sister_raphael | Crab's Feet Tea- The Search

The search is on to find some Crab's Feet Tea, in a location somewhere I can find and at a price I can afford. I have contacted a local herbalist who makes teas and sells some other bits and pieces to ask. My next step is to take the bus into the heart of our own Chinatowns, both Fortitude Valley and Market Square for a rummage through their herbal shops. I don't speak Chinese and some of the old shop owners may not speak much English so it might be interesting. I will take the name written down in Chinese and hope I can find something.

I have a theory that the Pangxie Jiao may be the type of plant the Trotula was talking about in her recipe for the tooth powder. The fact that it's from China makes it a very expensive item, but the frankincense it also uses is not cheap either. I had concerns that the crabfoot she mentions may not be a plant at all since her glossary lists the botanic name for other plants she uses, but not this. However... drumroll please... if this was an imported item from China, she may not actually have known the name.

The plant itself is a relation to mistletoe, which is a plant known and used in the Trotula texts and thought to have all kinds of beneficial properties.

Further questions arise, like where Trota was studying, were goods imported from China? I feel that the answer is yes, at that time.

Of course, Trota being Trota, it could also just be dried and crushed actual crab foot. That would give the powder some grittiness and an abrasive quality which would be helpful. Again, the frankincense does that already, so would it be needed. The thinking continues.