willow tea?

[Peter_t]

just been watching survivorman and he made 'bush tea' which was spruce needles and willow twigs. i also tried this last week just by sticking some twigs in the pot but now im wondering, what is the best way to prepare the willow? should i just use the bark or the whole twigs? are the leaves good aswell?

thanks
pete

 

[Ruvio]

should clear up a headache...

 

[Peter_t]

should clear up a headache...

good enouth for hangovers? :thinkerg:

pete

 

[Ruvio]

i'd hope so, natural aspirin int it?

 

[rik_uk3]

just been watching survivorman and he made 'bush tea' which was spruce needles and willow twigs. i also tried this last week just by sticking some twigs in the pot but now im wondering, what is the best way to prepare the willow? should i just use the bark or the whole twigs? are the leaves good aswell?

thanks
pete

Put your Willow twigs in your hobo stove, boil water and add a tea bag

 

[Mikey P]

Is it not quite astringent? Willow bark contains acetylsalicylic acid, which is aspirin. Aspirin is quite 'bitter' - does that thing to your mouth like ACME Alum in the Roadrunner cartoons.

I really don't understand why you would want that in your tea? Unless you have a massive headache...

 

[Ruvio]

i quite like that, dry mouth feeling

 

[pteron]

Willow bark contains acetylsalicylic acid, which is aspirin.

Willow bark contains salisylic acid which is way more of an irritant to your stomach than acetylsalisylic acid (aspirin) so be careful how much you drink.

(Funnily enough, the belief that willow bark contains aspirin is prevalent amongst outdoor instructors)

 

[Joonsy]

Willow bark contains salisylic acid which is way more of an irritant to your stomach than acetylsalisylic acid (aspirin) so be careful how much you drink.

(Funnily enough, the belief that willow bark contains aspirin is prevalent amongst outdoor instructors)

what about the leaves, are they used same as bark or not, is it really suitable as an aspirin substitute or is this an old wives tale, if it is suitable then how much bark/leaves would one eat for it to be effective as an aspirin substitute/painkiller, doesn't aspirin thin the blood and does willow thin blood the same as asprin which in certain circumstances may not always be advisable. Thanks.

 

[pteron]

Sorry Joonsy, you need a pharmacist!

I was trying to warn people to be careful with salicylic acid as it is caustic - that is why Bayer modified it to become acetylsalicylic acid when they created aspirin. The active ingredient is the same (acetylsalicylic acid is broken down into salicylic acid in the bloodstream) so you'd expect the thinning properties to be similar. How you'd calculate how much of the active ingredient you are getting by boiling bits of plant material is beyond me!

 

[mace242]

If you look on PFAF then there are a whole load of medicinal uses for willow that would make it handy in a tea. I'd still be cautious about using it loads for the reasons already said.

 

[cappi]

Is it not quite astringent? Willow bark contains acetylsalicylic acid, which is aspirin. Aspirin is quite 'bitter' - does that thing to your mouth like ACME Alum in the Roadrunner cartoons.

I really don't understand why you would want that in your tea? Unless you have a massive headache...

HERE HERE,attention too much not good also many people can be allergic to it,