Organic Licorice Root, Organic Cascara Sagrada Bark and Organic Buckthorn Bark

Frangula purshiana is a large shrub native to northwestern North America with a long history of use by indigenous tribes for its beneficial properties. Following standard practice, our cascara sagrada bark is aged for a year after harvesting. The bark is occasionally used for its mild laxative properties. The bitter bark can be made into an extract or drunk as cascara sagrada tea.

Cascara sagrada, which translates as “sacred bark”, is a deciduous shrub of the American Northwest, ranging from northern California to the Alaska panhandle in moist forests below 5,000 feet (1,500 m). It is also found in the Rockies of Idaho and Montana. The herb is harvested in the form of quills and pieces of bark, allowed to age at least a year before use in laxative preparations. Cascara sagrada is never to be used fresh and must be aged for at least a year to break down its anthrone chemicals. The dried cascara bark offered by Mountain Rose Herbs is aged. If the bark is not aged it is a purgative and will cause intense intestinal spasms and vomiting. The herb can be artificially aged by heating but some useful constituents may be lost. In recent times, it has been used as an ingredient in sunscreen products, as well as a flavoring agent in foods such as candy, frozen dairy desserts, and baked goods.

Cascara sagrada belongs to the Rhamnaceae family and is also referred to as bearberry, chittem bark, and sacred bark.

American folk lore tells us that good luck in legal matters can be brought about if one wears a mojo bag filled with cascara sagrada and chews on a root of galangal, spitting the juice on the court room floor. Common logic, however, would dictate that spitting on a court room floor is probably not very wise.

Buckthorn is a tall, deciduous shrub native to Europe, western Asia, and the Middle East. Historically used to dye textiles yellow, Frangula alnus also has a history of use for its beneficial properties. Our buckthorn bark has been dried for a year and is traditionally prepared as an extract or bitter tea.

The buckthorn is a shrub native to Europe, Western Asia, and the Middle East. Buckthorn is never used fresh. It is collected in the summer, and then must be aged for at least a year to break down its anthrone chemicals. If the buckthorn is not aged, it is not laxative, it is purgative, causing intense intestinal spasms and vomiting. The herb can be artificially aged by heating or aeration, but some useful constituents may be lost. Mountain Rose Herbs offers dried bark that has been aged for 1 year, as recommended.

A member of the Rhamnaceae family, buckthorn bark is best taken as a tablet and can be used as a tea but is hard to drink given its bitter taste. May also be prepared as an extract. Historically, it has also been used as a dye for textiles.

Glycyrrhiza glabra is an herbaceous legume that is native to the Middle East, southern Europe, and India. Licorice, sometimes spelled licorice, is a favorite ingredient to sweeten herbal tea blends and is often used as a flavoring agent in candy. Licorice root has been an important herb in Eastern and Western traditions of herbalism for thousands of years. The root can be decocted as licorice tea and infused as licorice extract.

Licorice root is one of the most widely used herbs worldwide and is the single most used herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine today. It was used by the Egyptians as a flavoring for a drink called Mai-sus, and large quantities were found in the tomb of King Tut for his trip into the afterlife. Pliny the Elder recommended it to clear the voice and alleviate thirst and hunger. Dioscides, when traveling with Alexander the Great, recommended that his troops carry and use licorice to help with stamina for long marches, as well as for thirst in areas of drought. In the Middle Ages it was taken to alleviate the negative effects of highly spicy or overcooked food. It was also used for flavoring tobacco, and as a foaming agent in fire extinguishers and beer.

In a recent survey of Western medical herbalists, licorice ranked as the 10th most important herb used in clinical practice. An astonishing number of Chinese herbal formulas (over 5,000) use licorice to sweeten teas and to “harmonize” contrasting herbs. Its first documented use dates back to the time of the great Chinese herbal master Zhang Zhong Zhing, about 190 AD, but it was certainly used for many centuries prior to this. In 1914 the Chicago Licorice Company began to sell Black Vines, the first in a very long line of licorice based modern candies. The whole sticks and slices may be chewed straight and are pleasant tasting.

In comparison to Chinese licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis), Glycyrrhiza glabra is sometimes referred to as Russian licorice, Spanish licorice, or Turkish licorice.