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Herbs & Cultures

Herbal home remedies: tea, honey, tincture and salve

Calendula and amaranth wound salve

A herbal salve for small grazes.

Used for

Time
3 hours
Makes
About 300 ml
Pot marigold (calendula)

Calendula, plantain and amaranth steep gently in oil for a few hours; beeswax turns it into a salve. Only for small, clean wounds.

Ingredients

  • 2 parts calendula
  • 1 part plantain leaf
  • 1 part amaranth
  • 235 ml oil (preferably sesame oil)
  • 55 g beeswax

Step by step

  1. Melt the oil and beeswax in a bain-marie (for the beauty salve also the shea butter).
  2. Stir in the herbs and let them steep over low heat for a few hours. Watch the water in the bottom pan; it evaporates quickly.
  3. Remove from the heat and pour through cheesecloth or muslin into a clean bowl. Press the herbs well with a spatula and wring out the cloth.
  4. Pour into a clean jar with a lid, label with the date and let it cool and set before use.
  5. Apply to cuts and grazes as needed.

Registry

Herbs in this recipe

Read more about effects and safety on each herb’s page.

  • Caution

    Europe · Herb · № 49

    Pot marigold (calendula)

    Calendula officinalis

    An edible flower historically used as medicine and dye. Its oil is widely used in skin products.

    Monastic and folk knowledge+2Folklore
  • Caution

    Europe · Herb · № 86

    Greater plantain

    Plantago major

    The leaf is traditionally bruised and applied to insect bites, small wounds and grazes, and taken as tea for coughs. Clinical evidence is limited.

    Monastic and folk knowledge+9Folklore
  • Caution

    Central America and the Caribbean · Herb · № 374

    Amaranth

    Amaranthus spp.

    Traditionally attributed effects: flowers, leaf and root strongly antiseptic; wound healing.

    Folk magic and herbal magicFolklore
  • Caution

    Africa · Food · № 356

    Sesame

    Sesamum indicum

    Traditionally attributed effects: soothing, softens the skin, diuretic, promotes menstruation and milk flow, laxative; leaves for respiratory complaints, diarrhoea and dysentery in children, bladder catarrh; seeds for bleeding haemorrhoids, absent or painful menstruation.

    Ancient Egyptian medicine+3Folklore

Cultures and traditions

Where the herbs come from

These traditions know the herbs in this recipe.