Chamomile Medicine
For many people, a bag of chamomile tea is their introduction to herbal medicine. This pleasantly flavored tea is enjoyable to drink, but it barely scratches the surface of what chamomile is capable of. This pretty little flower has been in use by humans for a very long time. Dental records date consumption of chamomile (and yarrow) back to Neanderthal times! (1) A common statement amongst herbalists is that chamomile is for babies (of all ages), let’s jump in and see why.
Chamomile and the Nervous System:
The person in need of chamomile will act like a baby. The never pleased, fussy, fit throwing, moody, whining version of a baby that is. We have all been there, often when sick. Chamomile shines in any form for people in this state - tea, tincture, homeopathic, massage oil, essential oil, flower essence, food - all will work.
To get the best nervous system calming effects from chamomile, fresh blossoms rich in their aromatic essential oils are best. Dry will work, but if you are mainly focused on calming someone who is acting like a tantrum throwing baby and you have some fresh blossoms on hand, you might want to use these. I’ll go into more detail about growing chamomile below!
When I first began working with chamomile, I mostly thought of it as an herb to drink just before bed to help with sleep. While this is a great use of chamomile, it’s not the first herb I would now reach for to aid in sleep (skullcap wins that award). I do like to add chamomile into tea blends for sleep, but more for anxiety and irritation related to insomnia rather than inability to fall asleep all on its own.
With babies, I love the blend of chamomile and catnip for sleep that is disrupted due to colic, earaches, or overstimulation. If I’m working with a nursing mother, I will have her drink the tea as it will pass through the breast milk to the baby! Another great trick for fussy little ones is to have them bathe in a bath of chamomile tea. To make a bath tea, just add those blossoms to a nylon sock or muslin bag and throw it in the bath water.
Chamomile is also a great herb for pain. Not only does it calm things down on the nervous system side, it also calms down muscle tension and spasm. This is particularly helpful with menstrual cramps and digestive cramps. Chamomile is best for pain that is mild to moderate but incessant. The kind of pain that makes you irritable and wears on you over time.
Chamomile and the Digestive System:
As anyone who has experienced IBS knows, there is a very strong connection between our brains and our stomachs. This mind-gut connection is quite important in how our nervous systems and survival have developed, but in our modern society it can be quite troublesome. As a child, I spent the night before the first day of school awake with horrible stomach pains and many a trip to the bathroom all because of stress. I wish I had known about chamomile back then. Now as an adult, I know to make up a big batch of chamomile to sip when I’m more stressed or anxious and this helps immensely!
Chamomile isn’t only great for stress related gut disturbances, it’s also a great bitter tonic helping your body get all those digestive fluids flowing so you can digest your meal and avoid indigestion. It’s also an anti-inflammatory herb that can soothe inflammation in the digestive tract - think food poisoning, IBD, or really hot peppers. It’s an antispasmodic herb that will calm down muscle tension in all your different muscles including those in your digestive tract.
Chamomile in the Garden:
Chamomile is a fun herb to grow in your garden. It likes any patch of dirt it can get regardless of the quality of the soil and prefers a bit of sun. This plant grows easily from seed and works best when planted directly in the garden in Spring. If planted early enough, you may get two chamomile harvests one in late Spring and another in early Fall as long as you live in a milder climate.
Not only is chamomile nice to have around for your personal use and its beauty. Chamomile is also known as a garden physician as any plants that grow near it tend to perk up and have fewer pest problems (2).
Harvesting can be a bit time consuming as these plants produce a lot of flowers, but you can use your hands like a rake and comb through your bushes popping off the sunny little blossom heads. Alternatively, you can pluck or cut the blossoms individually. Right now, my garden chamomile is in full bloom and I harvest blossoms every evening or every other evening as time allows. The flowers dry easily on a screen, but I like to pop them into my dehydrator to finish drying and prepare them for storage.
Another interesting trait of chamomile in the garden is that it pops up in different spots each year. I’ve never had my chamomile plants show up in the same spot two years in a row, I’ve also never spread the seeds myself, so that could have something to do with it. This year, I plan on saving seeds and spreading them throughout all my garden spaces to see how well they help my plants in more pest prone areas of my yard.
Chamomile Tea Recipe:
To make a medicinal chamomile tea, you want to use loose flowers. You can use fresh when available or dry. As with most herbs, 1 Tbsp fresh is about the same as 1 tsp dried. When getting started, I recommend using 1 tsp dried flower per 8oz of hot water. A reusable tea strainer, teapot with a mesh basket, or a yerba mate (bombilla) straw work well for this purpose.
Ingredients:
Dry of fresh chamomile blossoms
Instructions:
Measure 1 tsp to 1 Tbsp blossoms and place them in your strainer, teapot, or mug
If using a strainer, add this to your mug
Pour 8oz of just boiled water into your mug or teapot being sure to cover the blossoms
Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes
Enjoy as many cups throughout the day as you like.
You can allow your tea to steep longer for a stronger brew, but it will become more bitter over time. You can cut the bitterness by adding a tiny pinch of dried stevia leaves or dried licorice root to your blossoms. I tend to let my herbal teas infuse for 20 minutes to get a more robust tea with higher potency. That being said, I’ve been using herbs in tincture, tea, and food form daily for the past twelve years, so my taste buds have acclimated to this.
I hope you have enjoyed this article and have learned a few new things about chamomile along the way!
To our health!
References
De La Foret, R Alchemy of Herbs, 2017, Hay House Inc, Carlsbad, CA
Wood, M, The Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants, North Atlantic Books, Berkley, CA, 2008