Drink your lawn: blender juice.
There was a nasty, hot, lung-drying bug going around these parts this spring. Turns out the perfect thing for it is one of your lawn’s best-kept secrets: blender juice.
Specifically, blender juice made of cooling, soothing, mucilaginous plants. Plantains (Plantago spp.), chickweed (Stellaria media), violets (Viola spp.), and mallows (Malva spp.) are especially nice.
(This combination is also wonderful for hot, irritated digestive systems — think ulcers, “Irritable Bowel Syndrome” / IBS, and other inflammatory conditions.)
Making blender juice is a great way to get the fresh, green, cooling properties from just about any plant.
Here’s how to do it:
Pick your plants.
Rinse them off if you need to.
Toss them in the blender with a bit of water.
Blend.
I like to let them sit for a while to infuse, then blend a little more and strain. But you can just go ahead and strain after the first blending if you need to.
Drink.
(Hot tip: mallow/plantain/chickweed/violet blender juice is wonderful sponged on a sunburn.)
Ananda said,
May 5, 2008 @ 9:05 am
Rebecca - this is great! I think many people aren’t aware that mucilage is better rendered by infusing in cool - not hot - water.
Beautiful photo too.
-ananda
darcey said,
May 5, 2008 @ 11:19 am
mmmmmmmm
sounds good!!! I think i might just do that with my mallows and dandelions ( no chickweed or violets here)
crabappleherbs said,
May 6, 2008 @ 10:24 am
Ananda — Yes, I meant to be more specific about the mucilage cool/hot distinction in the post. Thanks for reminding!
Darcey — Are you going to use dandelion greens or flowers? Or both? (I hardly ever use dandelion greens raw, myself, because I’ve got such a cool constitution… but for somebody warmer, it would be lovely!)
Hank said,
May 7, 2008 @ 2:33 pm
Fascinating. Will have to try this if I get sick next winter - here in California our chickweed and plantains are long gone and will not return until Thanksgiving…
crabappleherbs said,
May 8, 2008 @ 5:44 pm
Ah, yes, seasonality…
greg draiss said,
June 14, 2008 @ 6:35 pm
nice site i especially like the photograph on the masthead.
crabappleherbs said,
June 16, 2008 @ 11:46 am
Thanks, Greg.