There is something soothing about the edelweiss. A gentleness of the leaves and petals, that pastel green with shades of muted silver. It just begs to have you run your fingers over it! So imagine having several basket loads to admire during an edelweiss picking session high up above St Moritz!
According to the family who own the farm and cultivate these special Swiss flowers, the edelweiss has some rather amazing healing properties. This is a typically shy little flower which dates back to the ice age. It can only be found in very remote high altitudes, and it is its adaptive nature which has given it some rather unusual properties. For a start it has twice the antioxidant power of vitamin c and it is a powerful protector of ultra violet radiation. It is also an anti-inflammatory, works wonders for fluid retention and is used for respiratory as well as digestive disorders. In other words it is a wonderful all-rounder – and pretty too!
As friends and neighbours crouched down and picked the little heads, it was a setting reminiscent of days gone by. Certainly less gruelling than my stint at olive picking, although just as romantic!
