BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS: Meadowsweet was used to calm a Gaelic hero’s berserk battle rage
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Beautiful Botanicals by Joanne Howdle
Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) is one of Scotland’s most beautiful and delicate summer flowers. It is known by a variety of names including ‘Bridewort’ – because historically it was used in wedding bouquets and was thrown over the newlywed couple as a precursor to confetti.
Meadowsweet is a perennial plant in the Rosaceae family and is native to Europe and Western Asia, growing to about 1 metre tall. The stems and the rachis (central vein) of the compound leaves are vivid red.
The softly toothed leaflets grow between the stems and rachis and the leaf is tipped with a ternate (three-pointed) leaflet.
The small flowers of meadowsweet form from June to September in large, creamy masses atop red stems. The candyfloss-like heads of the tiny, cream flowers are a common sight in damp meadows, beside streams, around ditches and marshy areas, often growing among reeds, willows and other plants that love damp conditions. This is one reason why the common name of the botanical is meadowsweet.
Its flowers are rich in nectar, and archaeological evidence found in Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery indicate they were used as a source of sugar in ancient brewing. Indeed, some academics argue that the common name of the botanical should be interpreted as ‘mead’-sweet rather than ‘meadow’-sweet, because meadowsweet was traditionally used as a flavouring for mead.
The botanical was also an important ingredient in the manufacture of traditional heather ale, although it is difficult to find conclusive proof of when this practice first began.
In the past, meadowsweet was used as a strewing herb – scattered on the floor with other scented plants so that their pleasant smell wafted up when walked on, thereby masking the odour of unwashed bodies and livestock.
This temporary carpet could then simply be swept out the door and replaced as required. English herbalist John Gerard wrote that Queen Elizabeth I insisted that nothing other than meadowsweet was used on the floor of her bedchamber.
The Gaelic name of meadowsweet ‘Cú Chulainn’s Belt’ comes from its use by the Celtic hero Cú Chulainn as an antidote to his ‘wasp-spasm’, a form of berserk battle rage or spasmodic fevers.
Cú Chulainn is said to have bathed in a cauldron of meadowsweet to calm him down and/or cure his fevers.
In traditional medicine, the flowers of the botanical are made into meadowsweet tea, which is used as a natural alternative to aspirin. The resulting ‘tea’ helps treat mild fevers, especially those accompanied by rheumatic-type aches and pains.
Meadowsweet ‘tea’ is also believed to relieve the pain and swelling of both acute and chronic arthritis. In 18th-century Scotland, meadowsweet was used to treat colds, coughs, diarrhoea, dysentery, sunburn and piles.
In cooking, meadowsweet is used to add an almond flavour to chocolate truffles, crumble toppings, ice cream, nougat, pannacotta, porridge and yoghurts whilst the leaves of the botanical add a lovely mellow taste to salads.
The leaves and flowers of meadowsweet are used to flavour different sorts of drinks including cordials and fruit punch. In Sweden, meadowsweet is commonly used as an ingredient to flavour vodka or other spirits. The alcohol is usually infused with the flowers, which give the spirits their aromas and flavour, as well as giving the liquid a light straw colour.
The flavour of meadowsweet is slightly sweet, with hay and grass notes, and is reminiscent of the bison-grass vodkas of Eastern Europe such as Źubrówka. In gin manufacture, on the nose, meadowsweet is used to give an aroma of almonds whilst adding a soft floral spiciness to the spirit.
- Joanne Howdle is interpretation and engagement manager at the multi-award-winning Dunnet Bay Distillers Ltd.
