Dandelion
Taraxacum officinale
&
Burdock
Arctium lappa
A real spring tonic!
I know it's still cold and dark, but not for long. I want to tell you about an old formula for a spring tonic; one that you'll instantly recognise but you'll probably know as a sweet fizzy drink – Dandelion and Burdock!
Recipes have changed greatly over the years but there are still some drinks that contain these herbs, which may be described as "extract of" on the ingredients list.
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
The leaf of dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is known in France as ‘piss en lit’ because it is a diuretic (ie: makes you wee!). Consequently it improves the elimination of waste products and toxins from the bloodstream via the kidneys. Unlike some diuretic drugs which are known to increase the excretion of potassium, necessitating supplementation, dandelion contains lots of this essential mineral so theoretically it can help to improve levels in the body. Potassium is essential to cardiovascular and nervous function and is found in green leafy vegetables, fruit, wholegrains, seeds and nuts, as well as some fish and meat – so you don’t need to go on a purely dandelion diet!
Dandelion root on the other hand is known as a ‘choleretic’, which means it stimulates the flow of bile through the liver. This also contributes to the eliminatory process as the liver deals with most of the stuff we need to get rid of and disposes of it by putting it into the bile, which is then excreted via the bowel (giving the resulting product its colour). Blood flows through the liver and is cleansed of impurities, meanwhile being charged with metabolised nutrients for delivery to all the body’s tissues. Anything we eat, drink, breathe in or put on our skin is absorbed and processed by the liver – just think of how many ‘chemical’ products you use in a day, or how much motor exhaust you’re exposed to; your liver deals with all of them, day in, day out. Giving it a bit of help now and then with something like dandelion root doesn’t sound like such a bad idea, does it?
Burdock (Arctium lappa)
Burdock (Arctium lappa) – either root or seed – has a traditional reputation for moving wastes and toxins from cells into the blood. It was explained to us when I was a trainee herbalist back in the 1990s, that if toxins are moved from the cells into the blood but then stay there, the result could – if the toxic load were sufficient - be toxaemia (blood poisoning)! So we were taught never to use burdock alone, always to team it with dandelion or some other choleretic/diuretic herbs, to ensure that any toxins are completely removed from the body, although this advice seems to have been unique to my tutors as I find no mention of it in any of my textbooks. The teaming of the two herbs is unlikely to have come about by accident, however, so I suspect my old tutor knew a thing or two!
An excellent Spring Tonic
So there you have it – the original spring tonic! From earliest times, the roots and seeds may have been stored through the winter, and brewed up into a drink or broth in the early months of the year when fresh vegetables were scarce, to get people perked up and ready for the spring work. These days, dandelion leaf is taken as a tea, and dandelion root is roasted and used as a coffee substitute. Burdock root has pretty much fallen out of common usage, but in the past has been used as a vegetable. Modern herbalists also use the seed – in our dispensary we have all these remedies in tincture form to put into prescriptions, whereas dandelion tea and coffee are available in the shop.
You’ll never look at that bottle of Dandelion and Burdock in the same way again, will you?
