Herb walks highlight medicinal plants in Milwaukee
Kyle Denton is nearing the end of leading an herb walk along the Milwaukee River in the city’s Riverwest neighborhood when he finally gets to the good stuff: a story of whacking a black eye with nettles five days before his wedding to try and reduce the swelling and color.
Yes, nettles. Those hairy plants us common folk call stinging nettles for the fabulous burning and itching sensation they leave on our skin.
But to an herbalist like Denton, nettles are a “total friend,” useful for removing fluid from the body (think mucus and other spring allergy symptoms); edible when cooked, with 400 times the calcium and potassium as spinach; and useful in a therapy known as urtication, forcing the body to produce an anti-inflammatory response that is helpful in treating everything from sore muscles and arthritis to bruises.
It’s one of a handful of medicinal plants Denton highlighted on his Wild Spring Medicine Herb Hike.
Denton, 37, is an herbalist who owns Tippecanoe Herbs & Apothecary in Walker’s Point with his wife, Serena Marinelli. In warm-weather months he leads walks through the city’s wild spaces to teach people about the power of the natural plants in their backyard.
The hikes are part lesson, part storytelling and part tasting session.
“My favorite thing about my business is teaching,” said Denton, who grew up in the Superior area.
“I wasn’t really a hardcore forager when I was growing up, but I was always into the wild spaces and appreciating them,” he said.
A week before the medicine herb hike, the wild space we were walking on had been covered with four inches of snow, forcing him to reschedule the hike. But now the forest was clear of white stuff and shots of green peppered the brown, leafy ground. Where others might breeze past the little green growths, waiting for the big-leafed trees or flashy flowers to bloom, Denton saw a wealth of salad fixings, tinctures and decongestants.
Among them was one of the trendiest foraged foods: ramps.
The hip plant is popular on restaurant menus, but
here it was, growing inconspicuously on a wooded hillside in the city.
Denton picked a leaf off the tulip-looking plant and passed it around for us to try. Also known as wild leeks, ramps look like scallions and have a similar garlicky, onion flavor — a tasty addition to a theoretical salad we’d been building on this foraging hike.
“Do animals eat them?” someone from the back of the group shouted.
“Yes, especially the really cool, hip animals,” Denton replied, a poke at the trendiness of the plant.
Ramps, he said, are not only tasty, but are also good for coughs, specifically wet coughs, and clearing sinuses.
Ramps also offer a lesson in foraging, Denton said. Because they’re so popular, they are sometimes overharvested and give foraging a bad reputation.
“There’s a lot of backlash about foraging ramps,” he said. “It’s a really interesting plant, it’s the time of year that people get excited about going outside again, and it’s one of the first things you can learn. It’s easy to identify, and they’re delicious.”
Because the plants take five to seven years to reach maturity and generate seeds, some argue they shouldn’t be foraged. Denton argues for using discernment: See if the stand has already been picked over before harvesting, take only one leaf from a plant, and if you are going to take the whole ramp, cut off and replant the bottom of the bulb so it can regrow
Another lesson ramps teach is that you should be certain you know what you’re foraging. Before they flower, ramps look similar to the poisonous lily of the valley. The easiest way to identify a ramp is by picking a leaf, rubbing it between your fingers and smelling the distinctive onion odor.
Earlier in our hike, we munched on daylilies — the leaves are “reminiscent of a regular American-tasting salad” and are good for morning sickness, Denton said.
A lone dandelion provided a lesson in the weed’s edible opportunities — wine, cookies — as well as its medicinal uses: cleansing the lymphatic system.
Dandelions can be infused in oil for abhyanga, a type of self-massage in Ayurvedic medicine, a 3,000-year-old medicinal system still practiced in India. Denton studied it at the now-closed Kanyakumari Ayurveda and Yoga Wellness Center in Glendale.
When Denton started leading these herb walks five years ago, he said only three or four people showed up. Two dozen people were on this Sunday afternoon hike, and Kyle Denton talks about bloodroot on an herb walk along the Milwaukee River in Riverwest last weekend. as many had taken part in the two other hikes he led that weekend.
“More and more people are looking for it,” Denton said. “I think there are a whole bunch of reasons. People want to appreciate the wild spaces … but also because there’s more interest in people taking care of themselves and learning ways to do that.”
The increased popularity of his herb walks coincides with a growing interest in other holistic, back-to-nature practices around the country. The number of yoga practitioners grew by 16.3 million from 2012 to 2016, and spending on classes, clothing and accessories increased by $6 billion, according to the Yoga Alliance.
Organic food sales totaled $47 billion in 2016, up 8% from the previous year, according to a survey by the Organic Trade Association.
“I think the tide is bringing up all the ships, including herbalism and an interest in that,” Denton said.
The federal government does not regulate herbal supplements like conventional drugs. Denton’s herbs are labeled with a disclaimer that says they have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, are not intended to treat or prevent disease and that people should conmouth sult their doctors if they have health concerns.
Even setting aside the potential medicinal properties, foraged plants have many tasty edible possibilities.
We finished our hike with the Wisconsin state flower, the violet.
“Violets are my favorite flower to eat. They taste like spring to me,” Denton said, revealing a T-shirt with a drawing of a violet under his flannel.
Early in the season, the sweet violet can be turned into a tasty syrup, great for spritzers and cocktails that will make you the cool kid at the party, Denton said.
But like the other plants we found on our hike, the violet has potential medicinal properties as well. The flower can be used as a remedy for a dry, scratchy throat, Denton said, and he’ll sometimes leave some in his when he’s leading hikes like these to help his voice.
A little violet in the cheek sounds a lot better than stinging nettle in the eye.
More information: Denton’s herb walks usually last about two hours, but do not cover large distances and are not strenuous — they’re more talking than walking. Upcoming hikes include a Summer Solstice Herb Walk at 6 p.m. June 20 at the Rotary Centennial Arboretum, a Seven Bridges Herb Walk at 10 a.m. or 1 p.m. July 15 at Grant Park and an Edible and Medicinal Herb Walk at 6 p.m. July 18 at the Charles Allis Art Museum. Hikes cost $15. Register at canoeherbs.com.
Tippecanoe Herbs, 321 W. National Ave., is open 12-6 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.