Nettles & Yarrow Decoction for Optimum Health
Let’s talk a bit about my favorite plants Nettles & Yarrow
A simple decoction recipe you can enjoy hot or cold that can provide your body with some of the essential minerals & nutrients your body requires!
Nettles & Yarrow Decoction for Optimum Health
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Let’s begin our conversation with a bit of information about Nettles & Yarrow. These are two of my go to plant ally’s & I’m going to tell you why. Keep in mind that the information I share about our plant allies is just one side of the leaf but not all there is to know about these plants.
Nettles
Urtica dioica
Nettles
Taste:
Astringent, this is more of a mouth sensation but it is worth mentioning here as well.
Salty, this points to a high mineral content.
Sweet, the sweet taste builds up tissues, strengthens the constitution & is used in cases of weakened organ systems due to malnutrition, dryness or atrophy
Action:
Diuretic helping to drain fluid from the tissues of the body. On an interesting side note if we look at the Doctrine of Signatures, nettles like to grow in moist conditions & that is an indication that it helps treat dampness in the body. Learn more about the Doctrine of Signatures Leaf shape & color HERE, HERE & HERE
Alterative helping to open the channels of elimination of the body, facilitating in the expulsion of waste products & adjusting the metabolic function of the body including absorption & distribution of nutrients as well as the elimination of said waste products.
Nutritive tonic & is one of the most nutritious plants we have in the West. It is rich in Iron, protein, chlorophyll, vitamin C, dietary fiber, potassium, silica & calcium to name a few. This makes it a wonderful addition to soups & stews as well. SOURCE .
Astringent helping to tightening & tone tissues that are too weak or relaxed
Inflammation modulating & antioxidant due to its high content of Chlorophyll . SOURCE.
Affinity:
Kidneys & Urinary tract, we can tell this just by the salty taste alone. Nettles work systemically on the water element within our bodies helping to treat cases of edema & draining fluids from puffy joints, its ruling element is water afterall.
Blood & Circulation
Liver
Connective tissue & musculoskeletal system
Skin
Energetics:
Cooling
Srying
Tonic
Stimulant
Contraindications: Kidney stones or acute or chronic kidney disease.
Ruling planet: Mars
Ruling element: Water
Ruling principle: Salt
Learn more about the ruling planet, element & principle HERE
Yarrow
Achillea millefolium
Yarrow, The Wounded Healer
Yarrow helps us face the parts of ourselves that we spend too much time avoiding. In this way she has a really special way of helping our Soul’s growth, evolution & mastery.
Taste:
Bitter
Pungent
Astringent
Action:
Astringent drying up tissues. Consider her when you are experiencing a bout of diarrhea or in instances where you need to stop wounds from bleeding both internally & externally.
Bitter tonic stimulating digestion with some carminative properties & therefore has a broad influence on our digestion.
Alterative opening up the channels of elimination of the body. This can happen through increased urination output & sweating as it does open up the pores.
Inflammation modulating both internally & externally. It has been effective in helping inflammation due to wounds, burns, mucosal disturbances to joint inflammation such as that found in rheumatoid arthritis. SOURCE
Antiseptic working both topically & internally
Affinity:
Cardiovascular system working with the Blood by increasing circulation while simultaneously staunching excessive bleeding.
Digestive system with a specific affinity for the liver, spleen, stomach & the hepatic portal vein clearing congestion of the body.
Mucosa due to the bitter flavor increasing secretions
Energetics:
Cooling
Drying
Relaxing
Stimulating
Contraindications:
Emmenagogue & should be avoided in pregnancy.
Avoid if you have an allergy to the Asteraceae family of plants
Ruling planet: Venus
Ruling element: Fire
Ruling principle: Sulfur
Nettles & Yarrow Decoction for Optimum Health
As you can see our plants are actually balancing each other out & you will find that is exactly what it does to the body. Nettles is a water element plant Yarrow is a fire element plant. Just something that I find to be very interesting in learning more about now these plants work with each other & in turn their effects on the body.
In today’s recipe we will actually be using two different methods of extraction & preparation; a decoction & an infusion.
What is a decoction?
An extract obtained by boiling or a liquid preparation made by boiling a medicinal plant. This is generally done in water.
Decoctions are generally used for harder & denser plant materials such as roots, bark, seeds & berries. This is because the cell walls are thicker & it is more difficult to extract all of the water soluble constituents.
What is an infusion?
An extraction of chemical compounds from plant materials in a solvent such as water, oil or alcohol. These can be hot infusions like the one we’re making today or cold infusions which would be reserved for herbs that are mucilaginous like Marshmallow or have delicate essential oils such as Jasmine that could be damaged due to heat.
Infusions are generally used for flowers & leaves.
Although decoctions are usually saved for tough herbs you can put the more delicate parts like the leaves, flowers & stems to receive the optimal medicinal benefits from the plant. Nettles is one of those herbs that needs to be decoded to retrieve the nutrients we’re looking for.
If you do not have time or the desire to decoct the nettles the recipe will still work. It just won’t be as nutritious as it would be if you spent the time to decoct.
Recipe
You will need to decide how much you want to make & follow these ratios
1 TBSP of dried Nettles per 8 oz of water
1 TSP of dried yarrow per 8 oz of water
Instructions
Place the appropriate amount of Nettles & put in a pot with cold water
Bring the pot to a boil
Place a lid on the pot, reduce heat & lightly simmer for 30 minutes
Remove from heat & strain out the herbs. I like to use a teapot with an infuser basket like this one.
Put the appropriate amount of Yarrow into the teapot infuser basket
Pour the Nettles decoction over the Yarrow.
Infuse for 10 minutes
Take out the infuser basket & enjoy
Add honey if desired
Dosage:
1-2 cups per day. Refrigerate the leftovers & use within 48 hours
To reheat:
Put the amount you want to drink into a pot & heat it up on the stove
NOTE:
If you don’t want to make the decoction you can simply infuse the Nettles & Yarrow together for 10 minutes. This is still a delicious drink but it will be lacking some of the nutrients & minerals that you can receive from the full decoction.
Comment down below & let me know what infusions or decoctions you like to make for yourself.
Watch the video & tutorial HERE!