Meadowsweet
메도스위트
ⓒ
Photo: Sten Porse · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Original file (Wikimedia Commons)
Its clusters of cream-colored flowers smell sweet, like a mix of honey, vanilla and almond. In medieval Europe these flowers flavored mead. Rub the leaves and they smell like a pain-relief patch, because of a compound related to aspirin.
Please read before eating. This herb needs some care. See cautions
Flavor and aroma
- The flowers smell of honey, vanilla and almond, with a hint of warm hay.
- Rubbed leaves smell medicinal, or like cucumber.
Fun facts
- In medieval times it was called "meadwort" because it flavored mead.
- Queen Elizabeth I of England is said to have decorated her rooms with its flowers.
- Rubbing the leaves produces a relative of aspirin (methyl salicylate), so they smell like a pain-relief patch.
- It's one of the 30 herbs in Norfolk Punch, a British non-alcoholic drink.
In the kitchen
Drinks
- Make cordial (flower syrup drink), syrup or tea with the flowers.
Alcohol
- Flavor mead, beer and liqueurs with it. The 17th-century herbalist Culpeper recommended adding the leaves to red wine.
Desserts
- Make jelly with the flowers.
Goes well with
HoneyLemonSummer fruits such as strawberriesCream
Tips
- It flowers in summer.
Season
We're still checking the season. We'll add it once we find a source.
Details
- Korean name
- 메도스위트
- English names
- meadowsweet, queen of the meadow
- Scientific name
- Filipendula ulmaria
- Former scientific names
- Spiraea ulmaria
- Family
- Rosaceae
- Genus
- Filipendula
Cautions
It contains salicylates similar to aspirin. Avoid it if you're allergic to aspirin or sensitive to salicylates, and take care if you have asthma. Avoid it during pregnancy and breastfeeding. People taking blood thinners should also be careful.
Show sources for this page
References for this herb
- Drugs.com
- 오스트리아 식품안전청(AGES)
- Jekka's Herb Farm
- Foraging Course Company
- Eat Weeds
Name and classification
Photo
Sten Porse · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Original file (Wikimedia Commons)