Make your own herbal remedies
Learn how to make your own herbal remedies. Choose a remedy from the list below.
Compresses
Creams
Skin creams contain ingredients on oil and on water basis to feed and to enrich the skin.
Thick creams offer protection against the influences of the weather and fluid creams can be used to clean and moisturize the skin. Creams especially have been arranged for the softening of a part of the skin that is irritated or dry.
For use, you must always do an allergy test.
Preparation.
The preparation of a cream is more difficult than of an ointment.
This is because the oil and the water must be mixed carefully.
If this is not done well, the ingredients separate again from each other.
To simplify the mixing, is made use of an agent, mostly this is an emulsifying wax. An example of an emulsifying wax is Cera Cetomagrogol, this is available by the pharmacy.
Quantity and durability.
Because water is in the cream, the durability is short. Make because of that always small quantities. To improve the durability and the quality of the cream, you can add ethereal oil. Keep creams always on a cool place, for instance in the refrigerator.
Method.
Requisites
7 parts infusion/ decoction
2 parts oil
1 part emulsifying wax
ethereal oil
Method
This proportion remains equal, in spite of the quantities that you use.
Bring a pan with water to boil and put the fire lower.
Place in this a smaller pan or scale and pour in that the oil and the infusion, so that this are heated bain marie.
Join the wax all moving to the mixture, until these have been melted totally.
Take now the scale from the pan and place these in a scale with cold water.
It is to be remained stir cools down considerably meanwhile the mixture, separate otherwise the ingredients self of each other. During the cooling down the cream gets thicker.
Join the ethereal oil and stir everything good through each other (join 3 drops ethereal oil to 30 g cream).
Spoon the mixture in glass pots, close it well finished and jot down the name of the cream and the date of preparation. Keep the pots on a cool place.
Example: Soothing cream.
- 7 teaspoons Chickweed infusion
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 1 teaspoon emulsifying wax
- 3 drops ethereal chamomile oil
Chickweed works cooling and calms by itch. Ethereal Chamomile oil works as an anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic and sees to there moreover for that the cream longer maintainable remains and smells well.

Decoctions
To prepare decoctions the strong parts of the plant are used (like bark, roots, stems and berries) because of their medicinal working.
Decoction must be cooked at least for 10 minutes.
Method.
Materials.
- 20 grams of fresh herbs or 40 grams dried herbs
- 8 dl water
Method.
Cut the root or bark of the plant as fine as possible, so that
the boiling water can take up as much compounds from the plant
as possible.
Put the chopped pieces in a pan with cold water and heat
the water until it cooks.
Close the pan and lets the decoction cook for a number of minutes
(at least 10 minutes) on low fire.
Let the decoction cool down and filtrate the fluid (through
a cotton cloth). Let as much fluid as possible to lose a minimum of the medicinal
functioning.
When you want to combine several parts of two different herbs,
for example roots and leaves, put the leaves in, just at the end
of the boiling period.
Decoctions can be kept longer than infusion,
because the fluid is sterilised by cooking.
Example: Drink against stress and nervousness.
- One third decoction of Valerian root
- One third tea
of skullcap
- One third of borage tea
This drink (for adults) is useful in periods of stress.
It will decrease nervousness and reinforce the nerve system.
Herb tea, Infusions or Tisane
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Example: Tea against cold and flu.
A half of quantity Yarrow
A half of quantity elder
A snuff peppermint
This means (for adults) decreased the fever lowers the cold and stimulates the sweating through which the body is cleaned and can heal.
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Medical Oils
Medicinal oil is different than ethereal oil and it is simple and cheap to prepare at home. The oil can be used for massages and can serve as an oil basis for ethereal oils.
Medicinal oil can also be used as an oil basis for creams and ointment.
What oil you can use.
For the making of medicinal oil vegetable oil (sunflower or soy oil) is most suitable. Use olive oil only for cold herb oil.
Durability.
The oil is approximately 1 year maintainable.
Warning.
Be careful with hot oil.
Do never use the oil internal and do not let it come in contact with sensitive membranes, as the eyes.
