Burdock Root

The Super Strong Super Food from Nature

Oh Burdock you are so long and strong

You purify by blood and strengthen my cells

Even though your big leaves and burs

Meant that I could not hike for long.

Have you had burdock root?

It is a wonderfully delicous and highly nutritious root vegetable. Know as ‘Gobo Root’ in Japanese and it has been a stable in their diet for centuries. There is mention of using burdock for medicinal uses as far back as the first century by the Romans and the Greeks and the Anglo Saxons have many writings about it healing properties.

Look for it in health food stores or Oriental stores. It is a very long root, brown in color. When you get it home, wash it with a scrub brush but do not peel it. The brown skin should stay on the root. You can cut it and use it in soups, stir fries, or in the traditional dish ‘Kinpira’.

To store the unused portion of Burdock, wrap it in wet paper towel and put in a plastic bag. Burdock loves the water and the root will stay firm if it has moisture around it. The root will become wilted if it gets dried out. I have even bought wilted burdock root from the store (because that was all they had), brought it home, wrapped it in wet paper towel and by morning it was firm again. But always better to find it firm to begin with so you know it is not too old.

You can find it growing wild. It grows wild here in Michigan where I live. I attempted to gig some up once, it was very hard to dig up because it such a long root. You can identify it by its huge leaves and the big burs that attach to your pant legs as you hike in the woods.

There is also Burdock Root Tea that is very delicous and refreshing. The tea has all the healing properties as the root and in more concentrated form. It is said that if you drink 3 cups of burdock tea a day, for 40 days, you will bring down your inflammatory markers, bringing down your high blood sugar levels for people with that condition.

Health Benefits:

• Purify the blood

• Promotes hear growth

• Supports healthy gut flora

• Moves stagnant lymph

• Removes toxins from the blood

• Increases urine flow

• Kills germs

• Reduces fever

• Relives joint pain

• Improves liver function

• Anti inflammatory and anti bacterial properties

• Antioxidants quercetin, luteolin and phenolic acids

• Inulin: insoluble fiber, stabilizes blood sugar, helps improve digestion, a prebiotic

• Combats cancer with arctiganin a lignam in certain plants (studies show that arctigenin was a caner specific Phyto chemical that kills human ling, liver and stomach cancers)

• Help treat enlarged spleen, the spleen is in constant contact with blood which is cleansed by burdock

• Spleen helps keep body free from infections, viruses, and all kinds of dangerous pathogens

• Helps treat painful tonsillitis

You can see why it is such a healing root!

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I make my living teaching cooking classes and counseling people. I would love to see you in an upcoming class!

I HAVE A BIG ANNOUNCMENT FRIDAY, FEB. 3rd!!! I can not share the detail now, but stay tuned to see the big reveal! I will be sending out a special blog Friday to tell you all about it!

Upcoming Classes in February:

Wed. Feb. 8 - 6:00 to 8:30 PM(EST)
Fancy Layered Millet Dish and Garlic Lentil Soup Valentine's Dinner
All New Recipes - In person or Virtual - $60.00
Cook for your loved ones for Valentine's or love yourself by eating these 'Love' inspired dishes. You will learn how to make a layered fancy dish featuring Millet, orange and white sweet potatoes, onion, mushroom, escarole lettuce, and a creamy ginger sauce.Plus a flavorful Garlic Lentil Soup featuring both green and red lentils, garlic, butternut squash, and fresh turmeric. And chewy dessert cookie with chocolate, oats, dried fruit and peanut butter. When you attend in person, we make the food together and we eat the food made in class.
By Request this class is now both In Person and Virtual with Zoom.

Chef Val's Healing with Food - Compresses, Poultices, Teas and more.
Sign up:https://www.macroval.com/healing_food_classes.htm
Three week series.
Virtual - $30.00 each class - Attend all three $80.00
Sat. Feb. 11 - 11 Am to 12:30 PM - Onion and Garlic
Sat. Feb. 18 - 11 AM to 12:30 PM - Aloe and Comfrey
Sat. Feb. 25 - 11 AM to 12:30 PM - Ginger and Turmeric
Learn the tremendous healing capability of these plants and foods with personal stories from Val about using them to help people and animals heal. Bring your questions, this will be an interactive class and the opportunity to ask questions about healing certain health challenges will be discussed.
I have been using foods and plants to treat various health issues and challenges for over 25 years. Many do not realize that the food you have in your house can be used in many different ways.

Some of the topics of healing:
- Skin conditions
- Sty in your eye
- Swelling
- Wound healing
- Bug bites and bee stings
- Stomach issues
- Cough
- Restoring cartilage
- Strengthen bones

You will receive the information ahead of the class, in order to make the compresses, poultices and things during the class.
* This is not a cooking class. It is a series of classes teaching how to use food and plants in various applications.

Testimonial: "This past fall of 2022, I discovered a tick imbedded in my neck. Sometime after removing it my neck swelled, became red and itchy. The reddness spread to my upper chest. A bit later I developed TMJ
jaw pain. I consulted Valerie, who guided me to address the inflamation from both the outside and internally. She advised me to apply poltices, as well as hot and cold compresses on my neck. Valerie also instructed me, in detail, how to take various herbal tinctures and supplements. Eventually all these symptoms cleared up. Valerie is a very knowledgeable, experienced, and caring person who will
help you to support your body to heal." --Maria Muller