Since woodruff occurs as a flavoring in many traditional foods, it is obviously fundamentally edible. However, you should be careful when consuming it regularly, otherwise it can cause damage to your he alth.
Is woodruff poisonous or edible?
Woodruff is edible in small quantities and can be used as a flavoring in drinks and dishes. However, if consumed excessively or regularly, the coumarin it contains can cause he alth problems such as drowsiness, headaches and liver damage.
The use of woodruff in food
The woodruff has become known as a flavoring aroma over the last hundred years, primarily through the following products:
- Maibowle or also Waldmeisterbowle
- Berliner Weisse
- Waldmeisterbrause
- Waldmeister lemonade
Its characteristic taste, together with a certain acidity in certain foods and drinks, has a refreshing and invigorating effect. In addition, woodruff was and is also used as a natural remedy for headaches; it is also considered to have a digestive and antispasmodic effect. While many drinks and confectionery for children used to be flavored with real woodruff, today these flavor variants can be traced back to an artificially created aroma. This is because the use of real woodruff in these products has been banned in Germany since 1974 due to the coumarin it contains.
Dangers of consuming woodruff
Basically, woodruff is more beneficial to he alth than harmful when handled correctly and sparingly dosed. However, the ban on its use in products for children is due to the often very regular consumption and possible damage to he alth. An overdose of coumarin from woodruff can not only cause drowsiness and headaches, but can also lead to lasting damage to the liver.
The correct procedure for harvesting woodruff
The plant Galium odoratum, known as woodruff, is usually collected from natural sources in the forest, but is sometimes also specifically grown in shady places in the garden. Depending on the region, woodruff blooms between mid-April and mid-May, shortly before which it reaches its strongest aroma.
Tips & Tricks
Woodruff is also edible as a herb in salads and desserts, but the aroma is usually obtained by soaking the briefly wilted stems in a little liquid.
