Wild herbs are a wonderful treasure of alternative medicine, as the herbs are rich in vitamins and effective. Unfortunately, this knowledge is increasingly being forgotten. In the past, collecting and processing wild herbs was a fixed part of household life.
Information about wild herbs
It is important to inform yourself exactly about what the plants look like and where they can grow. Either research very carefully on the internet or get a plant identification book. It is best to pick the plants where they occur in large quantities. Very important: Never pull out the whole plant, but only collect the leaves and flowers. Do not use plants next to busy roads, fertilized fields, or landfills. Take enough time for collecting and enjoy it with all your senses.
Nettle
Season: March to October
Occurrence: grows frequently in nutrient-rich, also damp locations such as in floodplain forests, on banks, roadsides, or rubble heaps. It indicates a high nitrogen supply in the soil.
Parts used: seeds, leaves, flowering herb
Extra info: When picking, be sure to use gloves, as the nettle toxin causes itching that can last up to 36 hours! The young leaves are best from March to May, as they are more tender and can also be dried.
Taste: tart-fresh, acidic, finely spicy
Healing effect: stimulates the entire metabolism, is diuretic, blood-purifying, helps with digestive disorders, strengthens the kidneys, contains a lot of iron and magnesium, supports the immune system, helps against states of exhaustion and fatigue.
Tea instructions: Pour hot water over the leaves – this destroys the stinging hairs.
- 2 tsp dried herb
- pour 1/4 l of boiling water over it
- let steep for 5 minutes
Nettle cure: Drink one cup 4 weeks before breakfast, and 2 more cups during the day.
Use in the kitchen: Nettle spinach, nettle soup, for vegetables and casseroles
Dandelion
Season: March to September
Occurrence: Dandelion can be found almost everywhere, especially on nutrient-rich meadows
Parts used: young leaves, young buds, root
Extra info: The leaves should only be collected from young plants that have not yet developed flower stalks. Under no circumstances use the stalk, as it contains milky sap and causes nausea and other poisoning symptoms.
Taste: tenderly bitter, acidic
Healing effect: blood-purifying, strengthens liver and gallbladder, diuretic, digestive, detoxifying and purifying
Tea instructions:
Dried dandelion tea
- 1 tsp dried leaves with
- bring 1 cup of water to a boil once
- let steep for 15 minutes
Fresh dandelion tea:
- pour 4 cups of boiling water over
- 1 cup of fresh dandelion leaves
- let steep for 15 minutes, strain and drink throughout the day
Spring cure: Drink 1 cup of tea morning and evening for 4-8 weeks.
Use in the kitchen: Young leaves for salad, flower buds without the bitter stalk taste delicately of mushrooms and are sautéed in butter or fried crispy
Daisies
Season: March to November
Occurrence: frequently found on meadows, pastures or at roadsides
Parts used: Leaves and flower heads
Taste: mildly nutty, acidic, tart, tenderly bitter
Healing effect: anti-inflammatory, blood-purifying, expectorant, stimulates metabolism and digestion
Tea instructions:
- 10 flower heads and leaves with
- pour 1/2 liter of boiling water over it,
- let steep for 10 minutes
- Drink 4 cups per day
Use in the kitchen: young leaves and flower heads raw in salad or cooked in soups or smoothies
Chickweed
Season: all year round
Occurrence: in chicken weed areas, in gardens, on fields or vineyards, on paths, rubble heaps or on banks. It prefers moist, nutrient-rich soils, which can also be in the shade.
Parts used: Leaves and flower heads
Taste: finely spicy, mild, like young corn
Healing effect: stimulates metabolism, digestive, helps against constipation and flatulence, provides minerals (iron, potassium, calcium, magnesium, as well as vitamin C and provitamin A)
Extra info: Just 150 g of chickweed provides the entire daily requirement of potassium, iron, calcium, magnesium as well as vitamin C and provitamin A. Best enjoyed in spring, as it helps to cleanse the respiratory tract, kidneys and skin after winter.
Use in the kitchen: Salad, smoothies and soups
Yarrow
Season: March to September
Occurrence: on dry meadows, pastures, at roadsides and on semi-dry grasslands
Parts used: Medicine: whole herb, kitchen: the tender leaves
Extra info: Caution with allergies to yarrow or other Asteraceae
Taste: the young leaves in spring taste tenderly bitter and aromatic
Healing effect: digestive, diuretic, antispasmodic, wound-healing, hemostatic
Tea instructions: use the flowering plant for a tea, as it contains essential oils as well as bitter substances. Yarrow stimulates digestion.
