In seasonal style, here is a gentle herb-related quiz to try yourself, or possibly challenge friends and family over the festive period.

Be generous with your scoring, as the herbs are generous to us; and accepting of the variety of potential responses, given the many potentials offered through plants’ virtues.

Answers are at the bottom (no peeping).

 

1. Which order would we expect the following to arrive in the Spring in the area you live?:

a) Daffodils

b) Snowdrops

c) Winter aconite

d) Celandines

e) Crocus

 

2. Missing herbs – which herb is missing from the following classic combinations:

a) Gold, frankincense, ….

b) Parsley, sage, …. & thyme

c) … & onion

d) Dandelion and …

 

3. What are the common names of these plants in the area you live, and which month would you associate them with?

a) Allium ursinum

b) Sambucus nigra

c) Crataegus monogyna

d) Primula vulgari

e) Prunus spinosa

 

4. What are the classic components of ‘bouquet garni’?

 

5. The following phrases should give you clues to books from the ‘top 100 books written in English’ – can you identify the book? Extra point for the author.

a) Urge to forage

b) Whispering trees

c) Colour after the storm

d) Wild wine makers

e) The start of the start of the foraging year

 

6. Flower, leaf, root: which part of the following plants are you most likely to use (either for medicinal, culinary or other purposes):

a) Liquorice

b) Marshmallow

c) Dandelion

d) Gorse

e) Burdock

 

7. Edible or not*?

a) Cowslips

b) Bluebells

c) Nettles

d) Acorns

e) Wild grape

f) Wild cucumber

 

*for lots of great information about this, check out Eat Weeds

 

SECOND HALF

 

8. Name 5 botanicals that you might find in gin – double points for any that are grown in a temperate climate …

 

9. A few traditions and suspicions:

a) It’s considered fatal for a man to uproot a mandrake, what is therefore the approved method of harvesting mandrake root?

b) ‘On May Day wash in the morning dew, and you’ll be bonny the whole year through’ – but for this to come true for men, which tree should you collect your dew from?

c) In the 1400’s what plant was grown on a pole to indicate the presence of an inn?

 

10. What are the terms we use when extracting goodness from plants in these various ways:

a) Heating chopped herbs in a liquid (such as oil, water or alcohol), then straining

b) Pouring hot water over flower and leaves, leaving, then straining

c) Adding roots/stems to hot water, boiling then straining

d) Steam extraction of essential oils

 

11. What colour could you get if you dyed unbleached cotton with the following plants (bonus marks if you’ve alternative colours for different mordants)?:

a) Woad

b) Alkanet

c) Nettle

d) Onion skins

e) Elder leaves

f) Madder root

g) Chamomile

h) Meadowsweet

 

12. Magic additions

a) What do you add to pot pourri to ‘fix’ the scent?

b) What do you add during the dying process to ‘fix’ the colour?

c) What do you need in jams to ensure it sets?

d) What do you need in a hedgerow wine to ensure it ferments?

e) What can you add to dry shampoo to ensure it’s effective?

 

13. As a rule of thumb, when is the best time for gathering:

a) Leaves

b) Flowers

c) Roots

d) Bark

 

14. Famous apothecaries:

a) Which Greek physician provided the authoritative Materia Medica?

b) Which Roman physician had the term for medical preparations named after him?

c) Who was the apothecary to James I who recorded many of the plants from the New World?

d) Whose 17th Century herbal made connections with herbs and astrology, thus damaging his credibility?

e) Who wrote ‘A modern herbal’? and, for a bonus mark, Who edited this herbal?

 

Answers: 1. c) b) a) d) with e) anywhere! Winter aconite often the first flower of the New Year, Crocus can be anytime from autumn to spring; 2. a) Myrrh b) Rosemary c) Sage d) Burdock; 3 a) Wild garlic, April / May / June b) Elder, flower June / berries September c) Hawthorn – flower May, haws October d) Primrose – March/ April / May e) Blackthorn – sloes in September / October; 4. Typically: Thyme, bay leaves, parsley, May also be: Basil, burnet, chervil, rosemary, peppercorns, savory, tarragon; 5. a) The Call of the Wild – Jack London b) Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame c) The Rainbow – DH Lawrence d) The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck e) The Beginning of Spring – Penelope Fitzgerald; 6. a) Root b) Leaf or root c) Leaf, root, flower d) Flower e) Root; 7. a) Y b) N c) Y d) Y if leached first (then eg, roasted, made into coffee) e) Y f) N; 8. a) Juniper, orange, lemon zest, watercress, ginger, lavender, pepper, grapefruit, coriander seeds, angelica root, orange peel, orris root, cassia, cardamom, liquorice, …. 9. a) With a dog tied to the plant b) Hawthorn c) Ivy; 10. a) Maceration b) Infusion c) Decoction d) Distilling; 11. a) Blue b) Pink to brown c) Dark grey/green d) Brown e) Yellow/green (elder berries would be purple) f) Red g) Yellow or olive h) Black; 12, a) Orris root b) Mordant (which may be alum, iron, copper, chrome or tin, for example) c) Pectin d) Yeast e) Arrowroot; 13. a) Just before flowering b) As they open c) In the autumn, when goodness has gone back down into them d) In the spring when the sap is rising; 14. a) Dioscorides b) Galen c) John Gerard d) Nicholas Culpeper e) Mrs M Grieve (and it was edited by Hilda Leyel, founder of the UK Herb Society)