Herbs and Spices Untitled Document

Sweet Woodruff or Waldmeister

Myskmadra

Plant Description

Aromatic: Woodruff (Galium odoratum) is a herbaceous perennial plant in the family Rubiaceae, native to Europe, North Africa and western Asia.

Season:

Uses in Cooking:

Another old fashion herb Sweet Woodruff still used, mainly in Germany, to flavour May wine (called "Maiwein" or "Maibowle" in German), beer (Berliner Weisse), brandy, sausages, jelly, jam, a soft drink (Tarchun), ice cream, and an herbal tea with gentle sedative properties. Leaves are used raw or cooked, they are used as a flavouring in cooling drinks and are also added to fruit salads etc. The leaves are soaked in white wine to make 'Maitrank', an aromatic tonic drink that is made in Alsace. A fragrant and delicious tea is made from the green-dried leaves and flowers. Slightly wilted leaves are used, the tea has a fresh, grassy flavour. The sweet-scented flowers are eaten or used as a garnish.

Possible Substitutes:

How it comes:

Spice Mixes

Other Uses:

This scent increases on wilting and then persists on drying, and woodruff is used in pot-pourri and as a moth deterrent. The dried foliage has the sweet scent of newly mown hay. A red dye is obtained from the root. Soft-tan and grey-green dyes are obtained from the stems and leaves. Sweet woodruff was widely used in herbal medicine during the Middle Ages, gaining a reputation as an external application to wounds and cuts and also taken internally in the treatment of digestive and liver problems.