Abigails Herbs

Burdock root is in the thistle plant family. It is prickly and it produces a lavender colored flower twice per year.  It was used by the native Americans for many years to soothe the gastrointestinal tract and as a diuretic and blood purifier. It resembles an artichoke.

Burdock root is also used in Ayurvedic cultures and in China and Japan. Lactone is the active anti-bacterial agent found in the burdock root.  This wonderful plant has recently become popular as a tea to treat cancer.  It is also a diuretic. In the United Kingdom, dandelion and burdock are combined as a healthy soft drink which is becoming more and more popularized.

Burdock root is also a very popular dish in Japan. The root is chopped and julienned and cooked with sesame oil and eaten with sake. Burdock is put into miso soup (tonjiru) and put into  Japanese style pilaf. It contains fiber, calcium, potassium, essential amino acids and is very low in calories. It is good for acne, psoriasis, eczema and rheumatoid arthritis.

As a well known blood purifier, it is rich in phytosterols and essential fatty acids. Often combined with nettle oils, the oil of the burdock root is massaged into the scalp to promote healthy hair growth and to effectively treat dandruff. It stimulates the hair follicles and the sebaceous glands in order to have a healthy scalp and a full head of hair.

The taste of the soft burdock root is sweet  with high concentrations of  inulin and mucilage. Tolstoy, the great Russian author, wrote about the burdock  plant with great admiration. In the the 1940’s, burdock was the impetus for the invention of velcro. The fuzzy, prickly burrs of the plant would stick to the fur of cats and dogs; thus the inspiration for velcro was brought into the world by the Swiss inventor, George de Mestral.