MyHerbCorner

Posts Tagged ‘yellow dock’

As many people in the world I’m a terrible coffee addict.
On the search of substitutes I sipped a lot of different cups…
Traditional dandelion and chicory roots have been my first experiment (some 20 years ago…) and I love them still.
Then followed barley which first has to be sprouted before roasting.
I can tell you the sprouting time was the worst part since it smells terrible (actually stinks like malt beer) but the roasted product tastes yummy, even sweet.
Since I like my drinks unsweetened I kind of disliked this malt tasting barley product and started to roast whole spelt or other grains.
That kept my pure coffee drinks to a limit but still, it’s not like the REAL thing…
In Dian’s book I learned about roasted chickpeas and made them today.
I started as usually by roasting in a pan (always roasted my grains in a cast iron) but since chickpeas are big I thought about roasting them like my beloved acorn coffee…
That was great, the oven heated to 150 degree C and the peas for around half a hour on a baking tray and they smelled strong roasted. I gave the tray then and now a shake so the peas got evenly roasted.

The cooled product went into my coffee grinder and I tried my first cup by making it in an espresso machine (which is the best form to make coffee since it will have a strong coffee flavour without so much caffeine like found in filtered coffee)
Problem was, chickpeas swell when getting wet and the steam couldn’t go through the machine.
So I switched to the old form of coffee making… in a pot I brought 2 tbs chickpea coffee to boil with 2 cups of water.
What came out was a great dark ‘coffee’ which tasted like barley coffee but wasn’t sweet.
It actually could be drunk instead of coffee and I guess some people will think it is, but I prefer acorn coffee or… yep, the real thing

Coffee is not all that bad most people might think.
Oh yeah, there ARE positive effects, otherwise it wouldn’t be served for patients in hospitals, right?
It is as all things in live a matter of balance.

Your body tells you when it doesn’t like an acid kick of coffee…
Every time I got pregnant I couldn’t even SMELL coffee and I heard of pregnant women actually needing a quick run to the bathroom when smelling coffee… yep, our body can talk if we listen and is doing that sometimes in powerful ways

If you feel jittery or get headache or stomach ache after a cup of coffee your body is telling you to make a change in this habit.
You might like to try one of the substitutes mentioned above.

Don’t drink a cup of coffee before going to bed since it will raise your heart beat and you can’t find a relaxing, recharging sleep.

If you love coffee, then LOVE every cup!
It is worse to THINK that you shouldn’t drink so much coffee then actually drink it by joy.
Our thoughts can be more harmful to our body system then the things we eat or drink.

If you nurture negative thoughts it will change your body chemistry into an acid ground.
Positive thoughts nurture the more relaxing, calming, soft stimulating chemicals in our body.
I once learned that the spit of an angry or negative thinking person is so acid it could kill a mouse!
Now if that is not true.
Angry people poison them self by swallowing their spit and I guess you heard of the saying ‘Spit it out!’ which can give you here a new meaning.

If you drink a lot of coffee you might like to increase your yogurt intake or other calcium sources like stinging nettle infusion, alfalfa leaves as salad, red beetroot or lots of parsley.
Also a bit yellow dock (lot of iron) would be a good idea. Make a vinegar with yellow dock roots and add them to salad or a cup of water.

There is nothing against a cup of coffee in the morning and one in the afternoon. It will actually raise your awareness, concentration and accuracy.
However you don’t need to drink one cup after the other for this enhancing qualities. That would over stimulate your brain and make it more slow (really contra productive…)

One word to decaffeinated coffee! It is far better to drink the real thing in moderation then decaffeinated coffee. This was chemically decaffeinated and the rest substances in your nice decaf makes it worse then the caffeine in a good cup of coffee.
Mary Summer Rain mentioned in her book Earthway, that decaffeinated coffee would raise levels of serum cholesterol in the bloodstream.
I think this are enough points against decaf.

So if you want to decrease coffee, try out the above mentioned substitutes.
If you are healthy, enjoy your coffee… and remember, it is all a matter of balance, you can drink four cups of coffee if you feel good, but increase iron and calcium intake in your diet.
Also drink a lot of water daily (2 liters would be great)
This helps to detox and gives the kidneys a break in filtering other substances.

