{"id":24752,"date":"2021-09-01T01:10:04","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T05:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/?p=24752"},"modified":"2021-08-26T14:47:24","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T18:47:24","slug":"notes-from-the-apothecary-72","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2021\/09\/01\/notes-from-the-apothecary-72\/","title":{"rendered":"Notes from the Apothecary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Notes from the Apothecary: Clover<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

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Clover is also called trefoil, literally \u201cthree-leaves\u201d, and grows in most places around the world. Although many clover plants look similar, there are around 300 species of Trifolium<\/i> and they\u2019re in the same plant family as peas. Both the round, joyful flowers and the iconic triplet of small, round leaves have a ton of folklore around them \u2013 and some surprising modern research, too.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Kitchen Garden<\/b><\/u><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

Red and white clover are the most common where I live, and often pop up in lawns without any encouragement from gardeners. As well as being a fantastic food source for bees and other insects, clover is completely edible by humans, too. Pick young flowers, without any browning, and you can suck the nectar straight out of the blossoms \u2013 check for bugs first! The leaves and flowers themselves are also edible, but should be avoided if you\u2019re pregnant or breastfeeding, as some species of clover contain phytoestrogens<\/a> which can be problematic \u2013 especially those of red clover.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The leaves of clover are not particularly tasty, although at a local pub I found some in my salad once \u2013 were they cost cutting by adding ingredients from the lawn? Who knows! It was a bit bitter and not great, but completely bearable if nothing else was available. Clover leaves are rich in micronutrients, which we\u2019ll explore a bit more in the Apothecary section. However, if you live in a warm climate, you might want to avoid the leaves of white clover as they may produce small amounts of cyanide when damaged, according to Science Daily<\/a>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Clover seeds and seed pods are also edible and high in protein, and can be dried and ground up for storing. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Apothecary<\/b><\/u><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

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Clover has some potentially excellent health benefits thanks to being high in:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n