Planted in Alcohol

Making and Using Tinctures and Other Herbal Wonders

Saturday, June 24, 2006

White Sweet Clover


I made White Sweet Clover tincture last year, and I love it. I decided to discuss it right now because it is just about the right time to start making more of this tincture (at least in SW Michigan) and it isn't a really commonly used one for most herbalists. I wanted to let people know that if it isn't in their current repertoire, maybe it should be.

I will begin with the fact that Melilotus spp. contain Coumarin, which scares off a lot of people because they believe it to be a dangerous chemical. It is true that coumarin is a blood thinner precursor, and that white sweet clover should be handled carefully because of this, but it is not true that white sweet clover is a danger to all who might ingest it. As I said, coumarin is a blood thinner precursor, not a blood thinner itself. While there have been cases of livestock poisoning from eating (poorly handled) dried sweet clover, I do not believe there are records of this happening to humans. When a certain mold grows on sweet clover, it breaks coumarin into dicoumarin (or possibly it is called dicoumarol) - which is a blood thinner. For this reason, I only use sweet clover immediately after harvest. I do dry it, but only in a dehydrator, and then I tincture it right away. Drying brings out the sweet coumarin scent of the plant and I think that it adds some therapeutic value to the tincture, though I prefer to tincture most plants fresh. I think that this handling of sweet clover means I end up with a very safe tincture. There are some days that I end up taking several doses of this tincture, usually during my period. Between working on a farm, where I get a lot of cuts and scrapes, and using sweet clover during my period, I have a lot of opportunity to see whether it has any kind of blood thinner action. I have found that it does not. However, several sources say that coumarin is a mild blood thinner. I honestly think that such statements come from a misunderstanding of the plant, but I would still hesitate to give it to someone with blood clotting issues or a person taking prescription blood thinners.


I am sure that there are many herbalists that would be happy to jump down my throat for saying that I do not think that White Sweet Clover is a danger. For more info on coumarin see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coumarin


I prefer White Sweet Clover over Yellow (currently they are both considered to be Melilotus officinalis, which mystifies me, White used to be Melilotus alba) but it is worth trying yellow as well. I just think the white is a more pleasant plant.

To make my tincture I began by collecting the entire aerial portion of a few white sweet clover plants just after they started to flower, dried them in my dehydrator, cut them into fine pieces, and covered them with 100 proof vodka. Since then I have switched to using 151 proof Everclear almost exclusively, but this tincture turned out so well that I will probably use 100 proof every time I make it in the future.


When I made the tincture I had no idea how I was going to use it. I just liked the plant and have a lot of it growing around my home, so I went with it. Sweet clover is listed in many sources as a carminative, meaning that it helps the body expel intestinal gas, so that seemed like a place to start. After making the tincture, I tried it in this capacity, but it didn't help much and I have many other effective carminatives, so I kind of forgot about it for several months (maybe eight - an important point here because it means that the plants sat in the alcohol for longer than usual, which may make a difference in the final product). I have a few theories about why the plant might be considered a carminative even though it is not, but it isn't so important here. It is entirely possible that it just isn't the best carminative for me. Try it yourself and report back to me what you find if it strikes your fancy.

When I found it again in the back of my herb cupboard, I began to wonder what other things it might be useful for. Somewhere, unfortunately I can't remember where, I came across a few lines stating that it is useful for relieving menstrual cramps. I happen to have endometriosis, so every time I come across such a statement my heart skips a beat. I began trying the tincture during particularity bad cramp fests and it worked very well for me. Basically, I take a few (3-5)drops of tincture when the cramps are in their upswing, and it keeps them from getting as bad as they normally would. This may not sound so groundbreaking but for an endometriosis sufferer it is heavenly. Unfortunately it requires another dose every time the cramps start to get bad again, but it is worth it, tastes nice, and over the course of a day seems to require less and less frequent dosing.

After this success I decided to try it for other issues. Following the pain theme, I started taking small doses when I felt headaches (migraine or stress mostly) coming on and, low and behold, it helped those too. This use requires only one or two doses to stave off a headache entirely. So far I would say that it works about 90% of the time, as long as I catch the headache early on. It will not stop a headache that has already set in fully as far as I can tell, but it doesn't make them worse either so I will probably continue some experimenting with this to see if it at least shortens the headache or makes it less severe.

So far I have only had the chance to try these things out on myself. But I have a few friends that I am going to give it to, and I will be continuing to look for other uses for this lovely herb.

9 Comments:

At 12:40 PM PDT, Blogger Andrea said...

The change in latin name is according to the USDA, which is not the only source for this kind of info - it's still weird though.

 
At 5:02 AM PDT, Anonymous Anonymous said...

OH, I was just setting out early this morning to harvest a list of herbs, and I wrote sweet clover, with a question mark, as I've heard so many mixed reports of sweet clover and yet it has been speaking to me from fields all week. I've never tincuted it. So thanks I'm going now to get started. Long day.
(You might try some blue vervain, with the perimenopausal etc.) It will make a pretty tincure too! gratefully-

 
At 2:21 PM PDT, Blogger Andrea said...

Nice to hear Leslie. Please keep me updated as to how it turns out and how you end up using your tincture. Hope your day was rewarding!

Andrea

 
At 7:27 AM PDT, Anonymous Viagra Online said...

I love to plant many different flowers and medicinal plants in my house and I have one of these, but I do not know if Melilotus officinalis has a medicinal property, now I know a little more thanks to your blog!

 
At 2:10 PM PDT, Blogger yarmo81 said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At 2:11 PM PDT, Blogger yarmo81 said...

I'm curious about if sweet clover can work as a vanilla substiture when tinctured. Is the tincture flavor at all similar?

Sam
https://groups.yahoo.com/group/PlantForagers

 
At 4:56 PM PST, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Coumarin has been investigated as a remedy for lymphedema. It seems best to use it topically rather than internally. See:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10392478
Excerpted: Topical coumarin also reduced oedema and symptoms... oral coumarin may cause idiosyncratic hepatitis (3 per 1,000). Topical coumarin does not, nor other benzo-pyrones.

 
At 9:26 AM PDT, Blogger Unknown said...

Do you harvest the whole plant matter? Stems and all. I would love to use it for mmy terrible cramps😥

 
At 11:30 PM PDT, Blogger Masanja said...

Hello! thank you for your wonderful tincture story. In live in the north of the Yukon territory and a couple years ago, this plant made an appearance and it spreads very fast. Now it is all along the roads and took over the other flowers. It doesn't grow in the forests and mountain meadows but it is everywhere on disturbed soil.

So now we have a lot of the stuff. It just so happens and have lymphedema in one of my limbs and it looks pretty amazing as an aid to that, so I will make tinctures and massage oils with it and see what happens.

Although all the clover in the area is white, I have seen a few bright yellow ones growing in a field, surrounded by the others. It makes me think also that they are the same species. Mutation?

 

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