The woodruff has been used as a medicinal and aromatic herb for centuries. You can either collect it directly in the forest or plant and harvest the plant directly in the garden.
What are the main characteristics of the woodruff?
Woodruff is an aromatic medicinal and culinary herb that grows in shady, moist forest areas. The plant grows up to 30 cm tall and should be harvested before flowering to reduce the coumarin content. Popular in May punch and syrup, but dose carefully due to possible liver damage.
Requirements for the growth of woodruff
In nature, woodruff grows in locations with moderate to low light. If you want to grow the aromatic plant yourself for use in the kitchen, you should choose a shady place under trees and bushes in the garden. The soil should be loose and permeable for the fine roots of the woodruff, and the woodruff also needs a certain amount of soil moisture to propagate at the location.
Be careful when dosing woodruff
Even if woodruff is represented as a flavor in many products for children and adults, these are usually artificially created flavor nuances. The use of woodruff in drinks or jelly is now banned in many countries because excessive consumption of the coumarin it contains can not only lead to headaches, but also liver damage in the long term. To use real woodruff in the kitchen, you should, if possible, harvest the plant stems before the flowering period in April and May, as the content of the active ingredient coumarin in the plant parts increases sharply after flowering. Therefore, either preserve the woodruff in spring or use it more sparingly during a later harvest. Preservation is possible by:
- Freezing
- Drying
- Processing into woodruff syrup
Important information about the woodruff
The woodruff, which grows in the shade, is not only an ancient medicinal herb for headaches, but also an attractive ground cover with a maximum height of 30 centimeters for the garden.
When is woodruff sown?
As a frost germinator, you should ideally sow the woodruff between September and December.
Is the woodruff hardy?
The plant is generally hardy in Central Europe without any problems. If possible, you should only harvest the first stems from freshly sown crops in the second year so that the woodruff can reproduce well at the location.
Does woodruff need to be fertilized?
Basically, the frugal woodruff does not need any fertilizer; some leaves piled up in autumn are sufficient to provide nutrients.
Tips & Tricks
If you want to use the woodruff for Maibowle, for example, you should first let the cut stems wilt or freeze for a few hours to intensify the taste. Then let the stems soak in liquid for a maximum of half an hour to avoid an overdose of coumarin.