Don’t be hard on yourself because if you say to yourself you ‘should drink less’ you can find your self drinking even ‘more’
That’s the psychological effect which is like a little child in our head.
If someone wants to take away a child’s beloved pacifier (in this case coffee) it want’s it more (and so do you, right?)
Play it easy and just enjoy what you drink. Do it fully aware and just try to drink less without ‘forcing’ yourself or add more water to your coffee.

On Wikipedia you can find info of newest insights and you can see that coffee is no longer thought to be a risk factor for coronary heart disease. Please click here for some more good news about coffee on Wikipedia.

Today I made some yellow dock (Rumex crispus) and burdock (Arctium lappa) tinctures with dried roots.
Yellow dock is best harvest at the end of summer (so get out your spade Kiwis ;- )
Also burdock is good to dig out now when it is in it’s first year, or in spring when it is in it’s second year (other then yellow dock who is perennial, burdock has a two year circle called biennial)

From my experience it is best to use dried roots to make a good medicine. Fresh roots contain too much water and make the alcohol level for tincturing to low (if you use Vodka or Brandy)

I always love to watch the tincture change it’s colours.
On the left is burdock and on the right side yellow dock.

The colours after shaking. You can see clearly the orange colour of yellow dock.

This is another important thing when making root tincture. Shake every day for at least a week. Dried roots swell up very much and if you don’t shake them their will be some spots which are still half dry (this can cause rotting instead of extracting)

So if you are digging up roots for tincture remember to dry them first.
And don’t use high alcohol grades because from my experience they don’t make good medicine as with Vodka, Schnaps or Brandy. The high alcohol grade extracts things you might not want in your tincture…

Burdock is high in calcium, iron, cooper as well as vitamin A and C to name a few.
Yellow dock is high in iron, manganese as well as vitamin A and C.
Both tinctures can be used every day (3x 10-25 drops) a week before menstruation to help reduce heavy bleeding. They also act on the liver and help the body remove toxins.
Both are used for skin conditions like psoriasis and musculoskeletal problems like arthritis.

When taking tincture, first shake the bottle and then give your amount of drops into an eggcup with water. Don’t swallow it fast but let it sit a few seconds in your mouth so the medicine goes quicker into your body system via the oral mucosa (instead through stomach…)

Our last trip before school started was to Willow bank. While the children enjoyed to play at the water I walked around to find ‘edible weeds.’

First I found a lot of onion weed (Allium triquetrum). This plant is my alternative to Bear’s garlic which is also called Ramsons (Allium ursinum).

Bedside the onion weed, yellow dock (Rumex crispus) was stretching out his long leaves. The roots are rich in iron and you can use the leaves in salads or rice dishes. If you like to know more about yellow dock, please click here.

Chickweed (Stellaria media) is also very mineral and vitamin rich. Never miss to harvest some of it. You may also like to use chickweed for medical uses. Click here for a link. And if you like to make some ‘Chickweed moons’, please click here . They taste very nice when fresh.

The pines already form buds but it will take a while until the pollen are ready to harvest.

This gorse (Ulex) is a real pest here in New Zealand. I know that you can use the flowers for food and flower medicine, but I have never tried it. Maybe this has to change

Made this yummy herb cubes for our broccoli soup today and thought you may like to try them.

Click here for the recipe.

This is not only yummy in soups or in salads, my husband just like to munch them as healthy snack
The herbs sure add a lot of vitamins and minerals, especially ‘wild greens!’

You can create just unbelievable tasting herbcubes. Say you like to add them to a ‘wild green soup,’ add dandelion, wild mustard, plantain and yarrow leaves. You can roast alfalfa seeds or yellow dock seeds, as well as seeds from all other kind of wild greens.
In summer add yarrow flowers (which give an incredible taste) or other beautiful colours. There is no limit to your own creation and imagination.
Just try it and if you like to, tell me your own favorite creation.

Happy experimenting!

Yesterday we made a beautiful walk and it almost smelled like spring!
Our Alders are blooming…

…and birds are building nests. (See my entry in the other blog: please click here)

I was collecting some herbs and I like to show you the different…

… root colours. On top is Yellow dock (Rumex crispus) and the other is Sorrel.

When you dig them out at spring the surface (leaves) looks similar but you know the difference from the root colour (sorrel is white)

I made an infusion of Yellow dock which is detoxifying and will dry the rest.

The water changed it’s colour in no time! Click here for a bigger picture.

This is sure strong medicine!
If you’d like to know more about Yellow dock, please click here.