Sweet Flag | Kalmoes | Acorus calamus
What is Kalmoes – Kalmoes, is the Dutch name for Sweet Flag (Acorus calamus). Sweet Flag (Acorus calamus) is also known as Kalmoes, Sweet Rush or Sweet Cinnamon although the roots taste like ginger.
Also known as Calamus, Sweet Flag has a spicy fragrance to it with the leaves having lemony overtones. In medieval times the dried stalks were laid on floors to act as a scented mat to walk on. It’s a forager’s treat, as you can eat the raw, partially grown flower stems of Kalmoes. In Spring, the young stalks, with half-grown leaves packed inside them, are sweet and tasty raw in a salad.
Sweet Flag is used by foragers as a spice, to replace cinnamon, ginger or nutmeg. In the Ayurvedic medicine it was used to keep the voice going when reciting the Upanishads. Sweet flag is a native to most Northern latitude countries around the world, widely dispersed around the USA. It is found wild or cultivated in India and Sri Lanka up to 1800 meters.
Read more: Health Benefits of Kalmoes
Sweet Flag (Kalmoes) contains constituents such as alkaloids, flavonoids, gums, lectins, mucilage, phenols, quinone, saponins, sugars, tannins, and triterpenes (steroids).