Source: Garden Guides
Most people consider milk thistle a pesky weed because it can grow tall and thorny, making it hard to even get near. However, it is loaded with medicinal benefits. The U.S. National Cancer Institute reports that milk thistle contains the active ingredient silymarin, which is used to treat liver and gallbladder problems and is an antioxidant that protects the cells against damage. The silymarin from milk thistle is in the seeds, which are used to make extracts or tinctures for medicinal use. If you have milk thistle growing near you, you can harvest your own seeds. You can also cook and eat the leaves and flower heads.
Step 1
Put on heavy gloves and protective clothing.
Step 2
Take your scissors and cut the flower heads when they are young if you wish to eat them. Simply boil or steam them until they are tender.
Step 3
Cut the young leaves from the stalk and steam them as you would spinach. If you simply want to harvest the milk thistle seeds, go on to Step 4.
Step 4
Wait for the seed heads to turn brown.
Step 5
Cut the seed heads off the milk thistle plant and place them in a paper bag. Store it in a cool, dry spot for 48 hours.
Step 6
Lay a window screen on a counter. Take one seed head at a time and carefully brush the seeds out of the head and onto the screen. Remove any debris from the seeds. Place the cleaned seeds in a glass jar or sealed plastic container.
Surviving the Middle Class Crash 
July 12, 2010 at 6:25 pm
Hello friends
This is really great, Barbara thank you! Milk thistle has actually been shown to have some anti-tumor benefits too, and on the Pubmed.gov website where studies are logged, it is mentioned in this capacity. (Note that cancer requires a highly skilled naturopathic physician’s care if herbs are to be used, don’t try this on your own). Milk thistle helps the liver to generate brand new liver tissue, aids in balancing liver function, and is a superb detoxifier (I would recommend using it alongside dandelion, burdock and artichoke leaf for this latter purpose). It also potentiates the uptake of chemotherapy and radiation for cancer patients, and may help with nausea somewhat during chemotherapy by supporting the liver. You should ask your physician prior to using conjunctly in mainstream cancer therapy, as opinions will vary (potentiating the uptake can be a good thing, or not, all things depending). The book “Nutrient, Drug and Herb Interactions” by the drug-herb interaction authority and cancer herbalist Jonathan Treasure, co-authored with two other physicians, does recommend using it jointly in mainstream cancer therapies; the book may be purchased on Amazon’s website (requires medical terminology and physiology knowledge. An excellent resource for physicians, very in-depth by any standard).
Steaming and eating the seeds is a good idea. You can also dry them and make tea. But please also note that tincture will be strongest of all.
To make the tincture, I recommend purchasing and following the instructions in herbalist James Green’s very good book, “The Herbal Medicine Maker’s Handbook, A Home Manual”.
Basically, the seeds are placed in 190-proof alchohol (no water added, the alchohol strength varies for each plant) and left for a few days. The seeds are then pressed in a special press which needs to be purchased for tincture-making, then you add glycerin and cook the contents on a low heat to reduce the contents. Then you strain and cap the product, and store it. There it is! That sort of describes it vaguely, but there are specific instructions which you will need to follow, in the book.
Anyone who is sensitive to either the alchohol or the glycerin can proceed onward, having made the extract, and soak the liquid in nettle leaves as a carrier, then spread them on a sheet in the dehydrator and bake it very slowly until it turns into a wafer. This cooks out the alchohol and the glycerin, each alike and is called a powdered extract (you can blend the stuff in the blender to create the powder and then put it into capsules or just drink as tea). This is very hypo-allergenic, but the potency of the extract is there if you have done everything correctly. Win-win!
Best wishes, Drina
July 13, 2010 at 5:06 pm
PS friends I would actually not add the glycerin for a truly hypoallergenic powdered extract product. –Drina
August 12, 2011 at 12:06 pm
cant I just put the dried seeds threw a blender thenoven then capsules
August 12, 2011 at 12:26 pm
I believe that you can, Jerry: http://www.angelfire.com/il2/purpleflame/Herbs/milkthistle.html
August 12, 2011 at 12:51 pm
I put my seeds in a pepper grinder along with pepper corns. Works great!
November 28, 2011 at 1:59 am
I have been juicing the young leaves, adding honey ,then storing the juice in the fridge. I have been having a shot most mornings but stopped after I had a pain in my lower back left side. I am just seeing that cooking the plant is how most people are preparing milk thistle, can the plant not be taken raw?