Burdock

Everything that I write about Burdock, like all that I write, is not just for Burdock Major but the Burdock plant that is growing in your back yard.

Most of us hate the burs that our pets bring into the house attached to their fur but it is the most successful way that this plant has of spreading its seeds. This is obvious as we find Burdock growing everywhere.

Right up front, Burdock root is a blood cleanser. Does that mean that it goes in and screens the blood system? No, it means that it forces the cells to release toxins into the blood to be released from the system.

Burdock is such a wonderful blood cleanser that it is the main ingredient in Essiac. Essiac is a Native herbal cancer remedy. The story goes that Native Americans in Canada couldn't believe what was being done for cancer. They mentioned this herbal combination to a nurse and she started using it on her patients with much success. She was only a nurse and ended up in court for practicing medicine without a license even though what she had done had helped hundreds of people to live a longer and cancer free life. A Dr. Charles Brusch of Massachusetts came to her rescue and told the court that he would allow her to treat patients with this formula under his license. (This doctor, by the way become President John F. Kennedy's primary physician)

The formula was one that the nurse kept secret for a very long time and finally released it. The following is the combination:
6.5 cups – cut Burdock Root (52 measuring cup oz.)
16 oz - Powdered Sheep Sorrel
4 oz.- Powdered Slippery Elm
1 oz. – Turkey Rhubarb Root

When I read about the hundreds of people that she was able to help, even her mother was diagnosed with cancer and by giving her this combination in tea form, her mother lived for years without the disease. Many people testified on her behalf when she went to court but the law is inflexible.

At one time she had a research lab do tests with the formula on mice and the researchers said that it didn't work on mice. It was then that she found the plants that were being used were frozen and decided to be careful of who would get the formula. Finally prior to her death in 1978, she gave the formula to a Canadian company.

This is just one wonderful story about Burdock but I tell it only because it talks about just how powerful this herb is.

In the orient, Burdock is used as a food and could be here in the United States. Burdock root has a rather mild taste and even after cooking only adds to whatever is being made. In Wisconsin there is a company in the middle of the state that harvests and sells fresh Burdock. When I want to have my students taste it, I purchase fresh root from the produce department of a health food store in Milwaukee. My students are amazed at the taste. It can be added to salads or anything that one is eating.

The purpose of my class is to show my students how to use herbs in a different manner. They read all the books on what is good for what but even if it is growing in their backyards they don't know how to use it. So we start with the making of a tea. Teas are made from leaves. The second preparation is called a decoction. Decoctions are made from barks and roots. Teas are steeped. Decoctions are simmered. The difference is that the constituents are easy to pull out of leaves but harder to pull out of bark or roots.

Burdock is a perfect herb to taste and then watch a decoction being made from it. After the classes are over, I take the decoction of Burdock to my refrigerator and know that I have just created a vegetarian soup base for my family for the next meal. I can now add anything that I want to this wonderful broth.

The Global.herb V2.0 program found almost 70 different constituents in Burdock. That surely would give a body lots to choose to create a healthy environment in the body. This same program had a list of things that Burdock was able to help; Gout, Sores, Boils, Cancer, Rheumatism, Skin Diseases, Abscesses, Arthritis, Catharrh, Eczema, Fever, Cold, Hemorrhoids, Leprosy, Measles, Psoriasis, Sciatica, Tumor, Abscess, Bruises, Cough, Hair-tonic, Lymphatic congestion, Rashes, Snakebite, Swelling, Syphilis, Tonsillitis, Acne, Allergies, Asthma, Blood poison, Burns, Bursitis, Chicken Pox – Blood Cleanser, Chicken Pox-topical for itch, Constipation, Corns, Dandruff, Dogbite, Edema, Flu, Gonorrhea, Hair loss, Herpes, Hoarseness, Hyperglycema, Hypoglycema, Impetigo, Infection, Inflammation, Itching, Kidney Disease, Liver problems, Lungs, Parotitis, Pertussis, Piles, Pneumonia, Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, Prurigo, Scarlet Fever, Scrofula, Sexual tonic, Skin Diseases, Skin Eruptions, Smallpox, Stomachache, Sty, Toxic Blood, Tumor – gland, Tumor - Spleen,and Water retention.

That seems like a lot of things to have this wonderful weed work on but in addition the seeds are used for some things and the leaves are used also.

For people who don't want this weed growing in their yard, I suggest that it be used. The root tends to grow up to 16 or more feet long so if you are lucky you might be able to dig the first foot of it and take it out before the second year's growth. The rest of this root will rot and create some very nice soil for the yard.

Another thing to be reminded of is that the first year this plant looks very much like rhubarb. I always tell my students that when one is harvesting this plant at the end of the first year. Make sure that a second year plant is nearby.

Burs only grow on second year plants. One might find the skeleton of a burdock plant that died a few years ago in the area with the new plants. Some of these have burs still on them.

As much as people dislike this plant, it has been put in our environment for our health.