Medicine Making Season

Dana Koogler 

July 17, 2023

   I am working on making home remedies this time of year.   Lots of the ingredients for these things are ripening now. I am harvesting jewelweed and elderberries for making things.   I often make other things at the same time.  I guess I just do it while the spirit is moving me.  

     Elderberry Juice as a Tonic

Above is a photo of the most recently produced elderberry juice.  I finished it Monday July 17, 2023

   Elderberry juice as a tonic or health remedy is not a new thing, but it kind of fell out of fashion. 

Back in 1987 or so I worked for a Family Practice.  These doctors got lots of samples of a product called Elder Tonic.     I always wondered if it contained elderberries?  Turns out it did not.  It might have been better if it did.   Elderberries are good for killing flu virus and shortening the duration and severity of flu.   It works well against colds.  I recently learned it has many other benefits.  It helps cure urinary tract infections.  It helps provide whopping doses of antioxidants and phytonutrients to help protect the circulatory system.  It is good for the entire body.    It is not recommended for nursing mothers or pregnant women since they don't know the possible effects on the baby.  

      I have long used it as a flu fighter, but only in the last several years have I begun to make it myself. Before I was simply going to the store and buying Sambucol tablets or syrup.   It comes from the Sambucus nigra or Black Elderberry shrub.   I started off picking them wild. I foraged in the hedgerows near my house as well as by the river.   I harvested some up on Beaverdam Bald.   I purchased a sapling from the Amish market in Englewood, Tennessee.  I paid $7 for a gallon bucket sized plant.   That was several years ago and now I have a tree that is about fifteen feet high by fifteen feet wide!  It replaced an ornamental cherry tree we cut down.   It was money well spent.  It provides shade, shelter, and food for birds.  Pollinators love it.    It smells magnificent when in bloom.  The flowers are edible, though I have not tried that.     Best of all I can harvest all the berries I need from my own yard.  

    I picked about a gallon of berries by the time they were all plucked off the stems.  I processed them into a little more than a gallon of juice.    Little did I know I would end up having to start dosing with it days later.   

  Here is how to do it:

Elderberry Juice Recipe

Pick the berries and remove them from the stems. Pick only ripe berries.

Stems, unripe berries, leaves and bark are poisonous.  Berries are also poison raw and must be cooked to remove cyanide.   

Once I picked the berries I rinsed them well in a collander. 

I placed mine in a slow cooker  with equal parts berries to water. I cooked it on low for several hours.  I stirred it occasionally.

It is done when the juice is deep purple and fragrant.   

   I strained the berries out through a colander and tossed them out.  

I retained the purple juice.  While it is still warm add honey to taste.  I also added about 1/2 cup cherry wine to the gallon of juice.  

Cooking the berries to 78° neutralizes the cyanide compounds.  Fermentation further neutralizes them.  I bottle the juice in containers and place it in the refrigerator.   It tastes good and is good for you.   

  

  I used to put the berries through a ricer.   I no longer do this, because it just adds so much icky brown pulp to the juice.   It does nothing for the appearance or performance of the juice while making it a lot more difficult to process. You then have to allow the pulp to settle out. 

Above:  I packaged containers of Matcha green tea powder with my own fresh chopped mint.  Matcha is good for the body and contains lots of L Theanine.  It is a compound that is supposed to help with a feeling of calm concentration and relaxation.    That is why  green tea with caffeine doesn't lead to the same hyped up feeling as coffee.   

Honey Ginger Lemon Syrup

Above is a photo of a concoction I make several times through the year. 

It is tasty and helps a lot.

 Honey Ginger Lemon Syrup can be used as a cough and sore throat remedy. It can also just be used as a flavoring in hot tea!  It is delicious and good for you.   

  

 To make it I buy bulk honey. I purchased 1/2 gallon of honey at Rural King. 

I bought fresh ginger root and lemons. I bought canning jars.

I place slivers of washed, sliced ginger and lemon in the jars and pour honey over them.

I seal them up and refrigerate them.  

