Blackjack ( Bidens pilosa) Culinary & Medicinal Uses

 Will Blackjack be one of the NEW natural antibiotics

 we so badly need ?


Bidens pilosa  a herbaceous plant from the daisy family Asteraceae

 

This common international weed deserves a truly commendable place in the world of herbs.  

There is no plant quite like it. In rural areas where so many people are in need of medical care, antibiotics are less and less effective and hospital care is often not available, a natural cure is needed.   Blackjack is a powerful anti-oxidant and well know anti inflammatory.    Most of the Bidens species  ( some 200 of them)  show anti bacterial and antiseptic action.  Some even have anti diabetic properties. 

B.pilosa has been extensively researched.  This weed is highly active against malaria and is also active against herpes simplex virus.   In some very remote parts of Africa, blackjack is even used to treat venomous snakebites and it helps lower fevers during acute infection.  

Culinary Uses:  

Young blackjack sprigs are delicious boiled quickly in a little water with a touch of salt.   Serve well drained with black pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.  A small bunch can also be added to soups and stews and even stir fries.   This herb has a pleasant taste and is full of minerals and vitamins.

 A cup of blackjack tea with a slice of lemon is delicious.   

      

     A Cup of Blackjack tea.


Medicinal Uses:

 It is believed that a cup tea made from fresh blackjack leaves helps with sore throats, chesty coughs, mucus, aching joints and chronic diarrhoea.  

Poultices over sprains can be made from the leaves softened in hot water and form part of the farm workers first aid kit.   Tests have verified the effectiveness of this.

Eczema, psoriasis, rashes, itchy skin, hepatitis, bladder and kidney ailments all benefit from blackjack tea.  Tea should be cooled and then splashed onto the skin and can at the same time,  be taken as a drink. 

 Tea Recipe:

Use half a cup of crushed young fresh blackjack leaves, stems and roots.   ( you should not use mature plants with flowers and seeds)

Stir well and leave the tea to brew for about 15 minutes.    Strain and then sip. 

Highly recommended for clearing chests and for acute conditions like malaria, flu and bronchitis.  

Drink two to three cups as day.  Morning, noon and night for 3 to 4 days.  

Children can drink half the dose. 

 


 

Use as a warm soothing wash for insect bites and haemorrhoids and even vaginal infections. 

Blackjack is known to help clear uric acid from the body, relieve sunburn, and help with tick bites.

 For Animals:

 A blackjack wash can be used on dogs for ticks, and other itches and rashes.  

 Interestingly, a blackjack drench helps tick infested cattle.   Wash and boil the blackjack plants (roots included).  Add some leaves and flowers from the Artemesia Afra in a large drum for 40 minutes.   (half water and half plant matter).   Cool to a warm temperature then rub this over the cattle weekly.   This has been relied on by farmers for decades and tested very effective. 

For the Garden: 

Make a garden spray to get rid of bugs and pests.   Use unfragranced bubble base or Castile soap  (2 parts)  and Blackjack Brew ( as for the cattle but made in a smaller amount) .  

1 litre Bubble base and 500 ml Blackjack brew.   Then add 10 drops of pine essential oil.  

Makes an excellent spray for most garden pets. 

 


 

For your First Aid Kit :  Blackjack Healing Cream

 2 cups young blackjack plants, roots included.   Wash these well. 

1 generous cup of aqueous cream base

2 tsp Vitamin E oil

2 tsp Tea Tree Essential oil. 


Simmer the blackjack and cream base in a double boiler for 30 minutes.  Press the leaves down frequently to release the juice.  Cool, strain and add the vitamin E and the Essential oil.    Mix well.  

Store in a jar.  

 

 



You will find this prolific weed in most gardens and also growing wild in the fields.  This has prickly black needles that stick to everything and this spreads rapidly especially on disturbed land.  Blackjack mostly self seed.  You can dry the whole plant for winter use and use this for teas and washes.   


Will the Blackjack be one of the new natural antibiotics we so badly need ?    As a useful herb today 

this cannot be ignored as a very important NEW HERB of the future. 


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