Practicing Folk Medicine Part 2
Courtesy of the Florida Memory Project
Zora Neale Hurston’s writings reveal a similar interest as Dr. Alvenia Fulton in natural prescriptions for illnesses. Hurston was born in Alabama in 1891; Fulton was born in Tennessee in 1893. After completing her high school degree, Hurston would go on to earn a BS in anthropology from Barnard College. While doing fieldwork in the US south and the Caribbean, Hurston found that in general rural people practiced plant-based medicine, what she called folk medicine. As in West Africa, rural black folk used herbs that they planted and or foraged in local woods. Here is a prescription Hurston collected in the South.
Upset Stomach Remedy Recipe
Makes 1 serving
Ingredients
Parched rice
Bay leaves
1cup hot water
Directions
Make a tea of parched rice and bay leaves (6). Give a cup at a time. Drink no other water.
You make parched rice by stirring dry rice in a gas-heated tumbler or over an open fire for several hours. When the rice becomes very hot it begins to expand as you destroy the rice germ. At this point, the seed may not sprout, and the rice gains long-term storage capabilities. Parched rice is a common food in many countries, notably Japan and India, where people use it to treat diarrhea and vomiting. In large doses, bay leaves induce vomiting, forcing the removal of what is causing the pain.
