I love red raspberry. Lately I have been focusing on chickweed and plantain because I have been using them for a broad spectrum of things. However, red raspberry is one of my absolute MUST have herbs for many ailments. I love Red Raspberry so much that I wrote my thesis for The School of Natural Healing on it. My thesis can be read on the website Herbal Legacy. I will discuss many of the uses of red raspberry over time; however, 3 uses have recently been brought to my attention.
A couple of days ago, I mentioned that a friend's son was dealing with hives so we made the salve of chickweed and plantain. They were helping the hives diminish but not entirely. His bowels were not moving properly (which can exacerbate hives as the body tries to throw out toxins any way that it can). His mom made some juice of red raspberries and apples and within an hour the hives severely subsided and after 2 glasses of raspberry juice, they left completely. I hypothesize that the raspberry helped because raspberries are a refrigerant. Chinese medicine considers hives a heat condition so you need to give the body cooling things and eliminate heat producing foods. Raspberries may cool the body. Furthermore, they are also a laxative, so they get the bowels moving properly and the body has a place for the toxins to go. The other possibility, which my friend reminded me of, is quercetin in the raspberries and apples (found in the skin).
The second thing about raspberry that was brought up today is red raspberry leaves. When I was pregnant with my first, I didn't know about raspberry leaves. How I wish I had! With my second, my husband said that raspberry leaves made such a difference, he would walk to China and back if he had to to get them for me. Raspberry leaves balance hormones, provide calcium, iron, vitamin C, almost all the B vitamins, magnesium, etc. They also strengthen the uterus to be more efficient and the contractions less painful. They help with afterpains as well as milk supply. I wouldn't bother with the little raspberry tea bags but found that the raspberry leaf from Mountain Rose Herbs is not far less expensive than those tea bags, but far more potent and beneficial.
So, how to make raspberry leaf tea. Take a tea basket or tea ball. Place 1ish teaspoons in the basket or ball inside the cup. Pour boiling water over. Cover with an upside down plate for 20 minutes. If mint or something else is desired to flavor it, throw that in during the last 5 minutes. Enjoy. For really strong tea, let cool to room temperature before removing the raspberry leaves and enjoying.
Some people don't mind the taste- it tastes a little like ice tea when cold. Some people dislike it. I find that adding some lemon and honey or icing it and then adding 1/4-1/3 the amount of tea in juice like cherry or grape really helps. Sometimes I will put mint in at the end of steeping.
The third is somewhat related to the previous one in that it is related to female reproductive organs. I have found that for an ovarian cyst, 1-2 quarts of red raspberry leaf tea has helped tremendously in lessening the pain to a dull soreness when pressed on. If I don't drink the raspberry leaf tea, the pain increases. I am doing other things too to get rid of the cyst, but the raspberry leaf has been a very important part of my treatment of my cyst.
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