Natural Herbal Remedies
Comfrey is a powerful healer. It contains compounds and minerals, such as silica and allantoin, which greatly accelerate the healing process. It is one of the few herbs which is thought to contain Vitamin B12. (see Heinerman ‘Miracle Healing Herbs’)
The silica in Comfrey can promote hair growth, and aid bone and teeth development. Mineral-rich Comfrey has also been used in some natural treatments for cancer and other diseases.
Using Comfrey in salves can aid the healing of many skin troubles, such as cuts, scrapes, and bruises. It may even be just the thing for uncomplicated cases of eczema due to allergic reaction to household cleaners and detergents.
Comfrey is not only good for the skin: It can help to heal bone fractures as well, hence its well-known names, Knitbone, or Stitchwort. Comfrey has been used to help knit bones together since ancient times.
Comfrey salves or compounds might also be found useful in cases of arthritis, when the joints have become inflamed and sore.
This first home made remedy uses Comfrey, Plantain, Calendula, Rosemary and Lavender as its base herbs. If you can find some Yarrow flowers to dry, then you could use those as well.
All these herbs have antiseptic qualities, and when they are used together, they become very effective indeed.
The second recipe uses just three herbs and no beeswax.
You need to find some of the old traditional type of Comfrey if you want your ointment to have the maximum healing benefits. Traditional Comfrey, Symphytum officinale, contains allantoin, which is a cell-proliferant. Modern types of Comfrey have been bred to eliminate allantoin, and some are self-sterile. These hybridized plants do not have such good healing effects as the old-fashioned Symphytum officinale, with its allantoin and high potassium phosphorous content.
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Recipe Number One
Comfrey Salve Or Ointment
Make sure all your herbs are dried before using. If they are used fresh, your resulting ointment will not keep so well.
You will need:
Two and a half cups of olive oil
1 tablespoonful of dried lavender flowers
1 tablespoonful of dried yarrow flowers
1 tablespoonful of dried calendula or marigold flowers.
1 tablespoonful of dried self-heal flowers and leaf. This is optional, but worth putting in if you have it. Leave out if you cannot find any to use. This is a wee purple flower which grows in lawns and around the garden. Self-heal is also known as prunella vulgaris.
2 tablespoonfuls of dried plaintain leaf. Use the smaller leafed variety of plaintain which grows in lawns, known as ribbed plaintain.
2 tablespoonsful of dried comfrey leaf
2 tablespoonsful of dried rosemary leaf
3/4 cup of beeswax, to add at the very end of the process, after the herbs have been infused in the oil.
Method: Put all your herbs into a screwtop jar, big enough to hold the oil. Use a little more oil if necessary, enough to cover the herbs completely.
Infuse in a warm sunny spot for 21 days, shaking a little every day.
After 21 days is up, drain off the oil. Put your infused oil into the top of a double boiler. Alternatively, you could use a bowl sitting over a slightly smaller size saucepan, with boiling water in the lower saucepan.
Heat up the oil in the double boiler for 10 minutes.
Now add the beeswax to the hot oil. Stir until the beeswax has thoroughly dissolved. Take off the bowl which now has the melted beeswax in it. Whip all together thoroughly, stirring as the mixture cools. Pour into sterile jars. Wait until the salve mixture has cooled down completely, then screw on the lids.
Store in a cool place.
Recipe Number Two
Comfrey And Honey Compound
Mix 1/2 a cup of olive oil with an equal amount of raw honey.
Into this mix three tablespoons of powdered comfrey herb, two tablespoons of powdered calendula flowers and one tablespoonful of either dried self-heal or plaintain leaf. You could use both these if you have them.
Put into an airtight jar and use as needed for sore joints, and skin abrasions.
Store in a cool place.