with love, in a taza (cup).
Oaxaca is a culinary capital of Mexico. Oaxacan cooking is so savory and exotic thanks in part to the traditional use of luxurious,
little-known herbs and spices. To learn more about the cultural history and exceptional flavors that inspire Oaxacan cuisine, read Zarela Martinez’s The Food and Life of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Abuelita served up more than chocolate in those cups. Most mornings the earthenware ceramic cups or bowls adorned with lemon-yellow flowers contained comforting herbal infusions. These preparations were part of the herbal legacy she inherited from her ancient foremothers and forefathers whose language she passed on to her trilingual grandchildren, who now speak Zapeteco, Spanish, and English.
Elizabeth believes those herbal preparations brewed by the gnarled hands of her abuelita “comforted the body but also healed the spirit.” Why not give yourself or your family love in a cup by planting your own version of Abuelita’s comfort garden?
The herbal infusions and poultices of Abuelita that Rico and Elizabeth have kindly shared with me are offered up here to comfort everyday aches and are not intended to be medical advice or cure serious illness.
Humble, Not Highbrow, Growing Advice
Little abuelita gardens in Mexico, like the abuelitas who create them, are humilde (humble, down-to-earth). You would be violating long-held grandmotherly traditions if you went and spent a bunch of money on fancy plants at a fancy nursery for fancy pots. The plants here will grow from seed or seedlings. Rico and I have road tested them all in our cozy patio comfort garden, dedicated to the memory of Maria Estefana.
In fact these hardy herbs and vegetables have been growing out of stone walls, homemade tire planters, and coffee cans on patios in Mexico for generations. The black-thumbed among you need not fear. These herbs will survive despite you.
Pick five of the ten below that appeal to you and plunk them down in one large container pot or windowsill planter with drainage holes and all-purpose soil in the spring after the last frost. Water whenever the soil feels dry to the touch, and you are good to go for a small summer or autumn harvest. If you have leftovers, hang plants to dry in a cool, dark place and store for winter tea.
Ten Herbs for Your Comfort Garden
1. Comfort for Tummy Trouble
If Rico or Elizabeth had a stomachache, then chop chop—relief would soon be at hand in the form a steaming cup of té limon infused with lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) snipped from its sturdy planter made from an old car tire that sat on the patio.
This is a wonderful scented grass to add exotic aromatic beauty to a humble kitchen garden. Try combining yerba buena (spearmint) with lemongrass for an especially pleasing, cheering, fresh cup of tea. Don’t use if pregnant.
2. Comfort for When You’ve Overdone It
Abuelita insisted on using hoja de maiz (cornhusk, Zea mays) as opposed to the easier banana leaf for wrapping her tamales, but corn was also an important part of her comfort toolbox. Whole corn (organic) was boiled with the husk on. The leftover water was never thrown away but used to drink as a general overindulgence detox or tonic for the kidneys.
The barba de maiz, or corn silk, is the silky strands found between the husk and the cob. Some Mexican herbalists make a corn silk wash for skin irritations, taking advantage of its anti-inflammatory properties.
Corn is easier to grow than you think. I have some in container pots on my urban balcony, which draws both smiles and confused looks from passing tourists.
3. Comfort for Aching Ears
Abuelita peeled and cut cloves of ajo (garlic, Allium satvium) and pressed them gently onto spider bites, mosquito bites, and, yes, scorpion stings. “She also placed a warm clove of garlic in your ear if you had an ear infection, and the pain would slowly disappear,” said Elizabeth. Cebollitas, or little onions, were also warmed for the same purpose when there wasn’t garlic on hand.
Push an unpeeled clove of garlic pointy-side up into loose earth a month or two before the first frost and you may get lovely green shoots stretching skyward before fall.
4. Comfort for Dieters
Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) is wasted as a wilting garnish on that crudité platter. Abuelita would occasionally make a morning infusion of perejeil and cilantro leaves when anyone wanted help dieting or longed to decrease the swelling in their ankles. Parsley is known for its diuretic properties.
My Californian juice-addict friends feed a bunch of parsley leaves into their giant juicers along with spinach, celery, and a bit of apple when they are detoxing or dieting. Note that large doses of parsley seeds or their essential oil can be toxic, especially for people with kidney inflammation. Avoid during pregnancy.
