Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-26
QUALITIES OF SAGE.
savory and Salutary All the Year
Round.
From the London Globe.

From the London Globe.
Nearly all our vegetables and herbs appear
originally to have passed through soiiie
preliminary stage in the laboratory OF the
medical herbalist before being admitted to
the full honors of the kitchen The fact Is
not so strange as it might at first Slght
appear and it's results have certainly been
to the general advantage OF mankind loi'
though for the most part the old herballst S
prescriptions were of kind neither to XIII
nor cure, his Investigations of the specirc
qualities of plants were often useful Inc
ancients seem to have regarded sage as
herb of first Importance to the physlclah
and the many traditions concerning IL TeIer
almost entirely to this aspect OF the plan,
why should man die VINO mas sage III
his garden?" one of the maxlms OF
the famous school of health at Salerho-
The belief in it's virtues survived through
the Middle Ages and was handed down with
unimpaired vitality to quite modern times.
The writers of the sixteenth ana seven
teenth centuries were full of Its praises,
and there was hardly an ailment of MIND
or body for which sage was not pronounced
a cure or an alienation. Thence sprung
the idea that, as 1t was thus generally
wholesome and recommended by the rae
ulty, the housewife might prudently admit
dried winter supply to her storeroom
And SO this sovereign herb gradually
found its way into the kitchen, of which 1t
adjunct. Not that it at once lost all its
medical attributes HE that would live for
aye must eat sage in May" runs the pro-
verb. But the cooks soon began to take
broader views. They pronounced sage to be
equally savory and salutary all the year
round, and of special and peculiar value at
the season of Michaelmas.
But this is advancing matters. Even the
best of things eatable have had to over
come prejudice and slowly make their way;
and In the case of more concomitants some
help from the encouraging hand of fashion
has generally been necessary. The rather
nauseous brew known as sage tea was so
common a domestic medicine to our fore
fathers that they could not at once accept
the herb in the character of a savory ad-
junct. But we live and learn; and the
merits of sage as modfier of certain rich
vtandS began to be acknowledged. 1t
seemed to have a kind of natural affinity
with roast pork, goose and duck, and pres
emily became the constant attendant of
these dishes. Early in the eighteenth CEN
fury an acknowledged authority laid it down
that "as to geese and ducks, cooks should
stuff them with some sage shred fine, and
a little pepper and salt; and the same with
a sucking pig.''H The alliance between sage
and another high contracting power seems
to have been adopted gradually, nor were
its merits at once recognized by all parties.
1t is to be regretted that the active agent
in effecting this great partnership is un-
known to fame: and, indeed, the principals
seem to have drifted into the connection
by kind of accident. Each, of course,
was well acquainted with the fine qualities
of the other, and both sometimes met in
the ordinary course of business. But these
meetings were for some time characterized
by certain aloofness. Each confronted
his neighbor politely, but with a distinct
GOODNESS which denoted the jealousy of riv-
ais. Sage, in fact, had had such a large
share in ruling the roast successfully that
it might well resent the growing preten-
sions of the satIcy onion, already treading
on its heels. One of the earliest intimations
of their approa chmeflt is found in a SUISSE
quent addition to the recipe above cited.
Serve a little onion in a boat, If liked
And liked 1t was by many, If not by all.
Even fifty years later we find this rather
tentative direction: Stuff only one of your
ducks with sage and onions; tastes must
be consulted" But as to the result of this
there could be no doubt The
stuffed duck was invariably eaten before
his vacuous brother, and the fame of the
great English firm of Sage & Onions was
thoroughly established.