Burdock - Versatile for the Homesteader
Considered an obnoxious weed by many - I have known about burdock root and its highly prized medicinal benefits for years!
It is a key ingredient in the Purely Living Filtering Organ tincture - which provides support to the kidneys, spleen, liver, gallbladder... It is well known as a blood purifier and helps to relieve arthritis.
Around my home, I have Great Burdock growing. Of the two most often found in Wisconsin, Common Burdock has hollow stems whereas Great Burdock stem structure is more like celery. Burdock is rich in iron, and is thought to be one of the many reasons that early settlers brought its seeds to the Americas.
LEAVES: I am learning that the entire plant is versatile and has a number of uses. The leaves are highly nutritious - and have the best flavor when harvested young. Once they become large the leaves become more bitter in flavor. Still, you can soak them in vinegar and make a poultice, wrapping the leaves, warmed in the oven first, around an achy joints. Burdock is excellent for helping to remove arthritis and rheumatism in the joints and helps to relieve pain.
If you raise chickens or goats, burdock leaves are HIGHLY nutritious! Along with comfrey leaves, burdock leaves are high in nutrition and make a great amendment for your soil.
ROOTS: As a food source, burdock roots are often sold in Asian markets – referred to as Gobo. There are many recipes, with braised burdock root being popular. First year plants are best to harvest as a root vegetable, as they are more tender. If you are harvesting 2nd year plants (plants go to flower), you will want to peel the outer layer and remove the woody outer layer. Spring and fall is the best time to dig up the root to collect for tincturing. Roots can also be dried and used as a coffee substitute – you may want to blend with chicory root.
If you are curious about burdock root as a food source, check out this chef sharing several recipes with you.
FLOWERS/SEEDS: In the second year the plants will grow a shoot at the top from which flowers will produce. This stalk is highly prized as a food source as well. The seeds are harvested from dried seed heads – watch out, they will cling to everything! The seeds are especially good for cleansing kidneys. You might consider combining with flower heads from Queen Anne’s Lace to help reduce kidney stone formation as a tincture blend. The seeds are renowned for their unfailing ability to stimulate kidney action. Susun Weed, author of Wise Woman Healing, states the burdock seeds reduces inflammation in the kidney as well as increase urine flow, which can be helpful to men who are having prostate issues. Seeds can also be infused in oil and used on the scalp to help strengthen hair shafts and reduce thinning hair.
As a flower essence, burdock is said to bring emotional healing to deep ancestral wounds. If you are feeling a sense of emotional scarring that has generational origin, spending some time with burdock flower, drinking burdock tea, might be a part of the emotional release as your pray for those wounds to be healed for yourself and future generations.
Have you changed your mind at all if you labeled burdock as an enemy in your natural landscape? As food shortages are likely to become even greater in the next year or so, I am tucking this information into the back of my mind. Knowing that if my family and I become hungry in hard times, we at least, have an ample supply of burdock and other edible weeds growing on our acre of country paradise.
Instead of considering burdock an obnoxious weed in your landscape, I encourage you to embrace it for all of its goodness that it provides. You may never know ...one day you may curse the day you had the chemical lawn care company come and kill it with herbicides!
It is a key ingredient in the Purely Living Filtering Organ tincture - which provides support to the kidneys, spleen, liver, gallbladder... It is well known as a blood purifier and helps to relieve arthritis.
Around my home, I have Great Burdock growing. Of the two most often found in Wisconsin, Common Burdock has hollow stems whereas Great Burdock stem structure is more like celery. Burdock is rich in iron, and is thought to be one of the many reasons that early settlers brought its seeds to the Americas.
LEAVES: I am learning that the entire plant is versatile and has a number of uses. The leaves are highly nutritious - and have the best flavor when harvested young. Once they become large the leaves become more bitter in flavor. Still, you can soak them in vinegar and make a poultice, wrapping the leaves, warmed in the oven first, around an achy joints. Burdock is excellent for helping to remove arthritis and rheumatism in the joints and helps to relieve pain.
If you raise chickens or goats, burdock leaves are HIGHLY nutritious! Along with comfrey leaves, burdock leaves are high in nutrition and make a great amendment for your soil.
ROOTS: As a food source, burdock roots are often sold in Asian markets – referred to as Gobo. There are many recipes, with braised burdock root being popular. First year plants are best to harvest as a root vegetable, as they are more tender. If you are harvesting 2nd year plants (plants go to flower), you will want to peel the outer layer and remove the woody outer layer. Spring and fall is the best time to dig up the root to collect for tincturing. Roots can also be dried and used as a coffee substitute – you may want to blend with chicory root.
If you are curious about burdock root as a food source, check out this chef sharing several recipes with you.
FLOWERS/SEEDS: In the second year the plants will grow a shoot at the top from which flowers will produce. This stalk is highly prized as a food source as well. The seeds are harvested from dried seed heads – watch out, they will cling to everything! The seeds are especially good for cleansing kidneys. You might consider combining with flower heads from Queen Anne’s Lace to help reduce kidney stone formation as a tincture blend. The seeds are renowned for their unfailing ability to stimulate kidney action. Susun Weed, author of Wise Woman Healing, states the burdock seeds reduces inflammation in the kidney as well as increase urine flow, which can be helpful to men who are having prostate issues. Seeds can also be infused in oil and used on the scalp to help strengthen hair shafts and reduce thinning hair.
As a flower essence, burdock is said to bring emotional healing to deep ancestral wounds. If you are feeling a sense of emotional scarring that has generational origin, spending some time with burdock flower, drinking burdock tea, might be a part of the emotional release as your pray for those wounds to be healed for yourself and future generations.
Have you changed your mind at all if you labeled burdock as an enemy in your natural landscape? As food shortages are likely to become even greater in the next year or so, I am tucking this information into the back of my mind. Knowing that if my family and I become hungry in hard times, we at least, have an ample supply of burdock and other edible weeds growing on our acre of country paradise.
Instead of considering burdock an obnoxious weed in your landscape, I encourage you to embrace it for all of its goodness that it provides. You may never know ...one day you may curse the day you had the chemical lawn care company come and kill it with herbicides!