Why does that matter? It’s free and excellent medicine. Every year healthy children go back to school from their summer holidays as healthy as horses and within a week, they and their families are as sick as can be. I don’t know where these viruses come from, but I can guarantee you, they will be flying around in September.
This is the time to prepare for these inevitable minor illnesses by taking your baskets for a gentle stroll down the hedgerows, collecting blackberries, elderberries and rosehips.
- Elderberries – are so powerful that if taken in liquid form several times a day, during a cold or flu, they will halve the duration from 7-8 days, down to 2-4 days.
- Blackberries – these berries are rich in ellagic acid, which halts the virus from entering our cells and inhibits viral replication. Blackberries are rich in vitamin C, which stimulates our white blood cells to gobble up the invading virus. Ellagic acid also blocks mutagens, which are substances that damage DNA and trigger the development of cancer cells.
- Rosehips – are very rich in vitamin C, and thus support a robust immune response. Rosehips are pain relievers too, helping with the sore throat and muscle aches typical of flu, but also reduce inflammation for general body aches and pains.
In my two books Spirit of the Hedgerow and Secrets from a Herbalist’s Garden you will find delicious recipes for these free medical herbs.