- 1 tsp pour boiling water over it
- let steep for 5 minutes
- Drink several times a day
Use in the kitchen: Soup, spreads, salads
Ground ivy, creeping charlie
Season: March to September
Occurrence: found on moist, humus-rich soils, under trees and hedges or even in the lawn. In sunny places, the leaves are smaller and often reddish-brown in color.
Parts used: Leaves and purple flower heads
Extra info: harvest during the flowering phase and let dry. Ground ivy was once considered the embodiment of good house spirits, which offer their help to people in bad times. When consumed, it should therefore also protect against bad influences, heal wasting diseases and bring strength for health.
Taste: slightly tart, aromatic
Healing effect: anti-inflammatory, diuretic, expectorant, promotes metabolism, detoxifies, removes heavy metals, has an antibacterial effect, stimulates the immune system
Tea instructions: 1 tsp pour boiling water over it, let steep for 5 minutes, drink several times a day
Use in the kitchen: Soups, salads, for spreads, smoothies and punches
Common mugwort
Season: Flowering time from July to September, fruit ripening from September to October
Occurrence: grows on road and path edges, on shrub borders and rubble heaps
Parts used: Leaves, flower buds
Extra info: Formerly a very popular medicinal and spice plant and was put into consecrated herb bouquets. Typical ingredient in herbal liqueurs and stomach bitters. As long as the flower heads are still closed, cut off and harvest the upper shoot tip. As soon as the flower heads open, the leaves become bitter and can no longer be used for seasoning.
Taste: tenderly bitter
Healing effect: for digestive problems and loss of appetite, for urinary congestion and for the treatment of women's diseases
Use in kitchen: for bread, bread spread, savory fillings, drinks (stomach bitters, herbal liqueurs)
Comfrey
Season: May to September
Occurrence: in nutrient-rich, moist perennial fields, on banks of water bodies, in wet meadows, swamp and floodplain forests
Parts used: young shoots and leaves (April to August), the roots from autumn to spring
Extra info: one of the oldest, traditional plants of folk medicine, in high doses comfrey is poisonous, liver-damaging and carcinogenic. The rootstock was used in the form of compresses for poorly healing wounds.
Taste: Leaves taste cucumber-like, are slimy and sticky
Healing effect: supports wound healing (even with bone fractures) and tissue regeneration, has a pain-relieving, anti-inflammatory and decongestant effect, cough-suppressing and scar-forming
Use in kitchen: in moderation for salad, vegetables or casseroles
Ground elder
Season: April to July, flowering time June to July
Occurrence: everywhere on fresh, nutrient-rich soils, shady-moist bushes and forests, gardens
Parts used: Leaves
Extra info: Ground elder is one of the oldest wild vegetables, is rich in vitamins and minerals. It contains a lot of vitamin C, potassium, carotene and iron. When hiking, the crushed herb helps against insect bites.
Taste: like parsley, cooked more like spinach, slightly bitter, aromatic
Healing effect: anti-inflammatory, diuretic, helps with gout and rheumatism complaints, antispasmodic, detoxifying and blood-purifying
Tea instructions:
- 2 tbsp leaves pour 250 ml of hot water over them
- let steep for 5 minutes
Use in kitchen: young leaves for salads, vegetables, soups, casseroles, breads and drinks
Ribwort plantain
Season: April to September
Occurrence: on meadows and pastures, at roadsides
Parts used: Leaves, inflorescences
Extra info: has been used for centuries to strengthen the respiratory tract, as well as to promote expectoration, for ulcers in the mouth area and as a means for primary wound care.
Taste: salty, slimy, somewhat bitter
Healing effect: for respiratory diseases, wound healing, soothing irritation, slightly cough-relieving, the crushed leaves relieve itching
Tea instructions:
- 2-4 g of the cut ribwort plantain leaves with
- pour boiling water over it,
- let steep for 10 minutes
Use in kitchen: young leaves and inflorescences for soups, salad, vegetables, pickled, casseroles
I forgot a wild herb, or overlooked an important detail? Send me an email or post a constructive comment!
Also read: Correct layout of vegetable and herb beds
