Reykjavík Grapevine - 17.07.2015, Qupperneq 36

Most so-called medicinal plants aren’t
very happy with Iceland’s climate, un-
less they’re grown in a greenhouse.
Lichens, on the other hand, are very
happy here, for they delight in extreme
conditions. This is why they’re called
extremophiles—give them intense cold
or intense heat, no problem. Give Echi-
nacea or chamomile the same con-
ditions, and you can say goodbye to
them. Note: Lichens aren’t plants, but
members in good standing of Kingdom
Fungi.
In Iceland, there’s one lichen that
ranks very high on the list of nature’s
medicinals. It’s “Cetraria islandica,”
sometimes called Icelandic moss be-
cause of its moss-like growth habit.
The Icelandic name is fjallagrös, which
means "mountain grass." When some-
one tells you that he’s going to get some
grös, he’s not going to gather grass.
He’s going to climb up somewhere to
gather fjallagrös.
The Icelandic interest in fjallagrös
goes back a long time. In the year 1280,
a law banned people from collecting it
on someone else’s property. Violators
faced stiff penalties. James Nichols, an
Englishman who wrote a book about
Iceland in 1840, declared that “the poor
natives prefer this plant to all other
food.” Part of the reason for this was
poverty, but another part was genetic—
in Norway, the ancestors of these “poor
natives” preferred what they called
brodmose (literally “bread moss”) to
other foods, too.
If you visit that source of all wis-
dom, the internet, you’ll learn that Ce-
traria islandica will cure athlete’s foot,
asthma, psoriasis, ringworm, whooping
cough, chronic diarrhoea, skin lesions,
periodontal disease, and HIV infections,
among other things. It can also be used
as a vaginal douche. Are your red lights
flashing? Any medication that cures
such a remarkable variety of ailments
should be considered dubious. One or
two ailments, yes; but if it cures every-
thing, beware…
In Iceland, fjallagrös was mostly
used for lung-related problems such
as bronchitis, asthma, and tuberculo-
sis. My friend Vilborg grew up in the
East Fjords in the 1930s, a time when
tuberculosis was rampant. She remem-
bers drinking a cup
or more of fjallagrös
tea daily to ward off
TB. But you don’t
need to go back to
the 1930s to find fjal-
lagrös aficionados in
Iceland. In almost ev-
ery market or shop,
you’ll find bags as
well as capsules of
it. Country people
still mix fjallagrös
with skyr or milk for a
breakfast dish. Want
to sample this dish?
Simply wash and dry
the lichen, heat milk
to the boiling point,
add the lichen and
some sugar or cinnamon, simmer for
ten minutes, and—voila!—serve.
Fjallagrös is an all-purpose lichen.
My friend Lene, a skin tanner and
dyer, dyes wool a reddish colour with
fjallagrös and cow piss. She needed
some fjallagrös when I was visiting
her recently, so we climbed a hill near
Akureyri in search of it. We didn’t need
to climb very far before we found our
first patch. Given the recent rain, it had
an odour not unlike horse sweat. (In its
dry state, C. islandica is virtually odour-
less.)
Lichens may be in the same king-
dom as mushrooms, but when you
gather a mushroom, you’re gathering
only the so-called fruiting body, not
the entire organism. When you gather
a lichen, you’re taking the whole organ-
ism. For this reason, it’s best to be judi-
cious and collect fjallagrös from several
different locations, taking a little of it
here and a little of it there, as Lene and
I did. In less than an hour, we’d gotten
enough for her to use in her dyeing and
for me to use in tomorrow morning's
fjallagrös-and-milk breakfast dish.
By now, you’re
probably wondering
if Cetraria islandica
has any real medicinal
benefits. The answer
to this question is
not so simple. It does
contain lichenin, a
chemical with anti-
viral properties. It also
has polysaccharides
(a polysaccharide is a
special carbohydrate
molecule) similar to
the ones in Shitake
mushrooms, which
are touted as medici-
nal. Concerning its
efficacy, however, the
jury is still out. Maybe
it stimulates the immune system in un-
specified ways… or maybe its apparent
success is due to the placebo effect,
which states: If you think it’ll work, it
might indeed work, especially if your
problem is minor.
But I can tell you about one medici-
nal made with fjallagrös that actually
works. I’m referring to Fjallagrös Ice-
landic Schnapps, created by a company
in Reykjavik called Iceherbs. During my
visit with Lene, I imbibed several drams
of this pleasantly bitter drink, and my
despair at the current human condi-
tion quickly vanished. So, too, did my
worries about not being able to pay the
rent...
Let me begin with a confession: sales of my books don’t pay the rent, so I’m obliged
to lead plant and mushroom walks, which don’t pay the rent, either. Not so long ago,
the most likely question I’d be asked on one of these walks was: Is it edible? Now,
however, the most likely question is: Is it medicinal? For as an alternative to becoming
slaves of the pharmaceutical industry, more and more people are turning to Nature for
their medical cures, with—I hate to say this—not necessarily beneficial results.
Photo
Wikipedia
36 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 10 — 2015FOOD
A Cure For Whatever
Ails You
Words
Lawrence Millman
Icelandic art songs
and folk music.
English introductions.
Warning: Some songs
may contain elves,
ghosts, outlaws and
other creatures.
Concert dates:
July: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 21. 22. 23.
24. 25. 26. 28. 29. 30. 31.
August: 1. 2. 6. 7. 8. 9. 11. 12. 13.
14. 15. 16. 18. 19. 20. 21
Concerts in Harpa
www.pearls.is
If you visit that source
of all wisdom, the
internet, you’ll learn
that Cetraria islandica
will cure athlete’s foot,
asthma, psoriasis,
ringworm, whoop-
ing cough, chronic
diarrhoea, skin lesions,
periodontal disease,
and HIV infections,
among other things. It
can also be used as a
vaginal douche.