At the end of winter, after months of being stuck indoors eating too much and moving too little, our bodies cry out for revitalization. It’s time for a spring tonic.
Spring tonics are herbs synonymous with spring. They’re among the first plants to emerge in the season, and they can help us overcome the sluggishness and stagnation often left behind from winter.
Although some might classify these plants as weeds, renowned herbalist, teacher, and author Rosemary Gladstar says they can be a delicious and healing addition to our seasonal diet. They’re high in vitamins and trace minerals, and can serve as both food and medicine.
“They move things through the body, recharge the body, and also help to clean the body,” Gladstar said.
They’re also likely to be growing nearby.
“These aren’t the plants found back in the wilderness that are rare or exotic plants,” Gladstar said. “They’re just part of our everyday life.”
People have been consuming spring tonics for millennia. For our distant ancestors, these nutrient-dense plants were something fresh and green after months of living off of stored food.
In a world of modern supermarkets, however, where we’ve come to take fresh fruit and vegetables for granted year-round, it’s easy to overlook these humble harbingers of spring.
Nettles
Gladstar’s favorite spring tonic is stinging nettles.“These are some of our most mineral rich plants. They’re incredibly high in iron, very high in protein, and high in calcium. They’re also extremely rich in chlorophyll,” she said.
Nettles can be found throughout the year, but Gladstar recommends spring nettles—fresh, young plants that are tender and tasty. Once nettles go to seed later in the season, the leaves get tough.
In regard to its medicinal potential, Gladstar says that nettles can treat a range of ailments, from skin issues to reproductive health problems.
“It’s used as a primary herb for several systems of the body,” she said.
However, accessing the benefits of nettles comes with a challenge: avoiding the plant’s signature sting. Gladstar says nettles have to be handled delicately when picked.
“Nettle has little needle-like hairs along the stem and under the leaves that can be quite painful when touched or brushed against. Be sure to use protective gloves when harvesting and preparing fresh nettle,” she said.
The collected plants must undergo a little processing before they can be safely consumed. This entails being steamed, dried, or pulverized. This neutralizes the formic acid in the nettles that is responsible for its sting.
Once you know how to safely handle nettles, there are several ways to consume them. You can steep the leaves in hot water for tea, or toss them into a pot of soup in place of spinach.
For those seeking a bit more culinary adventure, Gladstar recommends making what she calls a “nesto,” a nettles pesto.
“It’s delicious—like a medicine that you want to eat,” she said.
Unlike the more common herbs mentioned below, stinging nettles probably won’t be found in your backyard because the vigorous plant can quickly take over a garden. But venture near a river bank or farm field, and you’re likely to discover a massive patch to harvest.
Dandelion
In various ancient medicine traditions, the liver is the organ typically associated with the spring season.“Keeping our liver really healthy is vital,” Gladstar said. “It’s an organ of digestion and transformation, because it turns everything we eat into energy and then distributes it through the body.”
Most spring tonics have a predilection for this often overworked organ, but Gladstar says dandelion is perhaps the best liver tonic around. Herbalists often use dandelion root for liver-related complaints, such as liver congestion, constipation, and skin issues.
Dandelion leaves act as a mild diuretic, which allows your body to expel excess fluid.
“It helps to clean your whole urinary system,” Gladstar said.
While dandelions are often considered a blight on suburban lawns, the so-called weeds have a lot to offer. So long as the dandelions haven’t been sprayed with a toxic chemical, Gladstar says eating them is one of the best things you can do for your health.
“It’s just such an incredibly healthy plant, which is why cultures around the world have been using it for centuries.”
She suggests steaming the leaves and mixing them with other greens.
“Dandelion greens are bitter, so don’t add too many to the mix when you first start eating them!” she said.
Violets
After dandelions, violets are probably the second most-hated lawn pest, but Gladstar says they’re nourishing, soothing, and “extremely tasty.”“Of course, we’re not talking about African violets, which are not true violets. We’re just talking about all of the weedy species. And there’s many of them,” she said.
Gladstar says the common backyard violets, with either purple or white flowers, are the most delicious. While often ignored today, violets have a long history of use in both food and medicine.
“In the olden days, women used to collect the flowers, candy them, and use those as decorations on their cakes,” she said.
The food and medicine of violets is found in the leaves, which can either be cooked or eaten raw.
Chickweed
Chickweed is another spring tonic you probably have popping up in your yard right now. Although you might not notice it at first.“Chickweed is kind of small and likes to hide out in the shady areas of the yard, but it can take over. And a lot of times when people garden, they'll see a large mat of this beautiful plant,” Gladstar said.
Like other spring tonics, chickweed is also very nourishing and has a pleasant texture and taste. It’s enjoyed in several European countries as an early spring salad green, but it can also be lightly steamed. Once the plant goes to seed, however, it becomes too stringy and tough to be palatable.
Gladstar says that chickweed also has a soothing, mucilaginous quality that makes it useful for several health problems, both internally and externally. It also is good for the urinary system.
Burdock
Burdock is unlikely to be a feature in your garden, but you’re bound to find some in a field or ditch growing nearby. The plant is found in every state in America, as well as across Canada, Europe, and Asia.Burdock can be identified by its large leaves, but the burrs are the real giveaway. These sticky seed pods cling to your clothes if you brush up against the plant. They were the inspiration for velcro.
However, the real culinary and medicinal value of burdock is found in its root.
“The Japanese don’t gather it wild, they actually cultivate it,” Gladstar said.
Gladstar mentions one recipe for burdock—or “gobo” as the Japanese call it—where you cook the grated root and mix it with toasted sesame oil and black sesame seeds. She says it can also be pickled.
Either way, you might not realize you’re eating medicine.
“It’s always been classified as a blood tonic, or blood purifier. But unlike all the others, it’s not bitter. It’s actually sweet,” Gladstar said.
Like other spring tonics, you have to be mindful of when to harvest burdock if you want to have an enjoyable culinary experience.
“In the spring, that root is still really tender. But once it has that big stalk with all the burdock seeds, the root gets very, very woody, and it’s not really good to use anymore,” Gladstar said.
