Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day. My husband had to work Monday night so we more or less celebrated it on Sunday. I do want to highlight some very wonderful people in my life who served in our armed forces. My Grandfather Bernard Ganong (WWI), my husband’s Grandfather, Ted Mitchell (WWII), my dad, Francis Ganong (Korean War), my husband (peacetime), my daughter and her husband (she is out and he is still serving). Thank you to all of you who have served our Country in peacetime and war. I also want to thank the wives and children of those who have served as their sacrifice gets ignored.
I had another recipe I wanted to share with you, but my plans changed. I need to remember to be very careful when using a mandolin! I had some radishes and wanted to make radish chips. I sliced the heck out of my thumb! I won’t share the gory details. But it was pretty bad. At least there was a lot of blood. The radish chips did not come out good. Soggy chips are pretty gross! What a waste, but it brought up a great subject for this blog.
This accident reminded me of something I have wanted to write about. Comfrey oil. Comfrey oil is made from the Comfrey plant.
The ancient Greeks and Romans used this to heal cuts and stop bleeding. It is now used to heal burns, cuts, insect bites, swelling, bruises, sprains, nerve pain, broken bones and arthritis. It is also said to help stop wrinkles, diminish scars, and stretch marks. It was originally grown in Europe and Asia. It is now grown here in the US.
Please don’t ingest comfrey oil internally or use in very deep wounds as liver cancer can occur. You also want to make sure that your wounds are clean with no sign of infection because this stuff heals your cuts fast! I mean fast. It will cause the skin to grow over the dirt and infection sealing it in.
Now that I have gotten the scary stuff out of the way. I have to say when used correctly this stuff is amazing. I put this on fire ant bites and most of the itch goes away and the bite heals quickly. I was mowing a few months ago and a piece of a tree went deep into my hand between the middle finger and the ring finger. This should have left a terrible scar, but it is a very small, barely noticeable scar now.
The cut on my thumb finally stopped bleeding and I put some comfrey oil on it. The flap of skin is getting smaller and the cut does not bleed even a little now. As long as you don’t eat this stuff or use on deep gashes this will heal and not cause any health issues. I will need to check into the wrinkle fighting properties.
I decided one day that I needed to make this stuff ages ago. I went to the http://www.herbcorner.net/ and bought an ounce of the dried herb. I put it into a glass jar and covered with olive oil. Now you can use canola, almond, grape seed, basically any light carrier oil. Put the lid on the jar and place in a dark dry place. I placed it in my kitchen cabinet in the back. I shook it every week for 4 – 6 weeks. I strained as much of the comfrey out of the oil using a mesh colander. You can use a coffee filter, or cheesecloth too. I don’t like using those as I feel like I am wasting the oil. I put the remaining oil into a container and store it in the refrigerator. It has lasted 9 months so far. It works just as well too.
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| What is left of my comfrey oil |
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| One day after using comfrey oil on the cut. |
You can purchase comfrey oil in health food stores or make your own. I preferred making my own because it was less expensive. This is very definitely one thing I will keep in my first aid kit!
Creatively Living With Sue 