Nasturtium - a natural antibiotic for respiratory tract.
I prepared my nasturtium tincture today.
Nasturtium (tropaeolum majus). I am sure you know this plant well. It is beautiful, useful, edible and very useful for health. It is a natural antibiotic. It strengthens immune system. Well, nasturtium tincture is my most reliable medicine for cold, flu, cough...
In summer I use it fresh. Leaves and blossoms and seeds. I love them in my salad. I dry some of the leaves for winter teas. When I make my herbal teas or infusions, I never use boiling water on herbs which are so rich in Vitamin C like nasturtium. Boiling water kills Vitamin C.
However my favourite way of using nasturtium is tincture. It keeps. It can be used all year round. It has saved me and my family more than once from getting ill. And It is so easy to make.
Marjory demonstrates how to make tinctures in a very easy way. I do the same. I fill a glass with fresh nasturtium leaves, flowers, seeds and pour 40 % Vodka or Schnapps to the full. I write down the date and keep it in room temperatures in light but not in the direct sun for at least 2 weeks or longer, shake it now and then, filter and my medicine is ready. I store it in brown bottles or in a cupboard.
Whenever I have cold or any infection of respiratory tracts I take a tea spoon of tincture every 4 hours until I am healthy. I would not combine it with synthetic antibiotics as tincture contains alcohol. I avoid using synthetic antibiotics anyway.
So mine will be sitting on the shelf for at least two weeks. 😊.
Comments
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My nasturtiums are struggling right now in this heat. I plan to rig up a covering that will block part of the sun's rays. I thought this one was supposed to do fine in hot weather but maybe not Texas hot weather lol. Not sure it's going to come close to the ten foot vines. The challenge to keeping it covered is when those 40 mph winds hit, which they do on a pretty regular basis. But everything is struggling now in this heat, some just more than others. I need to try tincturing some, didn't known beyond fresh eating for it's taste.
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I totally forgot about this. I was staring at the ground the other day thinking wow. Look at all this medicine. I need to get picking.
The nasturtiums at the community i help out occasionally are so beautiful. Thanks for posting! Reminds me of stuff I need to get done.
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Good to know. I have several other anti-cold/flu plants in my arsenal, but one more is always great. Besides, I do love the spicy taste of the flowers in a salad.
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@seeker.nancy - Central Texas The weather is very unstable in our area in the Austrian Alps. Heat wave, then a storm... but my garden loves these changes. My nasturtium has never been so healthy and happy.
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Great information thanks for sharing. From your picture it looks like you use mostly leaves. Do you use a certain proportion of leaves, flowers, seeds in your tincture?
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@jolanta.wittib Thank you for your post and picture. It encourages me to try nasturiums again. I get frustrated as they seem to be an aphid magnet and breeding ground.
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@jolanta.wittib Nasturtium is not one of the plants I have studied before. So Thank You so much for this thread. I did some research into this and it looks like I will be making a tincture this summer. It is good for much more than the respiratory tract. A good urinary disinfectant. Useful for hypertensive edema. A lot of the studies seem to be done in Brazil. which makes sense as Nasturtium is a South American native. Looks like great medicine. It can easily be made into a vinegar as well as an alcoholic tincture.
However, I found some cautions about using this herb.
WARNING: Nasturtium contains mustard oil and when used topically can cause skin irritation. Pregnant or breastfeeding women should not use this herb. People with kidney diseases or ulcers of the stomach or intestinal tract should not use this herb in any form.
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@annbeck62 ai use mainly leaves. I add flowers, because they look so nice. I always say: when a herb looks beautiful, it is for the soul 😊
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@torey Thank you very much for this additional information. It is very useful.
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@jolanta.wittib I need to figure out what they need and are not getting. Maybe it is not the heat. I will have to investigate this some more, thank you!
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@seeker.nancy - Central Texas They need some shade, but not too much, they need humidity and rich soil. I plant nasturtium in my vegetable garden next to broccoli or Brussels sprouts and these high plants cast shade.
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@jolanta.wittib thanks for this great discussion. I had no idea that nasturtium was so handy. I regularly put leaves and flowers in salads and have even made pesto with the leaves. You've inspired me to make a tincture this coming week. At the moment my nasturtiums look very healthy. I planted some under my fruit trees last spring and they're loving it, so tincture it is.
