We are in the middle of a beautiful summer here in Osttirol. The mountains are a vibrant green and the meadows are bursting with flowers. We love to take advantage of this bounty before the farmers cut the meadows for hay, and thought we would share our favourite meadow herbs with you.
The best thing is, you don’t need to live in the mountains to enjoy these plants. These herbs can also be found in your local meadows. Why not go foraging and try one of our easy recipe ideas below?
We love the old folk tale that yarrow can be used to conjure up visions of a future sweetheart. It is said that if you place some yarrow under your pillow, you will dream of your future partner. More usefully it has great properties for wound healing and has been used in the past to help staunch the blood of soldiers in battle. We love to pick the young leaves and use them in a salad, as you would young spinach.
An infusion of red clover can be extremely powerful for helping to cure coughs. In the past herbalists have used it as a remedy for whooping cough and bronchitis. We love making a refreshing summer iced tea, by infusing the clover flowers in boiling water and adding a little sugar syrup.
Considered by most of us to be merely a weed, nettles are an extremely powerful plant with many historical uses. In folk lore they are traditionally used as a protection from witches and demons. More modern uses include juicing for treatment of cancers and the collection of seeds to be used as an aphrodisiac. We love to collect nettles to make our delicious nettle soup, full of iron.
Want to learn more about wild herbs and foraging? Join us this summer and spend your days exploring the wild Alpine meadows with our knowledgeable guides. Book here!
Note:
We only pick flowers at MoaAlm Mountain Retreat which are not protected here in the Alps from clean environments where there is no pollutants.
Please check you have correctly identified the plant before consuming.
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