Homemade Medicinal and Cosmetic Herbal Products
If you are ambitious enough to make your own herbal products, these basic, generic recipes will guide you. The general uses to which these preparations can be put are discussed in previous chapters, where the different types of preparations are explained. To find the recipes suitable to treat a particular condition, look up the specific maladies you wish to treat in the other sections of this book. Your homemade products will cost a fraction of what the same preparations cost in the store, and you can avoid a lot of the unwanted extras, such as preservatives, stabilizers and colorants that are found in many products sold in natural food stores. Manufacturers, for instance, tend to use a lot of fixatives and preservatives, because they are concerned that someone might sue them for a spoiled product. However, many herbs and most essential oils contain their own natural preservatives, and beeswax is a great natural preservative. You probably already have everything necessary to transform your kitchen into an herbal laboratory. In cooking up herbal formulas, be sure to use Pyrex measuring cups and pans made of stainless steel or some other non-reactive material. The proportions can change slightly according to the weight and absorbency of the herbs.
Tincture Formula
1 ounce dried or powdered herbs
5 ounces vodka
Chop herbs finely with a knife or in a blender, then place them in a clean glass jar; do not pack them tightly or the alcohol will not be able to saturate them. Cover herbs with just enough vodka so that they are completely submerged and can slosh around a little. (Vodka contains only alcohol and water. One hundred proof vodka is preferable, but 80 proof vodka will do: the former is 50% alcohol and 50% water; the latter is 40% alcohol and 60% water.) If there seems to be too much or not enough vodka, adjust the amounts as necessary. Put a tight lid on the jar and store for 2 weeks at room temperature. A dark shelf is fine, since tincture does not need light to process. Shake the contents once or twice a day to redistribute the herbs in the alcohol. If you are using powdered herbs, stir them with a spoon every day to keep them from clumping together. After 2 weeks, strain the herb pulp through a coffee filter or fine kitchen strainer. Stored in a cool place, a tincture can last 6 years or longer.
Glycerite Formula
1 ounce herbs
6 ounces glycerin
4 ounces distilled water
Chop herbs finely with a knife or in a blender. Place herbs in a clean glass jar; do not pack them too tightly. Combine glycerin and water; pour this mixture over herbs. Put a tight lid on the jar. Keep at room temperature. Shake the contents every day to redistribute the mixture. After 2 weeks, strain out the herb pulp through a coffee filter or fine kitchen strainer. Stored in a cool place out of direct sunlight, glycerite will last at least 2 years.
Herbal Vinegar Formula
1 ounce fresh or dried herbs
5 ounces vinegar (any kind)
Chop herbs finely with a knife or in a blender. Place herbs in a clean glass jar; do not pack them too tightly. Pour in just enough vinegar to cover herbs (different herbs have different levels of absorbency, so you may need more or less vinegar than indicated above). Put a tight lid on the jar. Keep at room temperature. After 2 weeks, strain out the herb pulp through a coffee filter or kitchen strainer. Your herbal vinegars will last years.
Herbal Syrup
6 tablespoons herbs
1 pint water
4 ounces glycerin
1 ounce rice syrup or fruit syrup (or honey, for children over 2 years old) for sweetener
Bring herbs and water to a boil in a large uncovered saucepan. Remove from heat, cover and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain herbs from resulting tea. Return to heat, allow tea to simmer, then turn off heat. Measure out 1 cup of tea and stir in glycerin and sweetener while the mixture is still warm. Let cool. Stored in a refrigerator, this syrup will last for at least 6 months.
Herbal Pills
1½ teaspoons honey
1 tablespoon powdered herbs
Enough extra powdered herbs to roll pills
Warm honey in a saucepan and add powder bit by bit, stirring as you go. The consistency should resemble thick, sticky dough. Roll into small balls between the palms of your hands or on wax paper spread on a table. (Tack or otherwise hold down wax paper.) Let dry about 30 minutes, then roll in more powdered herbs so that the outside is not so sticky. This makes a soft pill that can last a year or more.
Body Oil
2 ounces dried herbs
1 pint vegetable oil
Chop herbs very fine, place in a container and pour in just enough vegetable oil to cover. (Use more or less oil as needed.) Stir to release trapped air bubbles. (Avoid using powdered herbs; they absorb oil like a sponge and clog the strainer. If powdered herbs are all you have, stir the powder every day to keep it from clumping together.) Heat herbs and oil for about 5 hours at about 80°F. You can use a double boiler on the stove top, or an oven, electric turkey cooker or slow cooker set on the lowest temperature. (If the setting on your appliance is not low enough, turn it on and off and monitor the temperature.) Or you can put the herb-oil mixture outside on a hot day; the temperature of the oil in the jar will be about 10 degrees cooler than the surrounding air. This will take 2 to 3 days, unless the air temperature is in the 90s. When done, strain out the herbs with a fine kitchen strainer, pressing out the oil with the back of a spoon. If any herb particles come through the strainer, re-strain the oil through a coffee filter. (These fine pieces will irritate skin when the oil is rubbed over it.) Stored in a cool place, herb oil will keep several months; stored in the refrigerator, it will keep even longer.
Body oil can be thickened by adding a natural thickener such as cocoa butter, lanolin or beeswax and then heating the mixture slightly. For every cup of vegetable oil, add ¼ teaspoon cocoa butter, ½ to 2 teaspoons liquid lanolin, or ½ ounce (by weight) beeswax. If the consistency is not exactly what you want, reheat the mixture and add more oil or thickener.
Body oils can also be made with fresh herbs, though this takes a little more care since these oils can easily spoil while you are preparing them. Herbs that contain a lot of water, such as comfrey, are better used in dried form, but some herbs, such as Saint-John's-wort, are far more potent when fresh. If you use fresh herbs, follow the same directions given above for making oils from dried herbs, but take extra care to make sure that they are completely submerged and all air bubbles are stirred out. Because fresh herbs contain a certain amount of water, you may have some water in the bottom of the container when you are done preparing this formula. If so, discard it after you pour the oil off the top, even if it means throwing away the last bit of oil.
Body Oil with Essential Oils
4 ounces vegetable oil
½ teaspoon essential oil
Combine ingredients and it's done!
Healing Salve
1 cup Body Oil (see above)
¾ ounce beeswax (by weight)
8 drops essential oil (optional)
Combine Body Oil and beeswax, and heat mixture just enough to melt the wax. Add essential oil, if using it. Stir, then pour into widemouthed jars. Let cool. Stored at room temperature, this salve will keep for 6 months. If you have difficulty finding beeswax, check the telephone book for a bee supply or crafts store or beekeeper, and ask for pure beeswax.
Herbal Compress
5 drops essential oil
Small bowl of water
Soft cloth
Add essential oil to water. Soak cloth in water and wring out. Fold cloth and apply to afflicted area.
Skin-Healing Poultice
1 handful herbs
4 ounces water
Blend ingredients in blender into a thick slurry. Spread on wound, holding the poultice in place by wrapping gauze around it. Leave poultice on wound for 20 minutes to 1 hour. To store for future emergencies, freeze the poultice in ice-cube trays. Keep cubes in a plastic bag or freezer container. When you need a poultice, thaw out a cube in a pan.
