Red Clover, Red Clover, Let Good Health Come Over

Due to its high nutritional content, Red Clover is the base for many tinctures. Many health-conscious people add a little Red Clover to their salads. If you pick your clover from your own property, make sure the dog and cat haven’t passed that way recently.

Red Clover has also been widely used for its antispasmodic and expectorant properties. It helps to relieve the lungs of congestion and can soothe a sore throat. It is in many remedies for whopping cough, bronchitis, asthma, and numerous other cough-related issues. In a honey-sweetened tea, Red Clover flower has been known to loosen phlegm and calm bronchial spasm. It is also used in tinctures, capsules and infusions. While writing this article, I decided to put Red Clover to the test locally.

There is a little boy in our community who had a bad, persistent cough. I gave his mother Red Clover tops and Licorice Root to make a tea. She did, and the tea quickly calmed the little boy’s cough.

Red Clover has been used for centuries to treat cancer. Today, researchers are discovering more about why it has proven to have a positive effect in cancer’s treatment. Red Clover contains isoflavones (substances that act against estrogen), helping defeat breast cancer, prostate cancer, and more.

By the same properties (isoflavones), it is being used for pre- and post-menopausal women. Research has also shown that it helps to strengthen the arterial walls. So much new research is being done that it is hard to keep up with the amazing new findings. Well, this is Shoshanna from BulkHerbStore.com. I encourage you to Learn and Live Well.

Recipes:
Cough Tea
3   part packed Red Clover Tops
1   part Licorice Root
¼  part Lobelia Leaf
½  part Ginger Root

Heat water on stove with little of herb mixture until hot. Let sit with lid on a few minutes and strain herbs off. Add a little raw honey and enjoy your tea! You can also make it like you do coffee.

I made an immune-building tincture for my family; we take it every time there is a sickness going around. I call it ImLife.

ImLife Tincture
1 ½  part Red Clover Top
2 part Olive Leaf (Herbal antibiotics, immune booster)
1 part of each Pau D’Arco Bark, Cats Claw Bark (fungus fighter and yeast killer)
½ part of each Dandelion Root, Burdock Root, Butcher Broom root (blood purifiers)
½ part Echinacea Root (immune booster, fights infection)
1 part Nettle Leaf (highly nutritious, builds blood)

Fill a clean glass jar with 2/3 of herb mix, maybe a little more. Fill jar with 90 proof rum or whiskey, screw lid on, label including all the herbs. The alcohol will break down the herbal properties in about 3 weeks. Shake once a day to help keep all the herbs loose. After 3 or 4 weeks strain herbs off and throw away. Honey can be added to liquid tincture to make it more palatable. Keep tincture in a place out of sun and not too warm. Cabinet works great!
Two very simple books you might find useful are The How to Herb Book and Practical Herbalism.

Bulk Herb Store sells books, herbs, heirloom seeds, and premixed herbal tinctures. To learn more about herbs and how to use them, go to BulkHerbStore.com

Write to us at Bulk Herb Store, 26 West 6th Ave. Lobelville, TN 37097 or call toll-free: 1-877-278-4257.

For NGJ readers: Get 10% OFF entire BulkHerbStore.com purchase June 15–July-15, 2009! Use promotional code Herb09