5. Comfort for Aching Backs
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is a natural disinfectant. Some Mexicans and Mexican-Americans physically and ritually cleanse their homes with it. Maria Estefana saved it for another purpose.
She always tried to have some romero (both the branch and root) soaking in alcohol on a windowsill to serve as rub-on rescue-remedy for backaches and arthritis. Herbalists have been relying on rosemary to help deal with the pain of rheumatism since the days of the first Queen Elizabeth. Avoid during pregnancy.
6. Comfort for Sore Feet and Legs
Did you know basil (Ocimum basilicum) was used for centuries as an antimicrobial to fight off the ravages of nasty stuff like dysentery? Rico’s abuelita used to cut up albahaca leaves and place them into a little pot with alcohol, warm it up a tiny bit, and immediately massage the blend on aching legs. If you had foot pain, Abuelita would make you a special footbath with an added shot of alcohol infused with basil and rue.
Note that basil should not be given to infants, toddlers, or pregnant or nursing women.
7. Comfort for Exhaustion or Burnout
Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) is famous for its tasty, pungent leaves, but the seeds of the plant are highly valued too and go by the name of coriander. Abuelita gave infusions of cilantro, or a combo of cilantro, basil, parsley, and yerba santa (discussed shortly) leaves, to those looking for relief from fatigue and exhaustion-related depression.
8. Comfort for Minor Rashes
Abuelita used yerba santa (Piper auritum) to make delicious dishes like amarillo de pollo and caldo de pollo (chicken stew and chicken soup). She placed the heart shaped leaves whole in tamales and added to them to frijoles (black beans) to impart them with a heavenly, subtle, smoky licorice flavor. Each velvety yerba santa leaf can grow to be up to eleven inches wide.
Abuelita would boil five yerba santa leaves in water, let it cool, and use the liquid to soak poultices she then applied to calm minor rashes.
Yerba santa is hard to find in the States. Rico grew our yerba santa from a cutting kindly given to us by a Oaxacan neighbor who lives down the block from his sister in our city.
The essential oil of safrole (similar to that in sassafras) found within the yerba santa leaf has been said to be toxic for certain animals. Don’t feed it to pets.
9. Comfort for That Time of the Month
Ruda (Ruta graveolens) is a small perennial woody shrub that was favored by the Aztecs. The strong-smelling plant has blue-gray-green leaves shaped like little mittens. Rue loves to grow out of old stone walls and bursts with tiny greenish-yellow blooms every spring.
Abuelita used to make a tea of this antispasmodic root for menstrual cramps and stomach troubles. She would also warm her homemade oil of the root to comfort those with earaches.
Be respectful and sparing with rue. It can be toxic in large doses. Pregnant and nursing women need to avoid it altogether because it can provoke menstruation. Some people are allergic to it and break out in rashes. Like bergamot, it can cause photosensitivity.
10. Comfort for Sleepless Nights
The tasty, calming, sweet teas produced from chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) leaves, as well as spearmint and lemongrass, are enjoyed instead of coffee as daily pleasures in much of Mexico.
Abuelita used an infusion of cooled manzanilla in gentle eyewash she made for children with eye irritations or an overabundance of “sleepy dust” in eyes.
She administered cups of chamomile tea to family members plagued with insomnia. Abuelita also wisely employed chamomile as a bedtime bath remedy for colicky babies so they could sleep peacefully through the night.
Buying Mexican Herbs
Mexican cuisine is finally enjoying an upsurge of international interest. This means the majority of these herbs, with the exception of rue and yerba santa, can be found in the fruit and vegetable aisle of grocery chains like Whole Foods. Adventurous urbanites among you will be rewarded with a stimulating sensory experience if they forage for dried or fresh herbs in the colorful and cozy aisles of a corner Mexican grocery (la tiendita or la bodega).
To learn more about the astonishing, unsung history of Mexican herbalism consult the following resources.
Resources
Davidow, Joie. Infusions of Healing: A Treasury of Mexican-American Herbal Remedies. New York: Fireside, 1999.
Graber, Karen Hursh. “A Culinary Guide to Mexican Herbs: Las Hierbas de Cocina.” Mexconnect.com. Last modified April 1, 1990. http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/2187-a-culinary-guide-to-mexican-herbs-las-hierbas-de-cocina.
Torres, Eliseo, and Timothy L. Sawyer. Curandero: A Life in Mexican Folk Healing. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 2005.