Althaea officinalis<\/em>) is a native prairie plant we grow for its leaves and its roots. It resides in the malvaceae family and is related to some pretty showy plants, such as the hollyhock, chocolate and the hibiscus. On a farm, you often come across more mallow than you might realize. In weedy form you are likely to encounter a plant folks call \u201ccheese\u201d because of its seed pods that resemble little cheeses. These little pests in particular have leaves that are good eating. Really, most members of the mallow family are edible.<\/p>\nHealthy Benefits of Marshmallow<\/h2>\n
A big feature of the marshmallow plant is its high mucilaginous content. On every farm tour, I ask everyone to pet a leaf from this plant. It is like farming velour. The leaves are thick, plush and soft. Just touching one you are soothed. Internally, they are equally soothing, addressing a whole host of issues in the digestive, respiratory and urinary tracts.<\/p>\n
The root of the marshmallow has even more for us than the leaves. This is where the plant stores its deep nutrition. It is a good source of iron, magnesium, selenium, chromium and vitamin C. Marshmallow is approved by the Commission E of Germany for treating inflammation in the stomach, mouth and throat, and it is traditionally used to prevent a urinary tract infection. I tend to use it in most any cough or congestion formula. It is my go-to when working with someone dealing with any open lesions throughout the digestive tract. In that case, I recommend marshmallow root powder stirred into a morning cup of oatmeal to calm irritation.<\/p>\n
Many herbalists argue over the best way to harness everything that the marshmallow has to offer. Some prefer to make it with a cold infusion to get the most of the mucilaginous content. This would also preserve the vitamin C. I don\u2019t mind using warm water to make a tea or syrup, but I typically avoid boiling water.<\/p>\n
Harvesting the Plant<\/h2>\n
We plan to relocate probably close to 100 plants of marshmallow out of our labyrinth. My husband has rightly pointed out that it’s a bit rangy and can look more weedy than tidy. It is, after all, a prairie plant. So we will dig these plants and move them to a more naturalized area of the farm. We plan to replace them with something more neat and tidy for next year. It\u2019s a good time to do this, because I will first cut the tops out of the marshmallow so that only about a foot of growth remains above the soil line. Our plants will need to continue their photosynthesis to store as much food as possible ahead of winter. By cutting everything back I can dry quite a lot of leaves. I will have more plants than I need for the new areas, so I’ll simply harvest many of the plants for their roots.<\/p>\n
To harvest the roots of marshmallow, I\u2019ll loosen the soil with a broad fork rather than a shovel, Whatever roots I leave will sprout new marshmallow next year and fight with the new plants. A shovel can cut roots off too easily. I\u2019ll wash my roots up well and slice them like I would a carrot so that they will dry more easily.<\/p>\n
This winter, when my community is suffering with the inevitable rounds of cold and flu, I\u2019ll be ready with a fresh batch of marshmallow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The leaves as well as roots of the marshmallow, a prairie plant, are used in remedies for digestive, respiratory and urinary tract problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":207,"featured_media":65178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[10326],"class_list":["post-65143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crops-gardening","tag-the-prescription-gardener"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Meet the Marshmallow, a Soft, Plush, Rangy Herbal Helper - Hobby Farms<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The leaves as well as roots of the marshmallow, a prairie plant, are used in remedies for digestive, respiratory and urinary tract problems.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet the Marshmallow, a Soft, Plush, Rangy Herbal Helper\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The leaves as well as roots of the marshmallow, a prairie plant, are used in remedies for digestive, respiratory and urinary tract problems.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hobby Farms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hobbyfarms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dawn.garman.combs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-12T10:00:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-03T08:38:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/10234949\/marshmallow-268829627.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"462\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dawn Combs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mockingmeadows\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@hobbyfarms\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dawn Combs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dawn Combs\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e71ccd81d2adfc71715ae3531dfadeeb\"},\"headline\":\"Meet the Marshmallow, a Soft, Plush, Rangy Herbal Helper\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-12T10:00:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-03T08:38:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/\"},\"wordCount\":651,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/10234949\/marshmallow-268829627.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Prescription Gardener\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Crops & Gardening\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/\",\"name\":\"Meet the Marshmallow, a Soft, Plush, Rangy Herbal Helper - Hobby Farms\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/10234949\/marshmallow-268829627.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-12T10:00:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-03T08:38:19+00:00\",\"description\":\"The leaves as well as roots of the marshmallow, a prairie plant, are used in remedies for digestive, respiratory and urinary tract problems.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/10234949\/marshmallow-268829627.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/10234949\/marshmallow-268829627.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":462,\"caption\":\"Shutterstock\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Meet the Marshmallow, a Soft, Plush, Rangy Herbal Helper\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/\",\"name\":\"Hobby Farms\",\"description\":\"Rural Living for Pleasure and Profit\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Hobby Farms\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/00GPSuRp-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/00GPSuRp-logo.png\",\"width\":586,\"height\":68,\"caption\":\"Hobby Farms\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hobbyfarms\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/hobbyfarms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e71ccd81d2adfc71715ae3531dfadeeb\",\"name\":\"Dawn Combs\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/dawn-combs-200-200-100x100.