Liquorice

I started off some liquorice tincture last week. I decocted the liqorice root, having cut it up as small as possible (my coffee grinder couldn’t cope) and then added the alcohol. It is now macerating until next week. It’s looking very good so far.

Liquorice is great for so many things and is one of the herbs I use most of. It’s a legume – like peas- but we use the root or rhyzomes which contain the sweet glycerides. It is a very good anti-inflammatory herb for the stomach so can be used to help soothe the stomach lining in the stomach as well as the digestive tract further down. It is an excellent herb for coughs as it both soothes sore throats and acts as an expectorant which means it will promote a productive cough. It contains steroid like substances which mimic our own and so can be used to help the adrenal glands during or after periods of stress. It also has an oestrogenic -like action making it useful for hormonal imbalances as in menopause or with PMT.

I’m keeping an eye on the Plantago lanceolata in the garden. It is starting to wake up but it needs a bit more warm sunshine to be ready to harvest. I’ll let you know when I get going on that.

Introduction

Hi. I would just like to introduce myself. My name is Chris and I’m a Medical Herbalist. I have been practising in the south west of Ireland for 5 years. I grow some of the herbs I use and collect some from the wild. I hope to talk about these on my blog. I see people with a wide range of health problems and treat them using individual herbal formulas which I dispense from my clinic in Tralee. I hope you will enjoy reading my posts and that you will add any comments you wish to make. 

     

  This is one of my herb beds.