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Herbal Salve Recipes

Gardening Reference » Gardening in 2004
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by Chrissy on April 17, 2004 06:57 PM
Here are some salve recipes I have been making for a few years & they work great. They were handed down to me by my grandmother. Directions for making salve below the recipes.

Granny's St. John's Wort Salve

1 part St. John's Wort
1 part Comfrey leaf
1 part Calendula flower
1 part Plantain
Beeswax
Vitamin E
Olive Oil

Great all purpose salve. Use for insect bites, itching, wounds, burns and on fungal infections.

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Cough & Cold Chest Rub

30 drops Eucalyptus essential oil
40 drops Camphor essential oil
15 drops Wintergreen essential oil
1 ounce Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon Beeswax

Melt beeswax into the olive oil. Remove from heat and add essential oils. Stir and pour into salve container and label.

Eucalyptus salve is used to relieve respiratory congestion

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Granny's Anti-Itch Salve

2 part Chickweed
1 part Comfrey Leaf
2 part Plantain
Beeswax
Olive oil
Vitamin E

Use this salve to soothe itching caused by rashes & insect bites, and to aid healing of minor skin irritations.

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How to make salves...

If using fresh collected plants, make sure to clean them. Shake them to remove dirt then lay the herbs out to air dry for several hours.

Measure the desired amount of herbs into an into a crock-pot or a double broiler.

Cover with oil. Oil should be about an inch above herbs.

Heat the herbs and oil over low heat for about 3 hours. For roots cook about 5 hours.

Turn off heat & allow to cool. Set up a strainer lined with cheesecloth & pour the oil through to strain. When most oil has filtered through the cheesecloth, pick up the cheesecloth, keeping the herbs enclosed, and squeeze as much oil as possible from the herbs and cloth.

Add beeswax to the oil now and heat it until all the wax is melted. To test to see if your salve is hard enough, put some on a spoon and set it in a cool place for a few minutes. If your salve is too soft, add more beeswax.

If you are using essential oils or Vitamin E you can blend them in now. Finally, pour your salve into containers and label.

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z5b
by Jiffymouse on April 17, 2004 09:59 PM
thanks chrissy, those are great directions. i will have to try that!
by afgreyparrot on April 18, 2004 06:04 AM
I guess all grandmothers went to the same school of salves!!!
Mine used that chest rub all the time.
Nothing else like it!

Thank you SO VERY MUCH for the St.John's Wort salve...since I have a slight problem with getting burned all the time (was I talking about Andy just then?)!

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Buckle up! It makes it harder for the aliens to suck you out of your car!
by apples on April 18, 2004 06:59 AM
Thanks Crissy!
I've been wanting to make that st.john's wort salve for quite a while, I was going to improvize [grin] . It's amasing for burns and cracked fingernails! I sometimes chew my digits to much but st. johns wort salve has them better by the next morning. By parts do you meen by vollume or by mass?

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The answers will come when needed. Otherwise, I'm guesing time will make me feel silly.
by Chrissy on April 18, 2004 07:42 AM
[thinker] hmmm...volume or mass...sounds like a math question & I am brain dead when it comes to math lol [Big Grin] What I mean is use equal measurements for the amount of salve you wish to make. If you only need a little bit, you could use 2 tablespoons of each ingredient where 1 part is called for, 4 tablespoons where 2 parts is called for & so on. For example:

Granny's Anti-Itch Salve

2 part Chickweed (1/2 cup)
1 part Comfrey Leaf (1/4 cup)
2 part Plantain (1/2 cup)
Beeswax
Olive oil
Vitamin E

I hope I haven't confused you:)

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z5b
by apples on April 18, 2004 11:29 AM
Don't worry Crissy, you didn't do it!
If this makes any sense [perplexed] I run into confussion like trees give me oxygen... You can't write a story without a conflict [dunno] At least you can't in my provence's school system. I'm just a bit anilitical sometimes.
I'm guessing that would be mass. How much fits in the same space! I didn't realy think that threw just knew they were different [Big Grin] .
Thanks.

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The answers will come when needed. Otherwise, I'm guesing time will make me feel silly.

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