A common ingredient in herbal immunity products is echinacea.
Not for everyday use. Consume echinacea when you feel sickness or imbalance coming along.
Before the discovery of penicillin, echinacea was used for inflammatory and infectious conditions.
To harvest:
Cut the flowers in bloom / green leaves, dry and simmer with other beneficial plants like peppermint, spearmint, sage, rosemary, thyme etc.
At the end of season dig up pieces of the echinacea root and toast for a bitter concoction that blends nice with coffee, chicory, dandelion and black tea.
Benefits:
IMMUNE SYSTEM- stimulates an immune response and is effective at killing pathogens. Echinacea is a natural 'antibiotic'. Keep in mind that antibiotics cannot differentiate between good and bad bacteria. This is why using antibiotic herbs are not used long-term since this can compromise our beneficial bacteria balance.
LIVER- helps to detoxify the liver. Bitter tasting herbs stimulate the flow of bile from the gallbladder and the liver. Bile is an effective detoxifier.
SKIN- can be used topically on skin eruptions like acne, rashes and injuries.
How to use:
A strong tea, tincture or encapsulated when you have a sore throat, sniffles, congestion, pain in your joints or an inflammatory reaction to something.
- Samantha
DISCLAIMER: Please note the NIH herbal encyclopedia is created to share the herbal benefits and notes through personal experience working with plants in the NIH garden and in the wild. Herbal knowledge shared here is referenced by various herbal texts in the NIH library. Any information gathered from our herbal blog posts should be utilized at your own risk. If you have medical conditions, are taking medication or are unsure of your health diagnosis, please speak with a physician or medical professional about the use of herbs.