Giersch - have you ever heard of it? Gardeners are usually familiar with ground elder and are good at recognizing it. Perhaps there are also one or the other wild plant lover who likes to collect Giersch. But most other people don't know what it is.

Ground elder is a dreaded weed with an often underestimated medicinal effect and an amazingly delicious taste

Groundweed - wild herb, medicinal herb, food and weed

In fact, ground elder is a whole lot of a medicinal herb, a food, a weed, and a wild herb, among others. It belongs to the umbelliferae plant family and is often found in this country, for example in bushes, in deciduous forests and - to the chagrin of gardeners - in gardens.

This plant announces spring, it blooms in summer and likes to settle next to nettles. It used to be valued as a medicinal plant and used to treat heart conditions and gout, among other things. It was also a valuable food in times of famine.

An underestimated medicinal herb

While people used to know about the power slumbering in ground elder, today people walk past it blindly and are unaware of its healing properties. Ground elder (and in particular its leaves) has anti-inflammatory, strengthening, detoxifying, deacidifying, diuretic and antispasmodic effects, among other things.

You can use goutweed - fresh, dried or preserved in oil, as a tincture, as a bath additive or as a poultice - for example with:

  • toothache
  • tension
  • rheumatism
  • gout
  • to cough
  • sniffles
  • burns and sunburn

Goutweed as food

Goutweed can be used in the kitchen as a vegetable and as a spice. It is edible and tastes vaguely reminiscent of parsley when raw and spinach when cooked. You can eat not only the leaves, but also the flowers and seeds. The seeds taste pungent and the flowers pleasantly sweet.

Ground elder leaves can be cooked like spinach. They are also suitable for pestos, sauces, stews and smoothies. They are rich in vitamins and minerals. Admittedly, they are not to everyone's taste… However, if you want to do something good for yourself and like to have something wild from outside on the table, try the goutweed!

A difficult weed to control

But this wild plant also has a negative side, which is particularly evident to those who appreciate a well-groomed, typically German garden. Ground elder, which can be recognized by serrated, tripartite leaves and a triangular stem, forms underground stolons.

With its foothills, the goutweed can colonize to mass populations (hemicryptophyte). Even if he's chopped up, he survives and shoots out again and again. Fighting him is therefore a lengthy and often nerve-wracking affair.

tips

Giersch can also be found under the names Zipperleinskraut, Geißfuss, Podagrakraut and (botanically) Aegopodium podagraria.

Category:

Herbs