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/dawn-combs-200-200-100x100.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Dawn Combs\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Dawn Combs, M.A., Certified Herbalist, is an Ethnobotanist and functional foods expert. She is the best-selling author of the books Sweet Remedies, Heal Local and Concevieing Healty Babies. A professional speaker, educator, wellness coach and frequent contributor for several magazines, she is best known for her expertise in using honey and plant-based sugars as a medium for medicine-making and for empowering people in their innate wisdom to be well using local food medicine. The Combs family homestead on the internationally renowned Soda Farm, a United Plant Savers (UpS) botanical sanctuary, and teaching facility. Dawn and her family model how to grow personal health with a strong community focus, practical solutions, foods and remedies through her online membership forum, apprenticeship and her unique line of healthy soda supplements.\\\"\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.SodaFarm.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dawn.garman.combs\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dawncombsauthor\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/mockingmeadows\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/DawnCombs\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/author\/dawn-combs\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Meet the Marshmallow, a Soft, Plush, Rangy Herbal Helper - Hobby Farms","description":"The leaves as well as roots of the marshmallow, a prairie plant, are used in remedies for digestive, respiratory and urinary tract problems.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Meet the Marshmallow, a Soft, Plush, Rangy Herbal Helper","og_description":"The leaves as well as roots of the marshmallow, a prairie plant, are used in remedies for digestive, respiratory and urinary tract problems.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/","og_site_name":"Hobby Farms","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hobbyfarms","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dawn.garman.combs\/","article_published_time":"2019-09-12T10:00:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-11-03T08:38:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":462,"url":"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/10234949\/marshmallow-268829627.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dawn Combs","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@mockingmeadows","twitter_site":"@hobbyfarms","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dawn Combs","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/"},"author":{"name":"Dawn Combs","@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e71ccd81d2adfc71715ae3531dfadeeb"},"headline":"Meet the Marshmallow, a Soft, Plush, Rangy Herbal Helper","datePublished":"2019-09-12T10:00:25+00:00","dateModified":"2020-11-03T08:38:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/"},"wordCount":651,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/10234949\/marshmallow-268829627.jpg","keywords":["The Prescription Gardener"],"articleSection":["Crops & Gardening"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/","url":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/","name":"Meet the Marshmallow, a Soft, Plush, Rangy Herbal Helper - Hobby Farms","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/10234949\/marshmallow-268829627.jpg","datePublished":"2019-09-12T10:00:25+00:00","dateModified":"2020-11-03T08:38:19+00:00","description":"The leaves as well as roots of the marshmallow, a prairie plant, are used in remedies for digestive, respiratory and urinary tract problems.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/10234949\/marshmallow-268829627.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/10234949\/marshmallow-268829627.jpg","width":800,"height":462,"caption":"Shutterstock"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/marshmallow-herbs-remedies\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Meet the Marshmallow, a Soft, Plush, Rangy Herbal Helper"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/","name":"Hobby Farms","description":"Rural Living for Pleasure and Profit","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#organization","name":"Hobby Farms","url":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/00GPSuRp-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/00GPSuRp-logo.png","width":586,"height":68,"caption":"Hobby Farms"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hobbyfarms","https:\/\/x.com\/hobbyfarms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e71ccd81d2adfc71715ae3531dfadeeb","name":"Dawn Combs","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/dawn-combs-200-200-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/dawn-combs-200-200-100x100.jpg","caption":"Dawn Combs"},"description":"\"Dawn Combs, M.A., Certified Herbalist, is an Ethnobotanist and functional foods expert. She is the best-selling author of the books Sweet Remedies, Heal Local and Concevieing Healty Babies. A professional speaker, educator, wellness coach and frequent contributor for several magazines, she is best known for her expertise in using honey and plant-based sugars as a medium for medicine-making and for empowering people in their innate wisdom to be well using local food medicine. The Combs family homestead on the internationally renowned Soda Farm, a United Plant Savers (UpS) botanical sanctuary, and teaching facility. Dawn and her family model how to grow personal health with a strong community focus, practical solutions, foods and remedies through her online membership forum, apprenticeship and her unique line of healthy soda supplements.\"","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.SodaFarm.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dawn.garman.combs\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dawncombsauthor\/","https:\/\/x.com\/mockingmeadows","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/DawnCombs"],"url":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/author\/dawn-combs\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65143"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65179,"href":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65143\/revisions\/65179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}