You can eat Comfry!!!

[Claire72]

My friend has lent me an old book of hers called 'A country harvest' by Pamela Micheal, and it gives recipes for foods, medicines or balms from common garden 'weeds' some great sounding nettle soups, dandelions etc.
For Comfry soup you need 2 handfuls of comfrey leaves, 1 medium onion, 1 oz butter, 1/2 tablespoon plain flour, and 1 1/2 pints of chicken stock.
soak leaves for 10-15 minutes then wash thoroughly, pick away stalks and mid-rib from the larger leaves. peel and slice the onionheat butter in a saucepan and fry the onion until soft and yellow, stir in the flour, then gradually add the stock and stir while it thickens smoothly. Add comfrey leaves, season with salt and pepper, cover and simmer for 30 mins. Rub soup through a medium sieve, or food mill, return to the pan to reheat and check the seasoning.

Might try that!

[lynda66]

i was reading in a herb book yesterday, that comfrey can cause cancer .... haven't seen this anywhere else ......

[Two_Sheds]

comfrey can cause cancer .. (

Comfrey contains a compound Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids (PA). Internal usage of comfrey should be avoided because it contains PAs. Use of comfrey can lead to veno-occlusive disease and in turn lead to liver failure, and comfrey, taken in extreme amounts, has been implicated in at least one death.

Excessive doses of Symphytine, one of the PAs in comfrey, may cause cancer in rats. This was shown by injection of the pure alkaloid. The whole plant has also been shown to induce precancerous changes in transgenic rats (Wikipedia)

It is not considered safe for internal use due to toxic effects on the liver (American Cancer Society)

[SlugLobber]

Small amounts of Comfrey have minimal risks, but certainly in A Modern Horse Herbal, it advises that it should not be given internally and not used at all on pregnant mares, due to the reasons outlined by Two Sheds. That's enough to make me not want to eat it!

[Nicos]

I'd heard it was carcinogenic too!
All the recipies I've just Googled say young leaves- I wonder if they are less harmful??

Mind you- burnt toast and burned BBQ meat are also supposed to be carcinogenic too

A while ago I got my hands on a 16th Century cookbook and thought I'd give some of the old recipes a go....but they looked very bland, and some of the ingredients were- by today's standards- a bit risky to eat

I think you have to follow your instincts on this one...there are certainly quite a few recipes using comfry to be found on Google.

[Snadger]

I'm not personally bothered by the 'hairiness' of the leaves but I'm suprised I haven't heard of people with allergic reactions to them?

[Claire72]

hmmm, maybe I won't dash out and eat it after all

[zazen999]

Hi
Can you change the title to 'you can't eat comfrey' just in case anyone doesn't get a chance to read the whole thread...once a H&S rep always a H&S rep...sighs at own inane navel gazing...

[bluemoon]

I'm not personally bothered by the 'hairiness' of the leaves but I'm suprised I haven't heard of people with allergic reactions to them?

Sorry, Snadger, but I'm horribly allergic to them, as I am to just about anything with hairy leaves (OH has to harvest the toms) I know that comfrey is implicated in many different problems, but I well remember having to fill out a hazard assessment form every time the lab I worked in started a new procedure. One of the chemicals had a terrifying list of potential hazards as long as your arm.....it was Sodium chloride......since then I've taken such warnings with a pinch of salt. If I weren't so allergic I'd probably risk small amounts of comfrey soup. After all you should see the COSSH form for alcohol!

[SarzWix]

I was under the impression that the Cancer Risk from comfrey was caused by it's promotion of cell replication - as in it promotes the replication of bad cells as well as good ones, so if you have any abnormal cells they can be pushed into becoming cancer cells before the body can expel them. I could be wrong of course! But since there's no way of knowing if there are any abnormal cells in your body, I'd feel safer not eating the comfrey, 'specially as there is a history of cancer in my family!