Celebrating Corfu's Botanical Bounty

A nature walk with clinical herbalist Despina Mesimeri is one of the treats in store for you on our Culinary & Cultural Odyssey in Corfu this October. We asked her to tell us a more about her interest in plants for wellbeing, why Corfu is Greece’s garden isle and what botanical encounters you can look forward to.

 
ECT: Why is Corfu the ‘garden isle’?

DM: Corfu, unlike the rest of Greece, never fell under the Ottoman oppression but was occupied over the centuries by the Venetians, the French and the British. This is probably the main reason for the variety of flowers, plants, trees, insects, bugs, animals and birds on the island as the occupiers brought with them plants and seeds from all over the world. And the climate of course. The heavy winter rains and relatively mild summer combined with Corfu’s fertile soil contribute to the island being green from one end to the other all year round.

ECT: How did you became interested in the botany of Corfu and herbalism?

DM: I grew up in the 1990s, in a village in the centre of Corfu Island. Both my parents are middle-class workers so I grew up with my grandmothers, Maria and Despina. They were my guardians after school, at the weekends and in the summer holidays.

They grew up in the late 1940s and 1950s during a very difficult period of the Greek economy when there were no hospitals, and very few doctors, who were too expensive for farmers to visit. However, almost everyone knew about the various uses of plants in everyday life and health.

The story of how I became clinical herbalist is long but during my student years in physical therapy I had plenty of time, no TV set and a stolen book!

ECT: What are your three favourite healing plants that we can we expect to find growing when we visit in October?

DM:  In October the vegetation is recovering from the heat. We will find:

Plantain (Plantago lanseolata or P. Major). The leaves of this plant  can be crushed, or chewed, and used topically to treat insect bites, stings, small cuts and wounds.  

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinalis) is another great weed! You can eat the roots, leaves and flowers, all of which have different health benefits from supporting gut bacteria to helping the body eliminate excess fluid. It tastes delicious too.

And last but not least Corfu’s beloved olive. Everyone knows the fruit and the oil, but the leaves  are an anti-inflammatory and hypotensive medicine.
 
We invite you to come with us to explore the culinary and cultural treasures of this green isle this October.