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Thank you for sharing this discussion. I grow a few nasturtiums in between my vegetables but have not been taking full advantage of their natural befits. Will be using them more from now on!
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This is new for me. I have only eaten the flowers. Tomorrow afternoon I will be starting a bottle of tincture. JUST AWESOME!
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Wow thanks for all the information! I adore nasturtiums in the garden and in my salads, either as part of the salad or as a vinagrette. I hadn’t known that it was good for the respiratory tract though, but am glad to have learned about it through your post.
I recently came across a nastrium infused rum recipe for spicing up cocktails, looks like it could double up as some medicine.
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@aurora.rebecca could you, please, share the nasturtium infused rum recipe. @jodienancarrow Could you, please, share the pesto recipe. I’d love to use nasturtium more. I have so many leaves and flowers this year.
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@aurora.rebecca Welcome to TGN. I would also like that nasturtium rum recipe.
Similarly, @jodienancarrow, would love the pesto recipe.
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I am inspired to go ahead and plant the nasturtium seeds I never got into the soil earlier this season. THANKS.
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@torey @jolanta.wittib I did a big batch without parmesan and bagged into small ziplock plastic bags and froze. Freezes nicely.
5 cups packed nasturtium leaves, 5 cloves garlic(big hardnecked russian) 1 heaped tablespoon preserved lemon, 2/3 cup toasted pinenuts. Not sure on amount of organic olive oil but blended until the consistency I was happy with. That's it. It is very peppery but with the hint of lemon. I even used it for a sauce on chicken thigh fillets and added greek yoghurt, happy with the result.
If you don't have access to preserved lemon, just throw in 1/4 of a whole lemon and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
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@jodienancarrow Thanks so much. Can't wait for my nasturtiums to get big enough.
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I have finally been able to grow these this year. I finally had to resort to sprouting in a paper towel and then abrading the seeds with nail clippers.
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@jodienancarrow Thank you very much. I will try right away 😊
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Nastrium Rum (or tequila, vodka, gin)
1liter/quart jar loosely filled w/ nastriums (about 40)
1 liter golden rum (or alcohol of choice- 80 proof/40% abv)
make sure there aren’t any bugs amongst the blossoms
gently pack unwashed blossoms in the jar
pour alcohol over the flowers until completely covered.
seal the jar, gently upend a couple of times. Place in a cool dark place.
Check flavor after a week, leave max. for 3 weeks
Strain and bottle. Store in a cool dark place and use with 6 months.
I highly recommend taking a look at Lottie Muir’s book “Wild Cocktails from the midnight apothecary” chock full of mouth watering recipes
It is extremely informative
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@aurora.rebecca Thanks very much! I will have to look for this book.
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@aurora.rebecca thanks a lot for the recipe and the tipps. I will try out.
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Brilliant! I love nasturtiums, used to eat the flowers out of any garden I found them in as a kid. (OK and now too still lol).
Could also make it into a simple glycerate for kids or people who can't take alcoholic tinctures. Maybe as an addition to fire cider as well??
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My nasturtiums are barely growing. I've put compost tea on them and everything!
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@torey I have been eating nasturtium flowers for years with no problems (yes, I have kidney issues). Thought you might be interested in the following:
"These sunny, wonderful little flowers originated in South America and were widely used by the Meso-Americans for urinary tract infections, kidney problems and for their general antibiotic action" from https://caloriebee.com/nutrition/The-Various-Health-Benefits-and-Uses-of-Nasturtiums
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@frogvalley I'm sorry to hear that you have problems with your kidneys but I'm glad you are able to use nasturtiums with out any issue.
I have done the research to see what nasturtiums are used for both now and historically. Kidney problems are usually not the same as kidney disease. Many herbs may be used to treat kidney issues but not all can be used with more advanced kidney disease. Herbal warnings are similar to the side effects on prescriptions. Not everyone will experience side effects or bad reactions but they have to be listed anyway, no matter how minor. So I was just noting the general contraindications. This site that you have quoted does note that nasturtiums should not be used during pregnancy. Other literature indicates kidney disease as well.
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@frogvalley I do love nasturtiums. Today in the morning I did my morning walk in the garden and when I passed my high bed with nasturtium hanging down, I ate a leave. I do that quite often, whenever I walk past it. The seeds are extremely sharp. I love them as well.
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