Last year when discussing what to plant in the garden, my husband wanted to plant comfrey. Comfy? No, comfrey. I was not familiar with it, but he had read about it for goats (the irony is that our picky goats don't like it). I said okay without much thought. But one day as I was skimming through Youtube videos I stumbled upon a video on a topical comfrey salve. Health and Homestead was a new channel to me, but their enthusiasm for the comfrey salve got my attention. Apparently it is a great salve for burns, sprains, and aches. They said it has helped with a great many other things (although we'll have to see). So, I decided to use some of the comfrey we planted to make the salve.
Below is the Health and Homestead recipe. I'll share some comfrey info after the recipe! One important note is this is for topical use only.
Comfrey Salve
1 oz Bee's Wax
1 cup Light Olive Oil (it works better than EVO)
0.10 oz Comfrey Powder
Take dried comfrey leaves and finely ground them. You can either grow the comfrey in your garden or source them from online.
I recommend dedicating a spice grinder for just topical powder making. Comfrey is not currently recommended to be ingested.
I did find that I preferred my home grown comfrey over sourced as it was more vibrant in color and I was able to get the powder finer. The finer the powder the smoother the salve. Furthermore, probably better potency of the healing properties, but that's me guessing.
You will want to use a scale to measure out the ingredients. You will also want to have sanitized jars ready.
In a pyrex, combine bee's wax and olive oil.
I recommend getting bee's wax pellets as they will melt better. Source on Amazon and such.
Place canning jar rings (or folded towel) in a medium pot and fill the pot with some water. Place the pyrex on top of the canning rings and bring the water to a boil.
The canning rings are so the pyrex does not have direct contact with the pot's base as it can cause the glass to break.
You can also get double boiling equipment.
The oil and wax will begin to melt, use a spatula to stir regularly.
Once fully melted, put the comfrey powder into the oil and wax. Stir to mix well.
After mixing the comfrey in, remove the mixture from heat and put into sanitized jars. The mixture will "harden" in 1-2 hours. I just leave on a counter and check on it later. Once it is firm, you can put the jar lids on.
Wash your equipment very well. If you don't have a dishwasher, I would recommend using some alcohol to sanitize after hand washing. I actually have started using separate equipment for salve, candle, and soap making. I hit up the Dollar Store for spatulas, scissors, and things of that nature.
That's pretty easy and it's great to have on hand as well as a gift for loved ones. I gave my mom a jar of my first trial, but I used a sourced comfrey that didn't get very fine when ground. So, it was a little chunky, so I appreciated my mom being a good sport about it. She got my second batch at Christmas, which was much smoother. I have found it has helped with aches and I am using it on my legs as I have some varicose veins. I will try to report back on how it works with my veins.
Here is some more information about comfrey with an important first note.
Topical Only? Okay, there is a lot of debate on taking comfrey internally. I have read it could cause cancer while other people disagree. I personally would stick to topical. Once you feel a leaf, it's really not a pleasant texture for eating anyways. There have been studies in the last couple decades that showed it caused cancer, prior to that people were ingesting the herb. Greeks and Romans used it for bronchial issues.
What is it? It's an herb and related to borage. It grows big leaves that are kind of prickly (not bad, but scruffy) and they have beautiful bell flowers (yellow, pink, blue, red, purple, or white). It's quite stunning.
Grow Grow Grow - The plant can really take off and some species can be used as ground cover. You can chop it and the leaves will grow back pretty quickly. I cut ours back a lot in the Fall and I noticed the other day (it's Winter) that new leaves are popping up. So, unless you pull the roots, the plant will come back after being cut.
Fertilizer - Comfrey is a natural balanced fertilizer (It has N-P-K). Many gardeners will make a liquid fertilizer from it, or use it as mulch. When I cut back our comfrey I used the leaves as mulch on the empty garden beds to prepare for Winter.
Pollinator Friendly - The flowers are loved by bees. It's not a bad idea to plant near things like fruit trees that need pollinators.
Fodder - Comfrey has been fed to livestock for years. I know, I do not understand with the first point, but there you go. I give it to my chickens occasionally and the goats rarely, but I personally do not make it a daily feed. Some folks mow the comfrey and feed it to their animals regularly.
Want to try growing this herb?
Space - I would recommend giving this plant some space due to its big leaves and root system.
Soil - Adaptable.
Watering - Some can be drought tolerant, but usually like moist soil. I found in the Summer our comfrey needed good watering daily at least for 85°F+ days. We hand water the comfrey due it being in a new garden area and if we didn't water enough or forgot, the leaves wilted and the plants looked pretty pathetic. Irrigation or an olla system may be great options.
Light - It likes full sun, but can do a little shade. That being said, in our hot area (Paso Robles area) that I would provide some shade on very hot days days.
Fertilizer - Annually, give older manure (nitrogen) to encourage leaf growth.
Dividing - Due to how vigorous they are, it is good practice to lift, divide, and replant comfrey every 4 years.
Overall, comfey is a great herb to grow with benefits for the garden and topically for humans. Is it a #1 herb, I don't know, but we'll see as we use the comfrey salve throughout this next year!
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