BESTSELLING HERBAL PRODUCTS IN THE U.S. 2011

BESTSELLING HERBAL PRODUCTS IN THE U.S. 2011
herbalist , healthy , environment

Best-Selling Herbal Dietary Supplements in the Food, Drug, and Mass Market Retail Channels.* Courtesy of Information Resources, Inc., Chicago, IL. All data based on sales for a one year period. Excludes Wal-Mart stores, or sales from other market channels: health and natural food stores, mail order, MLM companies, health professionals, warehouse buying clubs, and convenience stores.

The biggest growth based on these figures is in combination herb products for which the 29.1% increase resulted in over $52 Billion in annual sales.

Herb/Rank

1. Garlic

2. Echinacea

3. Saw Palmetto

4. Ginkgo

5. Soy

6. Cranberry

7. Ginseng†

8. Black Cohosh

9. St. John's wort

10. Milk thistle

11. Evening primrose

12. Valerian

13. Green tea

14. Bilberry

15. Grape seed

16. Horny goat weed

17. Yohimbe

18. Horse Chestnut

19. Eleuthero

20. Ginger

Multi-Herbs ‡

All other herbs

Total Herb Supplements Amount of Sales

$27,013,420

$23,782,640

$20,334,030

$19,334,010

$17,419,530

$13,445,670

$12,165,220

$11,984,960

$9,087,829 $7,775,529 $6,088,103

$3,449,297 $2,794,783

$2,341,301

$2,330,281

$2,203,555

$1,835,313

$1,564,550

$992,286

$814,789

$52,049,290 $11,841,120

$257,514,900 % Change

-11.2

-14.9

-10.5

-12.9

-26.6

6.8

-10.2

-22.3

-12.5

0.8

-3.6

-9.2

22.1

-17.6

-11.9

-12.2

-21.9

-35.8

-64.4

-13.8

29.1

-7.5

-7.4

† May include Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng) and American ginseng (P. quinquefolius)

‡ Multi-herbs refers to combination formulations containing more than one herb.

Compare with earlier period reports:

According to Karch, the following were the 30 top selling medicinal plant species in the United States, in order of importance related to annual sales:

Echinacea

St. John’s Wort

Ginkgo biloba

Garlic

Saw Palmetto

Ginseng (Korean)

Goldenseal

Aloe

Eleuthero (“Siberian Ginseng”)

Valerian

Cranberry

Milk Thistle

Cat’s Claw (Uña de Gato, Uncaria tomentosa )

Grape seed extract

Bilberry

Cascara Sagrada

Cayenne pepper (Chile)

Dong Quai (“Chinese Angelica”)

Psyllium seed

Ma Huang (Chinese Ephedra)

Feverfew

Kava kava

Green tea

Ginger Pine bark extract (pycnogenol)

Atragalus (“Chinese Tragacanth”)

Primrose

Yohimbine

Chamomile (“Roman” and “German”)

Pau D’ Arco

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Lavender Harvest

Lavender Harvest 

I've been cutting the Munstead Lavender daily for about a week, and putting in bunches for market. That is almost done, and the buds that are left have mostly flowered.
In the meantime the Grosso Lavender was getting close to being ready and today one of the plants needed a good haircut. The others have a few days to go. Strange too, because this one was in the middle of the row. The two varieties side by side:

The Munstead is really beautiful, and until you see it next to the Grosso, it doesn't look like such a pipsqueak. These in the picture are about 8" long. The bunches that went to market looked nice wrapped in white tissue cones. For a deep purple flower with a nice scent, Munstead can't be beat in our zone (5b).

The Grosso stems are well over a foot long with spikes over 3" on some. They will be left to wilt today, and then Maryanne and I will spend the evening on the back deck weaving wands. I stocked up on ribbon last week when I found it on sale.
After working all week with the Munstead, I almost waited to long for the Grosso. You can see that some of the buds have flowered. It is just so pale that it can be deceiving.
The other plants will be ready within the next week or two. By the time we've plowed through one or two plants' worth of wands, we'll be ready to toss some into the still just to do something OTHER than weaving with it. This will be the first year there will be enough for that, and I can't wait!

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