In times past, recipes were cherished treasures; safely guarded secrets that would define great houses and cultures. King Henry IV gave Carthusian monks the recipe for the liqueur Chartreuse because it was rumoured to be a secret elixir
During the Neolithic period (5415–2240 BCE) in the region of Poland, farmers grew and harvested elderberry (Sambucus nigra L.) shrubs as part of their primitive economies. In addition to its fragrant flowers and edible berries, the elderberry shrub was utilized in folk remedies for fever, respiratory illnesses, headaches, and even warts. Throughout the ages, Sambucus nigra L. was endowed with the sort of metaphysical properties that have often been associated with witchcraft. Shamans in the Lucania region of Southern Italy believed that burning the wood of it would produce headaches. Therefore, the ritual for the treatment of headaches was performed at a shrine crafted at the base of the bush. In Anglo-Saxon culture, a maternal spirit believed to reside within the tree provided protection from evil spirits, and in 17th- and 18th-century England, some believed that placing an elderberry twig in the ear of a sick pig would absorb its illness – once the twig fell out, the pig would be cured.
