The perfect reference for our Botanical and Herbal recipes, Culpeper was also the source for Harry Potter Herbology classes. (according to JK Rowling)
The Culpeper legacy
Nicolas Culpeper (1616-1654) was an English botanist, herbalist, and physician, who spent his life studying and cataloging botanical cures for diseases and ailments of the time.
Originally from our neighbouring village of Ockley, in the Surrey Hills, he was unpopular with London Physitians (sic) who were advocating astrology, blood-letting, and a variety of other toxic remedies to those who could afford their services. Culpeper preferred to make his knowledge freely available to the poor for self-help treatment.
Culpeper worked as a battlefield surgeon in The English Civil War, and died at 38 from tuberculosis after being hospitalised with a chest wound. However, his life’s works survived, being re-printed for hundreds of years and still noted in Herbal references today, (as well as Harry Potter).
Credit: Wellcome Library, London.
Herbology and Secret tastes
We can’t promise that the botanicals and herbal extracts in Elfie’s recipes will make you live longer; or that the Meadowsweet extract will cure your hangover (apparently it was the original source of aspirin!). We chose them because they give our drinks a much more interesting taste: – floral top notes; some astringency from nettles perhaps; a little bitterness at times; and a long dry finish.
When you taste Elfie, you’ll certainly recognise the taste of some of them, and that’s why we’ve chosen them, but we’re not going to tell you which, and we don’t think you’ll quite put your finger on it. If you think you know, then send us a note on Facebook and we’ll think of a suitable prize 🙂
And of course, you can buy Elfie in Ockley.