Traditionally combined with dandelion both as a soft drink and a medicine, burdock is a powerful cleanser and blood purifier. It is one of the foremost detoxing herbs, and is particularly effective for skin problems. The root is a food as well as a medicine, and is popular in Japanese cooking.
Asteraceae (Compositae) Daisy family
Description: A biennial plant with large, soft, light green leaves and thistle-like red-purple flowers that form burrs with hooked spines. Can reach a sculptural 2 metres in its second year.
Habitat: Hedgerows, wood edges and waste ground.
Distribution: Native to Europe and Asia, but found in temperate regions around the world; taken to North America by European settlers.
Species used: Greater or common burdock (Arctium lappa) is the best-known species, but lesser burdock (A. minus) is more widespread in Britain. It is similar in appearance and used interchangeably for medicinal purposes.
Parts used: Leaves picked in summer, roots dug in spring or autumn, and seeds gathered in autumn.
Burdock is a sturdy biennial, with a rosette of large leaves forming in the first year, as the tap root deepens. In the second year the stems shoot up, producing the thistle-like flowers or burrs that gave it the old name of beggar’s buttons.
The roots are best used in the first autumn or second spring, and are more tonic in the spring. Descending nearly a metre, the mature root takes energetic digging up, but younger roots are just as good.
Burdock can be grown in the garden (one has adopted us, and we are happy to host it), and if you use raised beds or drainage pipes the root is much less effort to harvest. The other advantage is that you will know where to dig for spring roots, as the leaves die back to very little in the winter and the plants can be difficult to find.
Burdock root was a food for our hunter-gatherer ancestors, and is appreciated as a cooked vegetable in Japan, gobo; the dish is now popular in Hawaii and New Zealand. Its delicious mild flavour is similar to artichoke or scorzonera.
Burdock is often called the velcro plant. This all comes from walking the dog: Swiss inventor George de Mestral noticed that after he and his dog had brushed by a large burdock, the plant’s ‘hooks’ had tagged onto ‘loops’ in his wool trousers and in the dog’s fur.
Using the technique of ‘biomimicry’, De Mestral made two nylon pads, one of hooks and one of loops; the more you pushed them, the more they fused, but they pulled apart easily, just like the plant’s fruits do in nature.
As space institute NASA later used his Velcro™-derived products for astronaut suits, burdock (by proxy) became the first space weed. It’s the latest version of a story played out over the centuries, with immigrants’ clothes and their livestock fur transferring the benefits and burdens of burdock across the seas to new lands.
In terms of the famous soft drink, a few specialist makers still use real roots in their dandelion and burdock mix but the mass market version has artificial flavourings.
Use burdock for…
Burdock is a significant detoxing herb in both Western and Chinese medicinal traditions. Known as a blood purifier, its special attribute is to stimulate the release of waste products from the cells. This is a powerful process at cellular level, and the metabolic wastes then need to be removed from the body.
Here is where the dandelion comes in, making a wonderful complement to burdock with its diuretic and flushing qualities to the outside world via the kidneys and liver. Hence the classic mix of the two roots. Burdock also combines well with red clover or dock.
Burdock leaves emerging in early spring of the second year.
Herbal blood purifiers have the associated virtue of cleansing the skin. Burdock is known for its remarkable effect on skin conditions arising from imbalance, as in dry or scaly skin, and eruptions, as in acne, boils, eczema and psoriasis.
For all these it can be applied externally as a poultice or taken internally as a decoction or tincture (the last in small quantities as it’s strong). Such dermatological uses are ‘official’ in Britain.
In the past burdock was associated with medical conditions that seemed incurable, if not evil, at the time. Mixed with wine in the Middle Ages, it was given for leprosy; later it was used to treat syphilis (Henry VIII improved, but was not cured by it), epilepsy and hysteria; in modern times research has suggested possible benefits in treating HIV and cancer. Hildegard of Bingen was already using burdock root on her cancer patients in the 1100s. In each case burdock strongly supported the immune system.
Burdock root is used to break down excess uric acid in the joints that leads to gout. It also relieves arthritis and swollen prostate. Ask your herbalist’s advice on the best combination of herbs for your own condition and constitution.
Another burdock benefit lies in its bitterness, which helps stimulate the digestive fluids and promote appetite and digestion. This underlies the tang of the famous drink and makes burdock palatable in anorexia.
Burdock leaf poultice
A simple poultice can be made from a whole burdock leaf. Steam it to soften the leaf, and apply as hot as can be borne to the affected place.
Leave it there until it cools down and then heat again, or put a hot water bottle over it to keep it warm, and leave on for half an hour. The poultice will draw blood to the area, and as it is also antiseptic it will fight infection and accelerate healing.
The leaves can also be crushed with a rolling pin and applied as a poultice for minor burns; leave them in place until the pain subsides.
Burdock and dandelion root decoction
Simmer about 25g each of fresh chopped burdock and dandelion root in 750ml of water for 20 minutes. Strain and divide into three or four doses to drink during the day, hot or cold. If you want to sweeten the decoction, add a tablespoonful of dried liquorice root before boiling.
Burdock and dandelion toffee
Dig several roots of burdock and dandelion, preferably in spring. In each case strip the root bark off, and clean and chop up the inner part. Weigh out 100g of each. Load into a saucepan and cover with 500ml water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Allow to cool.
Simmer again until the roots are tasteless (ie have surrendered their content to the liquid). This reduces the mixture to about 200ml. Strain and add 1 tablespoon butter and 12 tablespoons of sugar. Boil for 5 minutes then simmer for 20 minutes more. It will become toffee-like.
Test the toffee by pouring a drip of it onto a cold plate, as you would in testing jam: when it crinkles into soft threads, it is ready. Pour it into a buttered shallow tin. Before it sets totally, mark out squares and save the toffee slab in greaseproof paper; alternatively, stretch it out by hand into taffee: this is pale and pliable, ideal for balls, plaits etc.