Basswood is a beautiful tree that provides us with its shade, wood, bark, leaves and flowers.  In Russia most of the wooden spoons and bowls are carved from its wood.  The fiber is so soft, people compare it to butter for the ease of carving.  People have used the bark for centuries for making ropes and cordage.

Edible leaves

This is a prime time for picking fresh edible basswood leaves, or as it is called in Europe – linden.  The leaves are nice light green and almost roundish shape.  They are so soft and also feel very soft when you eat them.  The taste is slightly sweet and very pleasant, they are not as crunchy as lettuce.  Leaves are the best tasting when they are young.  The older leaves are tougher and harder to chew.

Linden is very calming

As history tells us, almost every village in Germany had a green grove of basswood trees, where they often had township meetings.  How wise that was!  Because linden is a famous sedative.  It is also cooling.  When children in Europe have a fever  they use linden flowers as medicine.  The sweet pleasant tea cools the body, opens up pores and lets the sweat come out and expel the heat.  And also calms the cough.

Basswood blooms in later June, with fragrant flowers that honey bees like.  In Europe you can even find Linden Honey for sale.  The tree needs to be as mature as 20 years old before it starts blooming for the first time.

The flowers are rich in flavonoids, tannins, amino acids, musilagenous agents and vitamin C.  Linden tea is also very beneficial for hyper children, as it helps them to relax.  Leaves and flowers support the work of gall bladder stimulating the movement of bile.  Next time you have a panic attack or insomnia see if basswood is helpful.

To check out the linden tea, please go to Yulia’s organic Herbal Tea page here.  The cool tea is excellent as skin tonic, it keeps the skin soft and young looking.  So save a spoon or two after you drink a cup.