Modern Uses of "Old Remedies" in Everyday Life

For thousands of years, humans have relied on wild herbs for food, healing, and ritual. Long before pharmacies and supermarkets, knowledge of plants was passed down through generations, rooted in observation, experience, and close relationships with the natural world.

What we often refer to today as “old remedies” such as those in my book, were simply everyday medicine, folk remedies or home cures used to heal or relieve common illnesses, injuries, and discomforts.

Far from being primitive or unscientific, these practices represent the foundation of medicine itself. Thankfully, many of these historical herbs are now enjoying a quiet revival, appearing in modern kitchens, skincare routines, and wellness practices.

Mugwort

One the ways we can easily identify a plant as an "Old Remedy" is by the word “wort” which comes from the Old English wyrt, and was traditionally used to describe plants with a medicinal purpose. Plants such as St John’s wort, Woundwort, Lungwort, and Mugwort reflected generations of careful observation and use. Lungwort, for example, was used for respiratory complaints; Woundwort for cuts and injuries; and Mugwort may have come from the Germanic word for midge +‎ wort due to plants use as a repellent. St John’s wort was named for the day that it usually blooms, ie the feast of John the Baptist in late June, rather than for its medicinal use though it retained the word "wort" as an indication.

Archaeological evidence suggests that humans have been using plants as medicine for at least 60,000 years. One of the most compelling examples comes from the Shanidar Cave in Iraq, where pollen analysis from Neanderthal burial sites indicates intentional placement of medicinal plants such as yarrow and other healing herbs. These so-called “flower burials” suggest not only ritual behaviour, but a sophisticated understanding of plant properties.

As human societies developed, this plant knowledge was recorded and refined. The Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Chinese all produced medical texts detailing herbal remedies. One of the oldest known is The Divine Farmer’s Classic of Herbalism, a Chinese text dating back around 2,000 years, which catalogues hundreds of medicinal plants still used today.

Just a few examples of "Old Remedies" very much still in use are:-

Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum): Ancient Food, Modern Medicine

Wild garlic, also known as ramsons, has been gathered since prehistoric times. Found carpeting woodland floors in spring, it was valued both as food and medicine.

Historically, wild garlic was used to support digestion, cleanse the blood, and ward off infections. Roman soldiers reportedly consumed garlic for strength and endurance. Today the bulb of the cultivated garlic is used more frequently as it can be stored for longer than wild garlic which is still very seasonal, but the wild variety is still collected each year by many herbalists who use it in cough remedies and digestive remedies.

Wild Garlic

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium): From Battlefield to Bathroom Cabinet

Yarrow has a long reputation as a first-aid plant. Whilst the latin name is after Achilles, who was said to treat soldiers’ wounds with it, the common name, Yarrow, is a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon name for the plant “gearwe”, which means “completeness” or “effective”.

Yarrow was traditionally used to stop bleeding, reduce inflammation, and treat fevers and is still used today for these as well as for digestive use, as an antimicrobial and for calming irritated or inflamed skin.

Yarrow

St John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum): From Spirit Protection to Mental Wellbeing

St John’s wort is one of the most historically significant medicinal plants in European herbalism. Long before it was associated with St John the Baptist, the plant was valued for its ability to protect the mind and lift the spirit. Its Latin name, Hypericum, comes from Greek roots meaning “over images” or “over apparitions,” reflecting the belief that it could ward off harmful visions, nightmares, and negative influences.

Traditionally, St John’s wort was used for melancholy, nervous disorders, and disturbances of the spirit, conditions we would now recognise as forms of depression, anxiety, or emotional imbalance. Sprigs of the plant were hung above doorways, placed under pillows, or carried as protective charms, but of course this plant is still highly used in modern remedies for depression and anxiety. It is also a great remedy for Seasonal Adjustment Disorder.

St John's Wort

The return of Plant Medicine

Despite this deep history, the rise of modern medicine in the 19th century saw plant-based healing increasingly dismissed as “superstitious.” Many herbal remedies were either abandoned or refined, isolated, and rebranded as pharmaceutical drugs often without acknowledgement of their herbal origins. In the West especially, much traditional plant knowledge was lost or marginalised.

By the 1970s and 1980s, plant medicine was relabelled as “alternative,” a term that paradoxically helped spark renewed interest. Herbalism, foraging, and traditional remedies began to resurface as people questioned industrialised healthcare models.

Today, with the growing crisis of antibiotic resistance, scientists are once again turning back to plants — researching complex phytochemicals and antimicrobial compounds that cannot be easily replicated in synthetic form. This renewed scientific interest in plants as medicine is exactly what I explore in my book.

Why Historical Herbs Still Matter

The resurgence of herbal medicine isn’t about rejecting modern healthcare, but about remembering what we forgot. Wild herbs like garlic, yarrow, and the many “worts” remind us that medicine was once local, seasonal, and deeply connected to place.

Incorporating these plants into everyday life through food, skincare, or gentle home remedies reconnects us with a lineage of knowledge that spans tens of thousands of years.