Yellow herb is not actually yellow; the herb is reddish-brown in colour. While the herb does have some very pretty leaves that are edible, this is not the part that is normally used in herbal tea.
What are used in the herbal tea are the roots that are dried, crushed and then boiled in water. Yellow dock tea does not have very many different health benefits to it.
It is mainly used for digestive purposes, but can also be used for rheumatism pain and liver disorders. It is native to Europe but now grows throughout much of the world.
Yellow dock root is an excellent source of iron and can easily be made into a tea. Because it is a root, it needs to be made as a decoction, which means that it needs to be simmered to extract all its healing properties.
If you are suffering from anaemia, yellow dock tea iron content can help to increase your blood’s iron levels. It also helps promote iron absorption into your body.
Historically, people have also sometimes used yellow dock tea to treat a variety of blood disorders and bleeding in their lungs. This tea was formerly given for the cure of boils.
The plant is frequently called Butter Dock, because its cool leaves have often been used in the country for wrapping up butter for the market. It is also useful in jaundice and as a tonic to the stomach and the system generally.
It has an action on the bowels very similar to that of Rhubarb herb, being perhaps a little less active, but operating without pain or uneasiness.
Yellow dock tea helps to improve digestion. It will also improve appetite for people who are convalescing and with anorexia. It helps to reduce inflammation in the digestive tract such as in gastritis, colitis and irritable bowel syndrome, and will reduce diarrhoea as well.
To make yellow dock tea, boil 1 teaspoon of yellow dock root per cup of water for 10 minutes and then consume, sweeteners can be added to taste.
Too much of any good thing can be bad, and yellow dock root is no exception. Ingesting large quantities may cause cramping, nausea, diarrhoea or vomiting.