Herbal Teas for Digestion & Upset Stomach

Pontefract, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Licorice grew there in the garths behind the houses from at least the 1500s, and the Dunhill family grew it up at the castle. George Dunhill, an apothecary, sweetened his own medicine with the root and pressed the result into small black discs stamped with the seal of Pontefract Castle. The town has made Pontefract cakes ever since.

The root is older than Yorkshire by a long way. Assyria, Egypt, Greece, the Arab world, China, Tibet and India all had it. The Greek name is glykyrrhiza, sweet root, and glycyrrhizin, the compound behind it, is tens of times sweeter than sugar. Marshmallow is the other root on this shelf, a mallow of the salt marshes, and it goes into the pot sliced rather than ground.

Anise runs the other way, into the glass. Add water to ouzo, pastis or arak and it clouds white, because anethole, the molecule that carries the flavour, falls out of solution. Star anise is an unrelated tree from southern China that makes the same molecule, and it has largely taken anise's place in Western trade. Mint and anise were worth taxing two thousand years ago; Matthew has the Pharisees paying tithe of mint and anise and cummin.

These are the tins for after a meal. Peppermint, Organic and Spearmint are the plain leaves. Licorice Root, Organic and Marshmallow Root are the two roots. Ginger Root, Organic is the sharp one. Rest and Digest, Organic has the anise and fennel in it with chamomile, lemon balm and safflower, and Ayurvedic Ginger Lemon is ginger with hibiscus, lemongrass and black peppercorns.