how do you process psyllium ?

[sstolzenburgStudent]

I have a rather large narrow leaf plantain plant in my herb garden that is just shooting up seed pods like gang busters. I don’t need an aperient right now, but I would sure like to know what to do with all these pods. When do I harvest them?, and after I have harvested them, what do I do with them?

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[IdahoHerbalist]

First you need a plantago psyillium or ovato plant

[Dr. Patrick JonesHomestead Instructor]

P. ovato is the best but the other species will produce psyllium as well.

Harvest the seed stalks when they turn brown and dry. Winnow the seeds. The remaining fluffy brown stuff is the psyllium. 🙂

Doc

Don't use herbs or combine herbs with medications or use them during lactation or pregnancy without talking with your healthcare provider.

[IdahoHerbalist]

Is it the seed or the chaff? I thought I read on Wiki that it was the seed….. :confused:

[Dr. Patrick JonesHomestead Instructor]

IdahoHerbalist wrote: Is it the seed or the chaff? I thought I read on Wiki that it was the seed….. :confused:

So far as I know, it’s the husk you’re after.

“http://www.konsyl.com/what-is-psyllium-s/1833.htm”>http://www.konsyl.com/what-is-psyllium-s/1833.ht

When I process P. major seed, I get a lot of husk.

The principle disadvantage of the narrow-leaf plantain is the short little seed heads compared to their cousins.

Patrick

Don't use herbs or combine herbs with medications or use them during lactation or pregnancy without talking with your healthcare provider.

[sstolzenburgStudentTopic Author]

OK, So I am thinking, says I, if I want some dietary fiber, do I have to wait? Can I just eat the seed pods now? I mean, It is just plantain, and that is edible………? Are the seeds OK like the leaves?

[Dr. Patrick JonesHomestead Instructor]

No reason too think they’d do you anything but good. Might be more fiber than you want. Let us know.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

Don't use herbs or combine herbs with medications or use them during lactation or pregnancy without talking with your healthcare provider.

[IdahoHerbalist]

Doc Jones wrote: Let us know.

Just wait intil you get off the pot! :crying:

[sstolzenburgStudentTopic Author]

Well, you guys are in for a disappointment, I ate a couple, and…..nuthin. So if I was dumb enough to eat a handfull, maybe you would have had your fun……. didn’t happen. :yahoo:

Thanks for the advise though. I won’t get to anxious to try too many. But I have to say I am more skiddish about trying lobelia than I am about psyllium. :barf:

Steve

[Laura L. BergesonStudent]

Perhaps the seeds that remain after the husks are removed could be used as a flour, or soaked and eaten like chia? I have a large (and getting larger) narrow leaf plantain as well. I will experiment and let you all know.

[Laura L. BergesonStudent]

I’m reporting on my experiment with the plantain seedheads. Maybe I let them ripen too long, but when I shredded the husks and seeds from the stalks after they were thoroughly dry, there were not very many seeds that I could see. They are very tiny and hard.

I put the husks and seeds into a tall jar and shook it, thinking that the seeds would drop to the bottom. Nope. They layered themselves somewhere in the middle of all the husks. Next I tried grinding the husks and seeds into a powder using my coffee mill. It worked a little bit, but not much. The husks are so light that they just fly around the mill.

So, then I just put s spoonful of the husk/seed mixture into a glass with a little water and tried to drink it. The husks float on the top and don’t mix in the water. The seeds don’t float as well as the husks do and sunk to the bottom. It was like trying to drink shredded cellulose sponge fibers. So I chewed and swallowed. Taste is not too bad.

Then I tried soaking the husk/seed mixture in water for 3 or 4 hours. It turns the water dark brown, but eventually the mixture starts to soften and and be eaten by the spoonful. I would say that it might not be a good idea to do so, but truthfully, I have not seen much effect from eating the husk mixture. I’m very close to composting the whole bottle, but may give it another day or two. Is there anything I didn’t try?????? :wall:

[IdahoHerbalist]

Did you try doing it like an infusion or just cold water?

If you compost the seed heads you will have plantain where ever you use the compost. Maybe a good thing? :poke:

[Laura L. BergesonStudent]

I did soak them overnight last night and it looks more usable. The seeds have swelled a little like chia, and the husks are swollen with water. I’ll try mixing it with my green drink and see if it will go down. Just kidding about the compost pile. It was too much work to strip off the stalks and I’m determined to make this work!

[IdahoHerbalist]

Should work perfectly in the drink!

[Laura L. BergesonStudent]

It was ok. The husks floated on the top and took a bit to swallow down. Fortunately I don’t have much of a gag reflex! :face palm 2:

[Fey]

Psyllium always tastes drab, even on the blaaahh side of things, but I don’t mind the earthy flavour of eating Plantago major seeds and husks straight from the plant…dry and crunchy but rather nice, and there’s a lot of it. Because the whole plant is edible, there should be an added benefit to eating the seeds with the husks. I wonder why commercially they’re separated? Psyllium husks and psyllium seeds are both available commercially to buy for eating, but I never see them for sale as husks and seeds together.

Horizon herbs (my favourite place to buy seeds) sells 8 different types of plantain seeds including Plantago psyllium and Sand Mountain herbs sells Plantago ovata seeds.

[IdahoHerbalist]

Fey wrote: I wonder why commercially they’re separated?

Specialty products always sell for more money. Once you separate them they become specialty. Almost always about the money.

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