Canning & Preserving, Herbal Recipes, Herbalism, Recipe Box

Freezing Chickweed for Later

Amber Shehan β€’ March 28, 2016

Abundant chickweed is no pest! The useful herb is best harvested in early spring and frozen to use later.

chickweed-g898f8e5ad_1280

Late winter and early spring is the most glorious season for Chickweed! The freezing temperatures don’t seem to deter this hardy weed. Her bright green clumps can be found pulsing with life, tucked away under the last blankets of snow. She’s one of the first spring greens that everyone wants to eat; people, livestock, and especially chickens!

I’ve expressed my appreciation for chickweed before and explained how I used the healing powers of chickweed to get rid of a Bartholin cyst.  Fresh chickweed worked like a champ to shrink that cyst into nothingness; however, what am I supposed to do with similar issues during the warmer months when chickweed isn’t as prolific?

To that end, I’ve figured out a great way to preserve fresh chickweed that beats tinctures or drying hands down – freezing it into ice cubes!

freezing chickweed - chickweed puree as seen on pixiespocket.com
It isn’t pretty, but it works!

Freezing Chickweed

  • Harvest fresh chickweed. Try to find a good-sized patch to plunder before mid-April, as the early growth in chill temperatures makes much more potent and effective remedies.
  • Rinse off the chickweed with cool water to remove bugs and dust and pick through to remove any dead leaves.
  • Toss the chickweed in a blender (I use a NutriBullet (ad)) and add a splash of water. Give it a spin or two and take a peek to see how it is going. Add only as much water as you need to get a frothy puree.
  • Pour the puree into ice cube trays and pop them into your freezer. In this case, I used a small tube-shaped ice cube tray. This shape will let me allow me to break off small chunks of frozen goodness as I need throughout the year!
  • Once the chickweed puree cubes are frozen, pop them into a bag. Label it and stick the bag back in the freezer until you need them!


Herbal Courses from beginner to advanced


freezing chickweed - chickweed cubes as seen on pixiespocket.com

Using Chickweed Cubes

  • These are great for external uses, like cooling off and treating skin inflammations like cysts, hemorrhoids (piles), minor burns, and rashes.
  • Chickweed is an antidote to nettle stings and helps to soothe bug bites.
  • Have a nasty sunburn? Make a bath and add a bag of black tea to the lukewarm water. Throw one of these ice cubes in as well to increase the soothing effects, and don’t forget to keep hydrated as you heal!
  • You can also eat chickweed, although it can have a laxative effect if you eat too much of it. It has often been used as a helper for weight loss, and it is a minor diuretic. This can be attributed to the saponin content. Try throwing half of one of these ice cubes into a smoothie every now and then.

Sources:

  • Botanical: A Modern Herbal – http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/chickw60.html
  • The Practical Herbalist – http://www.thepracticalherbalist.com/holistic-medicine-library/chickweed-skin-rejuvenator/

Get updates from Pixie's Pocket: brewing and herbs in your inbox:

Amber Shehan

Hi! I'm Amber Pixie, and this is my site. Enjoy the recipes, information, posts, and please feel free to message me if you have questions!

5 Comments

  1. […] well, Rosemary Gladstar recommends making a tincture to preserve chickweed for medicinal uses. Freeze chickweed to use for cooling applications on the skin and for […]

  2. Jess F on April 11, 2018 at 3:45 pm

    Half of one ice cube per smoothie? Is that a typo?

    • Amber Pixie on April 17, 2018 at 9:13 am

      Thanks for checking in! It is not a typo – the ice cubes I use are narrow and easy to snap in half, and chickweed saponins can give you the runs if you consume too much of them! I hope that helps clarify, sorry for the confusion. πŸ™‚

  3. kate on April 16, 2023 at 2:15 pm

    I love chickweed. have been ‘plundering’ a lot lately. I was rather surprised to see a recipe for ‘bacon fat’ ginger snaps. what??? for all reasons, i just figured this was a plant based food site. i would never in heaven use bacon OR bacon fat for anything. shocking. ***

    • Amber Pixie on April 19, 2023 at 11:19 am

      You’re welcome to not use any recipe that doesn’t appeal to you! I am not vegan and there are meat-related recipes every now and then.

Leave a Comment