As soon as you see the first fresh dandelion leaves, its time to start making your spring tonic.
Having spent winter eating the heavier, fattier soups and stews that our body needs to keep warm, it’s time to flush out the system in preparation for the lighter salads and leaves of spring and summer. So spring is the time to attend to the liver and gall bladder, and we do this by drinking and eating bitters.
Bitters
Our modern palettes have become unaccustomed to bitter flavours. Sweeteners – whether sugar, molasses, honey or artificial-based – are added to all manner of foods, and even our bitter vegetables, like sprouts and broccoli, have been bioengineered to take out that tang and make them more palatable.
Bitters are important to stimulate the digestive enzymes that help draw the minerals and vitamins we need from our food. Many traditional cultures have a habit of taking a bitter drink, or digestif, before a meal, preparing their system for the good food they’re about to eat.
Nature’s bitter
It never fails to amaze me how nature provides just what we need, when we need it. As spring arrives and we emerge from our winter sloth, the first green shoots we find are the bitter herbs that are so vital to cleansing our bodies – inside and out.
The most common of these is dandelion. It is famously known as a diuretic (largely a function of its high potassium content). It also contains magnesium, calcium and vitamins A, K, B and C along with the important flavour and stimulant of coumarin.
Dandelion helps stimulate bile production, which in turn will stimulate liver function enabling fats to be broken down and waste toxins to be carried out of the body (making use of dandelion’s diuretic function). The cleansing also extends to our gall bladders, an important component of our immune system. This brings the benefit of not only reducing inflammation within our body but also supressing appetite. Making you feel fresher and lighter.
Eat well, stay well
Folk herbalism is about staying well, more than addressing disease. Which is why tonics are so important to add vitality and health. They provide vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in an easily accessible way. It’s like taking supplements, but using the whole plant.
Modern science and pharmaceuticals are often plant-based, but they tend to isolate specific beneficial compounds. Folk medicine works with the whole plant in its original form, so you get the desired compounds plus a whole lot of other benefits that nature’s packaged with them – which, more often than not, we find are help-compounds, potentially enabling better absorption, or even counteracting side-effects that we may get if taking the supplement in isolation. Nature knows what she’s doing!
Spring tonics – three ways
Here are three different approaches to making a spring tonic.
one: Cleavers infusion
Incredibly simply, find yourself a clean patch of cleavers (goosegrass, sticky willy … whatever you call it) and take a few sprigs to pop into water.
I like to have a jug of water on my desk with cleavers in it to pour from through the day. Also, if I’m out on a walk, I’ll pop a sprig of cleavers into my water bottle as I go.
The flavour is as refreshing as cucumber and the benefits are for the lymph system and kidneys which will be cleansed.
two: Lemon spring tonic
This option involves a bit of kitchen-witchery.
Chop up a spring onion and a couple of cloves of garlic then add these to a pan with four cups of water. Bring this to the boil, then cover, reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes. Then add two cups each of chopped dandelion leaves and watercress* and cook for another two minutes. Your ‘soup’ should be deliciously bright green now. Remove from the heat and let it cool before blending until smooth. Add the juice from a whole lemon and blend again to incorporate it. Then squeeze it all through a muslin or fine sieve, so you get a green liquid. The pulp that remains can be composted.
Drink a small cupful, or wineglass full at a time. Store any left over in the fridge, it will be good for couple of days.
*these can be substituted for other greens if you prefer, such as kale.
three: Spring digestive tonic
This next option comes closer to the traditional digestif or medicine, though, as discussed above, in folk herbalism we focus more on keeping well so the concept of a tonic is much more appealing than a medicine.
This is primarily a blend of cleavers, dandelion and nettle infused in apple cider vinegar, making what you can think of as a spring version of a fire cider. You can add in other herbs of your choice too, such as hedge mustard and wild garlic.
Start it off early as you’ll need to leave the resulting tonic for at least a couple of weeks before it’s ready to drink, but taken a few teaspoonfuls at a time, either neat or in cold or warm water (or added to salad dressings or sauces, however you prefer), it will last quite a while.
Robin Harford – the expert forager who educates under the title ‘Eat Weeds’ has made a video showing you exactly what to do.
Your herbal tonics can be used as a cordial at any time of the day. The herbs are naturally cooling, something we may not yet be ready for if it’s still a bit chilly out. If you want that cooling refresh, add them to tap water, or sparking water; or for a more soothing drink, they work equally well drunk warm.
Beech leaves
One final thing not to miss as you’re out on walks around Cam and Dursley … we are blessed with beautiful beech trees. In spring their soft bright green leaves look like fine lace as they filter shafts of sunlight. It’s at this stage that they are also good to eat, try nibbling one when you get the chance. I think they taste like a granny smiths apple.
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