Can you make brownies and health food bars with catnip?

Question

Other Common Names: Cat-mint, Catmint, Catnep, Inu-Hakka, Nebeda, Nepeta, Yalanci Kediotu, Nepeta cataria

Range: Britain; Spain; Turkey; USA


http://www.diet-and-health.net/Naturopathy/Catnip.html

Habitat: Roadsides and near streams. Hedgerows, borders of fields, dry banks and waste ground, especially on calcareous and gravelly soils.

Catnip has a long history of use as a household herbal remedy, being employed especially in treating disorders of the digestive system and, as it stimulates sweating, it is useful in reducing fevers. The herbs pleasant taste and gentle action makes it suitable for treating colds, flu and fevers in children. It is more effective when used in conjunction with elderflower (Sambucs nigra).

The leaves and flowering tops are strongly antispasmodic, antitussive, astringent, carminative, diaphoretic, slightly emmenagogue, refrigerant, sedative, slightly stimulant, stomachic and tonic. The flowering stems are harvested in August when the plant is in full flower, they are dried and stored for use as required. An infusion produces free perspiration, it is considered to be beneficial in the treatment of fevers and colds. It is also very useful in the treatment of restlessness and nervousness, being very useful as a mild nervine for children. A tea made from the leaves can also be used. The infusion is also applied externally to bruises, especially black eyes.

Young leaves - raw. A mint-like flavor, they make an aromatic flavoring in salads.

Older leaves are used as a flavoring in cooked foods. They can be used fresh or dried to make an aromatic herb tea.

The tea should be infused in a closed container in order to preserve the essential oils, boiling is said to spoil it.
The plant is said to deter insects such as ants and flea beetles as well as rats and mice. (The idea behind it being a rat repellent is probably based on the plants attraction to cats.) A strong infusion can be used to repel fleas from carpets or the fur of animals. An extract from the leaves (called nepetalactone) has herbicidal and insect repellant properties.
The freshly harvested flowering tops contain 0.3 - 1% essential oil by distillation. It is mainly used for medicinal purposes. The dried leaves retain their fragrance and can be used in pot-pourri.

Answer 1

I would say only if you are a cat!

Answer 2

Herbal remedies are great in the approved doses, mixed in a brownie you could get too much or too little as brownie mix is not that consistent. And is the method normally a tea or elixir, rather than taken whole.

Do you know the date of when that was an approved herbal remedy as during some sections in our past belladonna was an approved remedy for some ailments. In case you're not familiar with the plant its' more common name "Deadly Nightshade."

Answer 3

Sure, you can do whatever you want. But cats shouldn't really have chocolate etc, and catnip doesn't work on people. It would be a useless product.

Unless it was made of all ingredients that cats could eat, and marketed for cats.

Editing, sorry. Doesn't work as an intoxicant for people. It might be good for any number of other things but if you are sick you won't want to eat stuff like brownies, etc. do you?

Answer 4

It depends on whether it's for a human or a cat! I imagine it's OK. I don't think it's going to have the same effect on a human as on a cat, though!

Answer 5

I'm not sure why you would want to. Catnip makes a good tea, but I wouldn't bake with it, it might burn and that would ruin the brownies!

Answer 6

I was going to say yes but it looks like you allready have your answer! lol. I've made tea with it and it wasn't too bad. It has a slight kick to it but no too bad lol.
P.S. love the link you posted!!! Thanks!