Of late, I’ve been so busy writing about individual herbs and how to prepare different types of remedies from them that I’ve neglected some recipes.
Reading an excellent, recent post from my friend @calendulacraft on the PeakD blogging site, reminded me of a classic formulation for many symptoms of colds and flu, one that is especially good when taken often at the early stages of the bug – Yarrow, Peppermint and Elder Flower. Actually, I like to add a pinch of Sage too, for reasons I’ll outline later.
If you’d like to look deeper at each of the herbs, we have a page for all of them except Peppermint but that will be up shortly. There’s links spread throughout this text.
How to make your tea
The beauty of this recipe is that it is so very flexible. It’s a true folk remedy in that it doesn’t need a lot of measuring or thinking. It is entirely up to you whether you use fresh or dried but, somewhat ironically, at cold and flu time in Winter, the fresh herbs aren’t at their strongest and properly dried herbs can actually be more potent than fresh. We can use the leaves and flowers of all of these herbs but most of the punch is in the leaves – don’t use Elder leaves though, they have very different properties to the flowers.
This brew is best made as a strong, hot tea, as you will want to drink it while it is hot to benefit from the diaphoretic (sweat inducing) properties of the herbs. If you drink them cold, their diuretic (wee inducing) properties come to the fore and you’ll be forever running to the toilet and won’t benefit from a good sweat (unless you have a long way to run).
A mild fever and a good sweat are key signs that your body is working well and fighting your cold as it is meant to. Lack of either of these two things is not good, so the herbs we use for colds and flu help to promote herse two channels of healing.
You can make an infusion too, leaving the herbs to brew for an hour or so. If you forget and let it get cold, gentle warming before drinking is fine.
For quantities, just use an approximately equal ratio of the main herbs and a smaller amount of the Sage. Make your brew strong but not unpalatable – it’s not a bad brew by itself but a little honey can go in as well.
Whichever way you go, keep your vessel covered so that you keep as much of the volatile oils in as possible and don’t lose them with the steam.
Yarrow
Yarrow is well known for its ability to move blood and heal wounds. It is even called the ‘Mother of Blood’ sometimes. A good blood flow is key to fighting invaders in the body and removing the waste products from that fight.
As with the other herbs in this recipe, Yarrow is a diaphoretic, making you sweat. It has antimicrobial properties and is a pain reliever too, for those sore throats that may come along. Yarrow also contains salicylic acid, which is the original source of Aspirin, which is , in turn, used to lower fevers.
Peppermint
In this tea, Peppermint harmonises the actions of the other herbs. It’s sweet taste eases The flow of energy and makes the whole brew more palatable. It has a capacity for lifting spirits which are definitely dampened when we have a cold. Adding Peppermint to the mix, brings another boost. Peppermint contains Menthol (it was one of the original sources) which helps clear the upper respiratory tract and also relieve any coughing that may be affecting you. It is supportive of the liver and most of the other channels of waste removal that our body uses.
Elder Flower
Elder Flower and Elderberries are used differently in herbalism. While the flowers are used for more immediate results, I find that the berries have a more supportive, preventative role.
Elder Flowers shift heat to the periphery of the body, opening the pores in the skin and helping the heat be released through sweating. It is best used in the early stages of a cold, before congestion has started to build. They contain a natural refrigerant that helps cool an excessive fever.
Note: The flowers are completely safe but other parts of an Elder tree contain cyanogenic glycosides which can break down in the body to release cyanide. This is especially true of the bark. The bark, unripe berries and seeds also contain small amounts of substances known as lectins, which can cause stomach problems you eat too much. Elder trees are extremely useful but should be used medicinally with caution.
Sage
Sage also helps the liver by supporting its role if metabolising and removing the wastes that build up when our body is fighting an infection.
I like to tweak the recipe with a little Sage (Salvia officinalis). The reasons being, first, that Sage shares the antimicrobial and diaphoretic properties if the others and second, because Sage helps balance fluids in the body.
The combination of other herbs listed can be a little drying to the system and I find that they sometimes dry my nasal mucus membranes a little too much. So either a pinch of Sage to balance things out or a pinch of Licorice or Mallow to add a touch of their moistening character to the brew makes things a little less drying.
Other herb pages on Ligaya Garden
We cover a lot of ground on many herb related topics here on our website. There are whole pages devoted to different topics as well as frequent posts. Some of the links are –
Ligaya Garden 