Herbal salves are easy and fun to make. To make a salve herbs are steeped in an oil base for 2 weeks and than solidified with bees wax. This is a recipe for a basic Comfrey salve.
½ cup of grated comfrey root
½ cup of finely chopped plantain leaves
1 quart of olive oil
2 cups of grated bees wax
Oil from 2 vitamin E capsules (acts as a preservative)
Place the comfrey root and plantain leaves in separate jars. Pour half the oil over each so the oil covers the top of the herbs. Squeeze the oil of one vitamin E capsule into each jar. Stir them well and place the jars out of direct light for 2 weeks.
Strain the liquid through cheesecloth into a saucepan. Add the grated bees wax and heat very slowly stirring constantly, until the beeswax is melted. Pour the mixture into clean glass jars. Small jam jars work well. Allow the mixture to cool – the slave should be creamy but not solid.
This salve works well for healing all types of skin wounds, chapped hands and dry skin. It’s also safe for pets. Salves do not need to be an exact recipe. You can mix your herbs and try other types of oils. Almond oil is expensive but makes a wonderful salve. Some other good herbs to try are Calendula, Echinacea, St. Johnswort (useful for burns), Lavender, Rosemary, Chamomile, Thyme, Clover and Pansy or viola leaves. Herbs are best used dry or partially dried when mixing with oil. The extra moisture in fresh herbs can cause mold during the steeping process.
Herbal Salves
Might try this and see how it works.
Thank you for posting such a thorough recipe. I will definitely try this.....
Whoa, Poppysue, surely there's a typo in there.
Basic approach is 2 tbls of wax per cup of infused oil. Two cups of wax to a quart would be a 1/2 cup of wax per cup of infusion. Granted, in the summer you add a bit more wax to make the salve harder, but that seems a little excessive.
The Vitamin E, btw, acts as a skin toner and conditioner as well as a preservative.
One other point for those new to herbal remedies. If you use the cold infusion method advised by Poppysue, and use fresh herbs, it is imperative that you assure they stay fully submerged in the oil. If not, there is a distinct danger of mold forming.
That's one of the reasons hot infusing is a preferred method. Another benefit is that it evaporates the water content of the fresh herbs.
poppysue where do i find the recipe for your cold infusion brook memtioned.
Actually Brook - I got this recipe from a book called 'Maine Farm' and that's measurements they gave for it. Thumbing through the book I spotted the recipe and thought it would be nice to share it. It's been a long time since I've made any salves. Since the recipe calls for grated bees wax - I suppose how fine the grate is would make a big difference. I never had an easy time with grating wax. I melt it down and pour into ice cube trays so it's easier to use. I don't usually measure when making a salve either. I add wax a little at time until I think it's a good consistency. You can test it by dropping spoonfuls onto a cold plate. If it's too soft add more wax a little at a time. I always went by a 1:4 ratio - 1 cup of oil to 1/4 cup of wax.
jfc - this recipe is a cold infusion. The herbs are infused in cold oil for a couple of weeks. For a warm infusion you'd warm the oil to a very low temp and steep the herbs for a couple hours. You don't want to cook them so it's important to keep the temp very low. And Brook is right - a warm infusion is best with fresh herbs to prevent molding - although I've only had one batch get moldy on me. I think that was with calendula flowers - they are best used dry.
Brook - do you have any favorite herb combos you use?
How many do you want, Poppysue?
My stock list---that is, the ones I regularly have on hand for customers, includes:
Basic Balm---a mixture of six herbs that serves as a general purpose body lotion and skin medication. It softens and conditions skin; heals minor cuts, scrapes and abrasions; and is good for removing make-up and as a treatment for cold sores and yeast infections. Friend Wife uses this as her only body lotion.
Comfrey Cream and Calendula Cream, which are first aid products.
Bugs Away Balm, which is an insect repellent.
Some of my other standard herbal products are various tinctures and teas, each formulated for a specific function.
Non-stock items are unlimited. That is, I will formulate whatever remedy it takes to solve the problem at hand.
Brook... you sell them? I didn't know. Now I'm full of questions. What do you use for your insect repellent? Will it repel black flies?? Lol. How bout poison ivy? I'm kinda of curious if jewel weed really does work on poison ivy. How about the creams or lotions ... are they a basic salve or do you add other ingredients to make it creamy?
No reason you should know that I sell them. I only got into that because people kept telling me I needed to sell some of my remedies. I had always just given them away. Then I costed out what they cost me to make. So now I sell them. But I don't overcharge for them, the way many herbal sites do. Nor do I expect to get rich selling herbal remedies, either.
In order:
Insect repellent: Active ingredients come from pennyroyal and citronella oil. Will it repel black flies? I don't think _anything_ repels them. They eat DEET for a snack. Only thing I can say is to try it and see what happens. Most stinging/biting insects are repelled by pennyroyal. You might also try wearing sprigs of Sweet Annie.
I don't know about jewelweed firsthand. It's supposed to work. I'm immune to it, so haven't worried much. If you do get infected, try a warm bath or shower with an oatmeal sachet. My wife contracted it last year, and that fixed her right up.
The basic balm has glycerine added to make it smoother. The others are just regular salves, because they aren't used on the regular basis that the basic balm is. I also up the Vitamin E quantity in the basic balm for the same reason. It contributes greatly as a skin conditioner.
I think I'll pass on wearing the sweet annie... my friends already think I'm crazy - don't want to add more fuel to the fire! I've also read that sweet fern will repel biting insects. Just crush the leaves and rub them on your skin. I've used it a few times with good results.
Do you have any favorite books you use for your herbal remedies?
If I had to choose just one there's no doubt it would be Rico Chech's "Making Plant Medicine." It's available from Horizon Herbs (which he owns, btw) at www.chatlink.com/~herbseed.
On insect repellency, keep in mind that many herbal and folk cures work in conjunction with a person's body chemistry. So what works for you might not work for the next person because of that. You have to keep trying various things until you find the one that works.
To a certain degree, that's true about most herbal remedies.