Today is the Feast day of
St David, the patron saint of Wales.
It is said that he employed the leek to defeat the Saxons. Although they are good eating they are not known for their effectiveness as weapons. Apparently he had soldiers to
wear them so as to identify each other during had to hand combat.
As a result they became his symbol. However, nobody goes around (as far as I know)
wearing them on 1 March.
But beware! 16th Century Herbalist William Turner has this to say about the tasty alium: “ The leek breedeth wind and evil juice and maketh heavy dreams. It stirreth a man to make water and is good for the belly. But if you boil a leek in two waters and afterwards steep it in cold water it will be less windy than before”
I never knew leeks were carminatives but there you have it.....
