James Porter's Blog: Calendula: Edible Medicinal Petals

Calendula is a flowering plant that thrives in abundance in the United States, and in a number of countries across the globe as well. Calendula is also quite popularly referred to as marigold, which loosely translates into “sunbride.”

With its distinct burst of deep orange and yellow petals, calendula flowers are readily edible that raw petals are oftentimes mixed into salads. Calendula petals are also often brewed into herbal tea which serves a wide variety of medicinal purposes.

With its distinct burst of deep orange and yellow petals, calendula flowers are readily edible that raw petals are oftentimes mixed into salads. (Photo Credits)

Calendula petals are known to make for much of the plant’s medicinal properties. Often, bright orange calendula petals contain the highest concentration of active medicinal compounds. These, among others, include decent amounts of carotene and essential oils.

When fixing yourself a cup of calendula tea, it is best that a handful of calendula petals are brewed immediately. The active medicinal compounds of the flower are known to break down not long after the flowers are picked.

Calendula Tea Bags and Health Benefits

Calendula tea bags offers many health benefits and has traditionally been used in the treatment and management of several skin conditions including eczema, sunburns, warts, and minor wounds, etch. Calendula has also a long history of being used as curative against cramps, coughs, and even snake bites.

More recently calendula extract and various calendula derivatives have proven to relatively effective in dealing with fever, cramps, stomachaches, flu and colds. Regular consumption of calendula tea has also proven to help detoxify the body, improve circulation, and even help regulate menstrual cycle in women. As such, you might where to buy organic calendula tea for menstrual cramps relief.

Much of calendula’s medicinal value has to do with the natural high content of flavonoids. These are naturally existing antioxidants in the body. Anti-oxidants are naturally existing chemical that protect cells from detrimental free-radical damage that often results fromoxidation. Without enough supply of antioxidants, free radicals tend to dominate and suppress immune function of the body.

How To Make Healthy Calendula Tea Recipe

As much as there are a number of benefits in consuming calendula regularly, there are also are many ways to fix yourself a cup of calendula tea.

Here’s how to make a healthy calendula tea recipe. To start with, we can always make use of boiling water with dried calendula flowers. To do this, we just place a spoonful of dried calendula flowers in a teacup full of near-boiling water. Cover with a saucer. And just let steep for a good 20 minutes.

We can also prepare the tea using boiling water still, but now with fresh calendula flowers. We just place fresh flowers in a jarful of boiling water over, cap, and let infuse until the tea cools enough to a safe drinking temperature.

It is best to strain your drink after your calendula tea has finished infusing. It is also a good idea to prepare small batches at a time and refrigerate the left over tea immediately. Calendula infusions are not exactly known to last for a particularly long time, so you may want to discard the remainder tea after a day or two.