This delicate wildflower boasts a surprising history as a natural remedy, offering a hint of sweetness alongside potential pain relief.
What is meadowsweet?
Sweet by name and nature, you’ll no doubt smell fully edible Filipendula ulmaria before you encounter it in all its frothy-flowered, almond scented glory, growing tall along the side of riverbanks, in ditches or in damp meadows.
A truly generous plant, it also provides food for bees, hoverflies, ladybirds and several species of moth caterpillar.
What does meadowsweet look like?
It’s not difficult to spot, growing to an average height and width of around 1m, a bushy perennial of doubly serrated, deeply veined, dark green leaves – arranged in 5 pairs of leaflets with a 3-lobed leaflet at the tip – with clusters of creamy flowers borne on erect stems above, not unlike a stick of candy floss. In a breeze, the leaves can also appear pale, as the silver undersides are revealed.
Where does meadowsweet grow?
Wander down by a river or near wet ground such as a marsh, fen or meadow where water levels tend to rise and fall between June and September and you’re pretty like to make the acquaintance of meadowsweet.
What is meadowsweet good for?
A traditional medicinal, culinary, and ritual herb, half the fun of harnessing its fragrant potency is wading through a gathering of long grass, tall stems and creamy blooms to harvest it.
Although all parts of the plant can be harvested, it is the flowers that should occupy the lion’s share of the modern-day foraging basket, lending their musky-sweet essence to a range of drinks, desserts, stewed fruits, jams, vinegars, and condiments – a favourite being the flavouring of panna cotta, wine or beer. Check out our recipe for bilberry galette with meadowsweet dust.
Indeed, the word meadow sweet hails from the Anglo Saxon meodu-swete meaning ‘mead sweetener’, the fact that it is a sweet-smelling inhabitant of meadows being something of a happy homonym.
How is meadowsweet used as a medicine?
This distinctive smell ushers from meadowsweet’s high content of antiseptic salicylic acid, similarly found in wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) and birch trees (Betula spp.), and a key determinant in its traditional use as an anti-inflammatory, wound-healing, pain-relieving, and infection-fighting medicinal herb.
Those who inhale the plant’s scent are also said to be granted the gift of second sight and the power to speak with fairies.
How to harvest meadowsweet
Flowers are best picked when most are in full bloom, around July, snipping off the flower stems so the blooms can be easily transported home.
Kept in an airtight bag or container in the fridge they can be kept for about a week. Or dehydrate by hanging stalks upside down in a warm, dry place. The dried flowers can then be used to make an infusion with which to flavour other culinary dishes.
What are the common names for meadowsweet?
In addition to medwort, other common names for meadowsweet include queen of the meadow, and bridewort, the latter referring to the use of flowers and leaves as a fragrant strewing herb at weddings and at festivals as well as in homes.
A more cynical Yorkshire name for it is courtship and matrimony, alluding to the seductive sweetness of the flowers versus the less pleasant antiseptic smell of the leaves when crushed.
Meadowsweet in literature
According to Mrs M. Grieve’s A Modern Herbal (1931), meadowsweet is one of 50 ingredients in the drink ‘Save’, which was mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer’s ‘The Knight’s Tale’ (1387–1400) – being known then as ‘medwort’.
Looking for more botanical inspiration?
Check out our guides to elder, nettles, yarrow and unusual medicinal plants found across Britain.