Cold and warm oil.
There are two ways to make medicinal oil: a cold preparation, by which the oil is heated by the sun, and a warm preparation by which the oil is heated softly on the stove.
Method for Cold oil.
The preparation is simple, but time-consuming.
Begin with the filling of a clean, dry pot with the by you chosen herb.
Pours after that the oil carefully in the pot, so that the herbs are totally covered.
Close the pot well and put this on a warm, sunny spot, for instance on the windowsill or outside in the sun, and let it stand for 2 weeks.
Shake and turn the pot each day.
Sieve the oil then, with help of a cotton cloth (for instance a dishtowel), above a bowl. Take care for it that you already remove the vegetable material. Press the last drops of oil from the herbs, so that these are used as much as possible.
Keep the oil preferably in dark bottles and on a dark place.
Put the name and date of preparation on the bottles.
Method for Warm oil.
Requisites.
100 grams dried herbs or 200 grams fresh herbs
4 dl vegetable oil
Method.
The preparation is something more complicated but ready faster.
First bring a pan with water to boil and put the fire layer.
Place up here a smaller pan or scale.
Do that the vegetable oil and the herbs in and close everything good off with a lid.
The oil and herbs are thus bain marie heated. The oil do never comes in direct contact with the heat source.
After the oil and herbs are well heated, the mixture must minimally 2 hour remain stand so that it can cool down. Then the oil is filtered in a clean bowl by a cloth or filter.
Remove now the used herb and repeat the whole process with fresh herbs, so that the oil is two times as powerful.
Put the oil preferably in a dark, glass pots and keep these on a dark place.
Put the name of the oil and the date of preparation on the bottles.
Example: Calming oil.
- Saint John's Wort flowers.
- Vegetable oil.
The flowers of Saint John's wort are yellow, but when the oil from the plant is filtered with the vegetable oil, the colour changed into deep red.
This oil is suitable for massaging of tensed or painful parts of the body, for instance by strained muscles or neuralgia (nerve pain).
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Medical wines
Wine is used from way back as a medicine. The easiest way to make medicinal wine is to buy wine (by preference biological), to which you add your herbs.
For red wine is said that it has a salutary effect on the heart, while white grapes would be good for the immune system, because these clear unwanted harmful compounds.
Method.
Requisites.
100 g dried herbs
1 litre red or white wine
Method.
Put the herbs in a glass pot and add the wine to it. Close the pot well and let it stand for minimal 2 weeks. After that the liquid can be filtered and bottled. You can use the herbal wine to your need.
Example I: Means for a being stuck cough.
100 g dried Greek elecampane root (or 200 g fresh Greek elecampane root)
1 litre white wine
This tonic wine helps by continuous, being stuck cough, because it works slime dissolving and it calms inflamed tissue.
Example II: Iron rich recipe.
50 g dried stinging nettle
50 g chopped apricots
1 litre red wine
This wine can be used as a tonic by anaemia, when languor and tiredness is present and also by dry eczema.
Ointments
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Example: Ointment for cuts and excoriations.
2 dl medicinal Marigold oil
(for method see medicinal oil)
25 g beeswax
2 drops ethereal lavender oil
This ointment combines the anti-bacterial properties of Marigold with the astringent and anti-inflammatory properties of lavender.
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Example: Recipe syrup against cough (on tea basis).
2 dl thyme infusion
200 g rough sugar
Thyme works antiseptic and slime dissolving and helps about that quite good by cough and throat pain.
This means is also well arranged for children.
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Example: Tincture against insomnia.
100 g real chamomile.
2.5 dl vodka.
7.5 dl water.
This tincture is very arranged as a means against insomnia.
Approximately 20 minutes before you go to bed take in 5 ml (1 teaspoon).
If this does not work, then take in again 5 ml.
You may take in at most 15 ml per night.
The next evening you can begin with for instance 10 ml, until you find the ideal quantity for you.
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Vinegars
Wound pastes
[1]. Britton, Jade & Kircher, Tamara; - Herbal Remedies - First edition; Marshall Editions (1998). ISBN 1840280719
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