Shepherd's Purse - a Spring Blessing of Nature


In China there is a folk saying: "On the third day of the third month (of the lunar calendar), the shepherd's purse becomes a wondrous elixir." This herb is one of the first blade of grasses that occur in the end of winter - a true herald of spirng!

The ancient Chinese have called the flavour of shepherd's purse "a blessing of Nature" and have created numerous poems, odes and folk proverbs about it. In Book of Songs it is mentioned "a sweet taste as of shepherd's purse". The great Chinese aesthete, poet and qigong master, Su Dongpo, writes that "nothing can be compared with its nice and refined fragrance". Another Chinese poet, Lu You, devotes a whole poem on the shepherd's purse.

A decoction of the leaves of the shepherd's purse strengthens the liver, gall bladder and eyes, treats diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, ulcer, enteritis, edema, tuberculosis, uterine bleeding. It improves the digestion, regulates the stomach and spleen, treats high blood pressure, profuse menstruation, and cools the blood.

The flowers are used in Chinese herbology for tonifying the inner organs, while the seed - for healing colds, diarrhea and eye problems. 

The people in China prepare a soup of shepherd's purse, which they call "Soup for 100 years", pointing on its ability to prolong life and rejuvenate. In Anhui province, they the local people  make this herb into ifried balls, while in the Shanghai cuisine there is a famous stir-fry of shepherd's purse leaves with bamboo. 

Shepherd's purse can be cooked in the same way as spinach. It is tasty when cooked with mushrooms, rice and oatmeal porridges, pastry and dumplings, with tomatoes, eggs and other dishes.