Keep Hot When It's Cold!

What's your forecast today?! The schools are cancelling right now and sending the children home on a 1:30pm bus today.  There are blizzard warnings for us here in the Cotswolds and I must say, there is a sparkling sense of impending mystery:  WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN?!

Unlike many parts of the world, we are not used to snow blizzards here in the UK and as such, it's safer to stay indoors as the infrastructure is not in place to support safe movement during freezing conditions.

So, here is something hot for you to consider whilst it's cold outside:

The healing benefits of Capsicum annuum, otherwise known as CAYENNE.

You can make yourself a raw cacao or carob drink with cayenne to enjoy as you read! 

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Helena's Hot - Hot Chocolate

  • 2 cups plant-based milk
  • 1 teaspoon cacao (or ½ teaspoon cacao and ½ teaspoon carob powder, or just 1 teaspoon carob if you're drinking this at bedtime)
  • ½ -1 teaspoon cayenne (as much as you like)
  • 1 teaspoon maple syrup
  1. Beat with a whisk in a pot to blend ingredients.
  2. Warm to body temperature if using a raw milk to preserve the enzymes. If you're using a cartoned milk, you may heat it more as the enzymes have already been compromised.
  3. Drink and enjoy, the cacao will warm your soul and the cayenne your body!

I grew up with a book lying around the house called, "Back to Eden" by Jethro Kloss, father of herbalists, proven holistic healer, teacher and inventor of Soya milk. In this book, Kloss dedicates 7 pages to the healing benefits of cayenne (would you believe).  So post-prostate cancer, my Dad takes cayenne powder capsules every morning and finds his health to be good these days! 

The primary medicinal properties of cayenne comes from a chemical called capsaicin. This is the ingredient that gives cayenne its heat. (This chilli-heat is measured in heat units. This method of rating is called the Scoville Rating Scale and ranges from 0 - 16,000,000 depending on how much capsaicin is present. Most Cayenne pepper falls between 30,000 - 50,000 heat units.)

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We associate cayenne pepper as a hot, red chilli pepper used to flavour dishes but did you know it's powerful for medicinal purposes too?

Named for the city of Cayenne in French Guiana, it is a cultivated variety of Capsicum annuum related to bell peppers, jalapeños, and others. Cayenne is a powerful stimulant and traditional cayenne poultices have been used to stop bleeding.

Internally Cayenne may restore the normal function of glands and circulation, aid digestion assimilation & elimination and purify the blood. However, cayenne is contraindicated for individuals on ACE inhibitors, agents that reduce stomach acid, aspirin, blood-thinning medications and herbs, and theophylline.

"There is no other stimulant known to medical science so natural, so certain and with less reaction following its constant use." Read here for further interesting information on cayenne. 

Helena Cavan