I allow this to sit and in a few weeks you will have a liquid come to the top that is thinner than honey, but thicker than lemon juice.  

   It is a pretty golden bronze color.   

It is very soothing to a sore throat and helps quiet a cough.

I used to throw it out when and if the honey crystallized in the bottom of the jar.

I no longer do this. It is wasteful and un-necessary.   Now I simply pour the juice or essence into one jar and toss out the crystalized honey.  I wash and reuse the jars.

     I have found that the essence is more potent than the syrup more newly created. 

You get more of the benefits of the ginger, lemon and honey fermenting together.

Herbal Mineral Soaks

Above:  I just put together a mixture of plain epsom salt mixed with fresh lemon essence and zest, ginger zest, rosemary, mint, and lavender. All from the herb garden or the veggie bin.  

 

   It smells heavenly and tossing this into a bath and soaking helps work out the body aches and kinks.

It helps detoxify the body of illness and soothe you so you can rest better.   Magnesium sulfate in epsom salts is readily absorbed through the skin in small quantities that help relax the muscles.  It is to be taken externally only.  Our family is a bunch of homeopaths and naturopaths.  We believe in trying the natural cures first.    Magnesium for sleep and as a natural muscle relaxer and headache reliever.  

Jewelweed Spray for Poison Ivy Prevention and Healing 

Above:  I picked a Wal-Mart plastic shopping bag full of spotted jewelweed from along the creek bank at a campground.   I washed it and placed it in the crock pot.  I added water and turned it down on low.

I let it simmer overnight.  In the morning I drained off a gallon of this pretty deep orange juice. 

    I bought spray bottles at the Dollar General in their garden section.  I bought a bottle of Witch Hazel.

I poured about 2 ounces of witch hazel into each one and topped them off with the juice.  I shook it up to mix it.    

   Jewelweed is the natural deterrent for poison ivy. It helps PREVENT it if you spritz on your skin or clothing or both!   It helps shorten the duration and soothe the rash if you get it and have to use it after the fact.

       My Mamaw Sadie Bradley showed me the pretty stand of spotted jewelweed along her fence row in the back yard.  She told me about her mom, Granny Mohler, making a poultice of this plant to cure poison ivy.  They did not know then that it would have helped keep you from getting it in the first place.

  Below is a photo of the finished product. 

Lawsone is the compound in jewelweed that is effective.  The saponins or soapy compounds in the pulpy plant matter are likely the effective part in soothing itchy rashes.  

   That said teach yourself and your kids to know what poison ivy, oak, and sumac look like. 

There is no better prevention that educating yourself what to look for and avoid it. 

 

   I can walk through poison ivy and not contract it as long as all it does is brush up against my skin.

Breaking the skin and getting the plant oils on you or your clothing is what helps you get it.

     NEVER burn poison ivy or those types of plants for the smoke can contain the irritating oils and spread them. Inhaling these compounds can lead to internal poison ivy and put you in the hospital.

Below:  the flower and stalk of spotted jewelweed.. Impatiens capensis

Below:  Pale jewelweed has a yellow bloom. Both are effective in preventing poison ivy and soothing it.  I don't know that one is anymore helpful than the other. I will say that it helps to pick this plant while it is the most pulpy and juicy you can get.  If you wait too late into the Summer it gets tough and thins out. 

I need to pick another bag of jewelweed.   I forgot that in order to make salve with it I should have reserved about a quart jar full.  Place it in a quart jar and top off with olive oil.   Place in a crock pot and surround it with water and turn up on low.   Allow it to infuse overnight to fill the oil with the saponins.

From this you can make a salve that can be applied to soothe the skin for poison ivy or other rashes.

Homemade Chest Rub

Below is a photo of the finished product. It is the first time I have ever made it. It feels good ,and smells great. I am not sure if it is going to be as effective as Vicks salve. It is milder and all organic.

 The carrier oil is coconut so it is not safe for my granddaughter, Tessa.  No one with tree nut oils should use coconut products.   It is a shame since it is so good for most folks.  I put some of this on my feet and put on socks. My feet are nice and soft!