Yarrow Balm and Tincture

Following from this post I have now collected and dried enough Yarrow to make into a healing balm and a herbal tincture. I will be using the leaves to make the balm and the flowers to make a tincture.

Start by harvesting fresh Yarrow, tie together in small bundles and hang for a week until the flowers and leaves are completely dry. Remove the flower heads and place in a jar, then remove the leaves and place in a separate jar

Yarrow Balm

Add virgin olive oil to the jar of leaves, label the jar including the date and store in a cool dark place for 4-6 weeks for the infusion to take place. After this has completed, strain the oil through a sieve into a container and weigh the oil.

Weigh the oil and divide by 4 and use this amount of beeswax. This will give a 20/80 ratio beeswax to oil which will make this a lovely soft balm, perfect for the treatment of wounds and grazes.

Gently melt the beeswax in a double boiler, add the oil a little at a time and stir until the mixture combines in a liquid.

Remove from the heat and add essential oils of your choice, use this table to work out how much essential oil to olive oil is needed, keeping in mind the age of the person this balm is intended to be used for. I recommend using some tea tree and lavender essential oil for their natural anti-inflammatory and anti-septic healing properties. Lavender is also a great treatment for minor burns.

Stir well and pour into a glass jar for storage, allow to set and keep in a cool, dry place for the longest shelf life.

This will be an excellent healing balm for cuts, grazes, and minor burns, it also contains anti coagulating properties from the yarrow which makes this the perfect balm to apply to fresh wounds in order to stem any bleeding.

Yarrow Flower Tincture

Fill a jar with the dried yarrow flowers, pour in alcohol, 80 proof or higher works best, vodka or whiskey can be used or any other strong alcoholic drink that is 40% by volume or higher. Do not use other types of alcohol that are not intended for consumption such as rubbing alcohol. You can get vodka that is 100 proof in some countries and this will give a more potent product. However a crude way to distill your vodka is to place in the freezer in a jug on deep freeze for a day and the water in the vodka will freeze, leaving behind the unfrozen alcohol which can be poured off to make a much stronger liquid for your tincture.

Make sure you stir the jar well, so that the flowers absorb the alcohol and ensure that the jar is filled above the flowers, label the jar with the contents and date, leave in a cool, dry place for 4-6 weeks, shaking the jar gently every few days.

After 4-6 weeks, pour the contents of the liquid through a sieve into a jug, decant the liquid into some amber bottles with droppers for storage and label accordingly with the contents and date of production. You can expect this tincture to last for up to 10 years if stored correctly in a cool, dark place.

This tincture can be taken for fever, upset stomach and menstrual cramps, it is a good treatment for colds and flu types of illnesses.

As with all herbal remedies, ensure that you do your own research and test small amounts of any ingredient for allergic or any other type of reaction. I take no responsibility for any ill effects caused by this herbal remedy or any other remedies on this website and you should always do your own research when using any medication or treatment.

We have a small batch of yarrow healing balm and yarrow flower tincture available to purchase on our online store, Lilnaturel.

I  have added links to all of the ingredients needed with affiliate amazon links, these will bring up a search on amazon.co.uk for each ingredient and I will receive a small amount of commission for each sale, there will be no additional cost to you as the consumer when purchasing via these links.

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