Sacred And Herbal Healing Beers - Reviews

SACRED AND HERBAL HEALING BEERS The Secrets of Ancient Fermentation Stephen Harrod Buhner. 1998; 534 pp. $19.95. Siris Books.

When I did my first Amazonian fieldwork, a nagging question preceded each meeting with a new family. Almost certainly, the head woman of the house would offer the new guest a bowl of warm, foamy masato, the local beer that the women made by chewing boiled manioc root, spitting it out, and letting their saliva ferment it for several days. As a respectful guest, I was compelled to drink the entire, intoxicating bowlful (a cupful would not do). Would it be chunky? Would it be sour? Would I be able to forget I was drinking another person's spit? Would I be able to wobble back to my hammock? Remembering that masato is a sacred brew, a gift to humans from a deity, certainly helped.

Stephen Buhner--author (Sacred Plant Medicine), herbalist, and medicine man in his own right--introduces us here to dozens of sacred brews, and to the rich mythical roots of inebriation in many cultures.

He details the old European tradition of fermented herbal brews, which preceded the use of hops as an additive. (Apparently the shift to requiring sleep-inducing hops accompanied the Protestant Reformation, with its dislike of inebriants that could excite a variety of more interesting effects. This ecstasy-limiting attitude led to the first drug law: Put nothing but hops in the beer.) The text is peppered with picturesque tidbits, such as that the saliva from enraged bears was integral to early Finnish grain beer.

Recipes, both traditional and contemporary, accompany each section. Useful appendices include a simple guide to brewing, a resource list, and a compendium of herbs long added to make beers tasty.

"The gift of beer throughout myth and oral tradition is firmly connected to both a divine origin and an easing of human pain in the face of mortality. Though the many origin stories of fermentation and the plants associated with it vary from culture to culture, this common thread can be found.... It is impossible to grasp the nature of our ancestors' relationship with plants and fermentation without understanding that they believed actions of the sacred were at the heart of their world.

"Ethiopian Tej

Tej is a traditional mead of Ethiopia. Generally it was made from one part honey to four parts water. A little tree bark and roasted barley were added as an inoculum, and it was allowed to ferment for five or six days. Over time this has changed. What follows is how they make it now.

4 pounds honey in the comb
12 gallons water
3 ounces hops and I more gallon
water
olive wood and hops stems

Add 4 pounds honey in the comb to 12 gallons water in a large cooking vessel. Place it over a fire of olive wood and hops stems (this imparts a smokey flavor to the tej). After it comes to a boil, cook it for three hours. Remove from the fire, let cool slightly, and cover with cloths. Keep warm for two or three days. Remove the cloth and remove wax and scum. Add 3 ounces hops boiled in one gallon water, stir and re-cover. (At this point add yeast and nutrient if you do not want a naturally fermented tej). Leave covered to ferment for 8 to 20 days. Strain and drink or bottle.3

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