A Healing Herb: Comfrey

I grew up using herbs for just about everything when it came to sickness or to help maintain health. I'm slowly getting my herb garden established here on our new property. This spring a dear elderly lady from my church gave me some comfrey roots from her herb garden. This past weekend, I harvested my first crop of leaves and hung them up to dry for the winter.



Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) has small pink bell shaped flowers. They are loved by hummingbirds and bees.



Comfrey is one of the best herbs to use for healing wounds and broken bones. Both the leaves and the root contain a substance called allantoin, which increases cell proliferation. It can be taken internally as a tea to promote healing as well as used as a poultice or a wash to help heal sores, cuts, and minor burns.

Comfrey is very soothing to the skin and is often an ingredient in herbal salves and herbal skin care products.

A word of caution when taking comfrey internally. It also contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which can potentially contribute to liver cancer if taken in large amounts, for an extended length of time. My policy with comfrey is to only take it internally if there is a real reason to do so (I've use the tea on two different occasions for a few weeks at time after breaking a bone, as well as one time when I had a more serious burn.) I also gather the leaves for drying  in the fall instead of the spring or summer. Young spring leaves have 0.22%  pyrrolizidine alkaloids, while young fall leaves have only 0.05%.

It is an herb that I will always have in my medicine cabinet ready to use when it is truly needed.



The leaves are broad and fuzzy, and can make a dramatic statement in the herb garden.



Comfrey is very easy to grow. It is as simple as putting a root in the ground, making sure it has water, and watching it grow. In ideal conditions, it can get up to five feet tall and three feet wide. It does not spread on its own, but if the roots are disturbed (plowed or rototilled), every single piece of chopped up root will sprout into a new plant and you will be sorry you plowed it up. If you are planting comfrey in your herb garden, tuck it into a corner where it will not be disturbed. Ideally it likes rich soil and full sun, but as long as it has water and at least partial sun, it will do well just about anywhere.

This post is part of the barn hop over at Homestead Revival.

Improvised Herb Drying Rack

Today I harvested peppermint, apple mint, lemon balm and alfalfa from my herb garden and collected wild red raspberry leaves from the woods. I also picked some red clover flowers from the meadow surrounding my garden.

This is the third summer we have been in our new home and I finally have my life together enough to dry some herbs for winter teas and herbal remedies. My only problem was where to hang the leafy herbs to dry. My kitchen has a very low ceiling and the one room that would be suitable has way to much direct sunlight. I don't have a rack that would work. After puzzling this over for a while I spotted the broken stepladder that was by the tree house when we moved in. The perfect herb drying rack! I wiped it down and brought it inside.

Drying herbs for tea, cooking, and medicinal use is simple and easy.

Perennial leafy plants are usually best harvested just as the flower buds are starting to open. This is when herbs like mint, thyme, lemon balm, and yarrow, etc are at their peak for flavor and medicinal value. Gather flowers such as calendula and red clover when flowers are fully open but before they they start to fade.

1) Gather the herbs on a clear dry day after the dew has dried. Inspect the leaves for insects, dirt and dead leaves. I pick off any brown leaves, and remove any insects. If there is a small amount of dirt I usually just brush it off. If there is a large amount of dirt that doesn't easily brush off, I usually discard that portion of the plant. I try to avoid washing the leaves if I don't have to as hanging them up wet can lead to mold problems.

2) Bunch the herbs into airy bundles. Air needs to be able to flow to the center of each bundle, otherwise the inner leaves could mold. You should be able to see through your bundle when you hold it up.

3) Hang the bundles to dry in a dry well ventilated place that is out of direct sunlight. Direct sunlight causes the herbs to loose both color and flavor.

4) It will usually take 3-5 days for the herbs to dry. Drying time depends partly on humidity and partly on how much moisture is in the plants.

5) Once the herbs are dry, take them down and put them away as soon as you can. Though having bunches of dried herbs hanging in your kitchen may look pretty and decorative, heat, moisture, light, and air are all working on leaching the color and flavor out of the dried herbs. Also if they stay up too long they will start to collect dust. Gently strip the leaves or flowers off the stems (I usually do this into a large bowl or five gallon bucket). Discard any woody stems.

6) Store in air tight containers away from any heat sources. If you are using glass jars, place them in a dark cupboard or pantry. Heat and light are the enemies of flavor and color.  

This post is part of Garden Life at No Ordinary Homestead and the Barn Hop over at Homestead Revival.