I have a special shelf in my travelling van for my herbal teas. There's something quite special about making a brew when you're camping. There's times where the afternoon stretches on and staring at the ocean with a brew in hand in the most lovely thing to do.

On this trip, I bring a lovely sleepytime blend of rose petal, tulsi, chamomile and hops, all the more special because they all came from my garden or were foraged locally. But it seems that it's licorice root, peppermint and fennel that I am drinking the most. I've drunk a lot of licorice and peppermint in my time, though no always together - so much so that I was sick of it, and have left it alone for years. Still, sometimes a good sweet licorice tea is just what one craves.

The sweet taste of licorice is due to a compound called glycyrrhizin. Glcyo and rhizza are 'sweet', and 'root' - stands to reason! Eat too much of it, and you risk high blood pressure, heart arrythmia, muscle cramps and more - especially if you have high blood pressure or liver issues. Be warned:

glycyrrhizin mimics the hormone aldosterone, which is made by the adrenal glands when the body needs to retain sodium and excrete potassium. Sodium and potassium work together as a kind of cellular battery that drives communication between nerves and the contraction of muscles. Too much glycyrrhizin upsets the balance of these electrolytes, which can raise blood pressure and disturb the heart’s rhythm. Other symptoms of excessive licorice intake include swelling, muscle pain, numbness and headache..

But I'm not glutting on black licorice - I'm enjoying a licorice tea for a number of reasons. And it does seem that you have to have pre existing conditions and be a licorice eating PIG to really feel these effects. Hands up who's eaten a whole bag of it and felt a bit ill?

Of late, I've been trying to consume any herbs that ease inflammation in my lungs. The older I get, the harder it is to manage my asthma, or perhaps I'm more aware of it. There's a lot of herbs that are meant to help with inflammation of the bronchial airways, and I'm of the mind that 'every little helps'. Licorice root, along with ginger root and turmeric root - find their way into my kitchen preparations with this in mind. Of late, I've been reading about sophora root and the Chinese preparation ASHMI containing this, as well as licorice and reishi (reishi also makes it's way into my cacao and I've also tinctured it). There's another root based Chinese medicine containing licorice, ginseng and ophiopogon root, amongst other medicinal plants. But I feel like I need a Chinese herbalist to help me along there.

For now, licorice tea. It's also meant to be good for sore throats - I powdered it a few weeks ago to add to a lozenge with marshmellow and other soothing herbs. It's digestive, too - hence the pairing with lovely peppermint. It's antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant. Plus, it tastes bloody good.

At home in my greenhouse sits a licorice root plant, gifted by a botanist friend of mine that has a herbal micro nursery. I'm still working out where to put it and the best conditions for it to grow. Apparently it takes a few years to get a good harvest, and the roots are pretty long, so the position is going to be important. It'll need some space. For now, it can stay where it is, until I have time and energy to tend figure all that out. But I'm pretty thrilled to add this important medicinal root to my pharmakopia garden!

The other thing I adore about licorice is the fact it's meant to support your adrenals - something I've always had a problem with. In fact, if I'm feeling wired it's usually because I'm not looking after myself and it's my adrenal glands that need support. This has the added knock on effect of helping me sleep. Yay for licorice!¹

Do you enjoy licorice? What herbs do you use for asthma? What's your favourite medicinal root?

This post was written in response to the Herbal Hive 'ROOT' challenge for April - anyone can enter, all month, as many times as you like! Head over to the community [here] to find the pinned post and enter yourself.