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Cream, frothy flowers of meadowsweet along the lane leading to Chilson Common, South Somerset1
Meadowsweet is out in its full glory now – it was my Mum’s favourite wildflower & she always told me the story of how it was strewn in Elizabeth Ⅰ’s bedchamber so it would smell sweet. John Parkinson (herbalist to Charles Ⅰ) writes in 1640 of meadowsweet or Medesweete as he calls it,
…because both flowers & herbes are of so pleasing a sweete sent, many doe much delight therin, to have it layd in their Chambers & Parlers … & Queene Elizabeth of famous memory, did more desire it than any other sweet herbe to strew her Chambers withall.2
Parkinson writes of meadowsweet’s many uses or “Virtues” as they were named then – he says how it can lift your mood or “make a merry heart”. He also notes that it is amphoteric depending on how you prepare it – boiled in wine with a little honey added & taken warm it will ease constipation, whereas just boiled in red wine it will arrest diarrhoea.
If you pick meadowsweet flowers now, they can be dried & stored. Jones3 suggests just choosing flowers that are “fresh & vibrant” but also concedes that “younger, immature flower heads” can also be harvested. As with all wildflowers pick following the Countryside Code4 including as below:
• You can pick a few wildflowers for foraging (for yourself) but take only 1 in 20 – this means if there are twenty plants, it is reasonable to pick flowers from one. If you wish to pick from two plants, there should be forty plants altogether
• On legally protected sites such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, there may be a blanket ban on picking any vegetation.
You can “passively” dry meadowsweet by spreading out flowers on racks so air can circulate all around. Place away from direct sunlight “until the stalks are brittle when snapped.”3
I have a Lakeland food dehydrator (see photo) that I use to “actively” dry meadowsweet – I cut the flowers small, to the same size & then switch on at 38° until brittle. How long this takes depends on how dry the flowers were when you picked them & how small you cut them – perhaps up to 12 hours? Keep checking to see if they are “done!”
Examples of modern day herbal use are as follows:
Tea – Hoffmann5 says, “to make an infusion, pour 1 cup of boiling water over 1 to 2 teaspoons of dried her & infuse in a covered container for 10 to 15 minutes.”
Sauna – Hedley & Shaw6 remind us of meadowsweet’s usage as a strewing herb & to, “pick in full flower” before strewing on sauna floor so its aroma can permeate the whole experience.
References
- Photograph taken by author, June 2024
- Parkinson, J. (1640). Theatrum botanicum. London, Printed by Tho. Cotes. P 593. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/256142#page/1/mode/1up
- Jones, L. (2020). Self-sufficient herbalism. Aeon Books Ltd. P 255
- The Wildflower Society Code of Conduct for the conservation and enjoyment of wild plants (2017). https://thewildflowersociety.org.uk/code-of-conduct/
- Hoffmann, D. (2003). Medical herbalism. Healing Arts Press. P 551
- Hedley, C. & Shaw, N. (2020). The herbal book of making & taking. Aeon Books Ltd. P 141