What does it help with
- Digestive problems, loss of appetite
- Nausea, gastric cramps
- Rheumatism (bathe)
- Gum inflammation (gargling)
Active compounds
Essential oils (asarone, azulene), bitter compounds, tannins, mucilage.
Asarone stimulates gastric juice production. Warning: beta-asaronee is potentially carcinogenic — do not exceed recommended doses.
How and when to harvest
Harvest periodSeptember – October (or spring)
Plant partsroot (rhizom)
Dryingchop into slices, 40 °C
Shelf life2 years
Preparation methods
TeaTinctureBathRoot chewing
Pro tip: Don't buy calamus without origin labelling — the European species (diploid) is safer than the Asian one.
Recipes
1 Tea for digestion ▾
1 teaspoon sliced root pour 250 ml water, steep 8 minutes. Drink before meals.
2 Sweet flag bath ▾
50 g root boil 20 min in 2 litres water. Strain and add to bathwater for rheumatism.
3 Root chewing ▾
Chew a small piece of fresh or dried root for nausea — also helps with motion sickness.
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6 more recipes in the Herbarium
Sweet flag tincture · Fennel combo · Sweet flag bath · Sweet flag with gentian · Sweet flag liqueur · Sweet flag as spice
🌿 See all recipes — the Herbarium is free