‘St. Hildegard’s Garden’: An intriguing look into a saint ahead of her time

Not much is known about St. Hildegard of Bingen, but a new book seeks to share some of her wisdom nearly a millennia after her death.

Leila Lawler, who penned the introduction to the English edition of St. Hildegard's Garden: Recipes and Remedies for Healing Body and Soul, told Aleteia that she, too, was unaware of the 12th-century German abbess — that is, until Pope Benedict XVI declared her a Doctor of the Church in 2012.

During her life, St. Hildegard wrote about theology, natural science, mysticism, and medicine, using the resources that she had at the time. "St. Hildegard's Garden" is part-biography, part-cookbook, and part-field guide to the medicinal uses of herbs.

"It's a really interesting resource," said Lawler. "I think it is very important today for us to realize that there are healing remedies in the natural world. And something that most people don't realize is that a lot of the pharmaceutical products that we use are themselves based on chemical analogs to herbs and even spices."

Hildegard, said Lawler, "was scientific in her own way, and the observations she made are legitimate and are helpful."

Plus, it is important to note that many of the herbs and medicinal treatments in the book are not expensive or inaccessible.

"Even if we just narrowly look at the herbal idea, not only are they available and effective, a lot of them are things that we consider to be weeds," she said.

"So you don't even necessarily have to spend any money to get them, you just have to be observant."

Here's one of the recipes from St. Hildegard's Garden (copyright Sophia Press).

This dish is "one of the oldest medieval recipes that has come down to us," said the book. It was adapted from a 14th-century cookbook called Liber de Coquina.

Ingredients

1 chicken

5.3 oz (150g) bacon lardons

2 onions

2 untreated lemons

1 1/2 cups (150g) almond flour

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

3 cloves, ground

2 cups chicken stock

1 egg yolk

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Preparation

1. In a Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat the olive oil and saute the sliced onions and lardons. Set them aside. If needed, add more olive oil to the pot and brown the chicken.

2. While the chicken browns, prepare the chicken stock. Stir the almond flour into the stock and whisk for about 10 minutes. Strain the mixture.

3. Once the chicken is golden, return the onions and lardons to the pot. Add the almond-infused stock, ginger, nutmeg, ground cloves, pepper, and salt. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.

4. Add the lemons, cut into pieces with the zest, and continue cooking covered for an additional 10 minutes.

Serves four.

Recipe adapted from 'St. Hildegard's Garden: Recipes and Remedies for Healing Body and Soul' by Paul Ferris