This month we’re running a special moving sale: 25% off on our great selection of bulk herbs and original tea blends. Here are quick snapshots of three fantastic bulk herbs that you may not be so familiar with.
Thyme is prominent as a tasty herb for cooking. My mother, who rarely used herbs in the kitchen, used to make a wonderful lentil soup with lots of thyme, to bring in a thermos on trips to windy beaches. It’s much more than that, though. Thyme’s essential oil can contain up to 50% thymol. Thymol is renowned for its antimicrobial properties, fighting bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites, and widely used in products such as mouthwashes and topical antiseptics.
In researching Thyme, I was surprised to learn that its benefits also include antispasmodic activity, helpful for coughs, bronchitis, allergies, and asthma; digestive upsets and gastritis; and menstrual cramps. Thyme's water-soluble constituents (meaning, apart from thymol) exert powerful antioxidant and antimicrobial effects.
Cooking with Thyme: good idea. Adding Thyme to teas targeting infections, cramps and spasms, inflammatory conditions—excellent! (Note, strong medicinal doses of this herb should be avoided during pregnancy and nursing.)
Wild Lettuce, as its name suggests, is an untamed relative of the familiar salad green. Our current stock is wild harvested in the Pacific Northwest. It has been used since ancient times as a mild sedative and a pain reliever, containing lactiucin and lactupricin, compounds with analgesic properties similar to ibuprofen. For occasional use in relieving problems such as insomnia, migraines, or anxiety, Wild Lettuce is a time-tested ally.
Yerba Mansa Root is a great herb to get acquainted with, especially as summer ends and the cold and flu season approaches! Here in the Pacific Northwest, Autumn in the air is unmistakeable, and already some people have come down with upper and middle respiratory infections.
This versatile herb (shown in the larger photo headlining this post) grows in damp conditions from northern Mexico to Oregon; our inventory was specially harvested for us in New Mexico. It has been used by Native Americans and herbal doctors to relieve inflammation and treat a variety of infections, especially catarrhal conditions affecting the lungs, GI, and urinary tracts, and some feel that it could take the place of Goldenseal Root (better-known, but overharvested) in many formulas. Its antimicrobial action extends to fungi and mycobacteria in addition to viral and bacterial conditions, and it has proven valuable as a topical application as well as in teas and tinctures.
These are just a few choice items among our line of over 150 certified organic or wildcrafted bulk herbs. Buy now for big savings, and help us lighten the load for our upcoming move!