My first batches of comfrey salve - what worked and what I'd do differently

I finally got around to turning our comfrey patch into salve this season, and after a few batches I wanted to share what actually worked, since most recipes I found skipped the details that matter.

What worked for me:
- Leaf only, never root. The pyrrolizidine alkaloid concentration is much higher in the root, so I keep the root for the compost tea and use only leaves for anything that touches skin.
- Drying the leaves first (2-3 days until crumbly) before infusing. My first attempt with fresh leaves made the oil go cloudy - too much moisture, and it molded within a month.
- Slow infusion in olive oil over a double boiler, 2-3 hours on the lowest heat. Faster stovetop infusions smelled "cooked" and lost the deep green color.
- Ratio that set well: about 1 ounce of beeswax per cup of infused oil. The spoon test (dip a cold spoon, let it set, check firmness) saved me from a too-hard batch.

What I'd do differently: label everything immediately. Comfrey salve looks identical to my plantain salve once it's in the tin, and comfrey is external-use-only on unbroken skin - not something you want to mix up with a salve you'd use on scrapes.

I wrote up the full process with measurements and the safety notes here if anyone wants the step-by-step: https://growforageheal.com/comfrey-salve-recipe/

Curious what others do with the alkaloid question - do you use comfrey salve on broken skin at all, or stick to bruises/sprains only?

Welcome to the forum. Thanks for sharing.

What variety is your comfrey?

Welcome! Great post!
I'm not familiar with comfrey and comfrey salve and your post sent me on a quest to learn more. There seems to be many comfrey varieties and (like Anne , poster above) I am wondering if you have a preference or if you combine varieties.  or if you just use what you find/forage?

I have been making comfrey salve for many years although I do not know what variety of comfrey that I’m growing.

I have always used both dehydrated leaves and roots that are stuffed into the cut off foot of an old clean pair of tights and cold infused in extra virgin olive oil. The infused comfrey oil is drained into another clean jar after a couple of months.

The ratio of 1 part beeswax to four parts oil is the perfect consistency for me, I render my own beeswax and pour it into mini muffin molds that weigh about 25g and melt the wax with 1O0ml infused oil.

I have no qualms about using the salve on cuts and grazes so long as the cuts are not deep.

I very carelessly cut the tip off a finger with secateurs while gardening and exposed a 3mm wide open area of flesh that I immediately applied a crushed comfrey leaf onto and when it stopped bleeding, slathered my salve onto the wound.

In less than a week, the cut surface had started to heal. I still have the photos that I took somewhere.

In the past, I have triple infused the comfrey oil with dried lavender and calendula petals but no longer bother, the comfrey salve is all I use these days.

I use my comfrey salve on everything except puncture wounds. Welcome to Permies!

I infuse my oil (or tallow) with both arnica & comfrey. They make a fantastic pair, arnica is a definite no-no, for ingestion and open wounds, and comfrey is just questionable enough that I'd rather not risk it (my hubby was supposed to die of liver disease/damage, in '09, but he's still hanging in there, and I'm not taking any chances). So, for obvious reasons, I keep those two together, so I don't accidentally use it where it might be bad for him. Oddly, I'm not really worried about me.

Majed Almajed wrote:I finally got around to turning our comfrey patch into salve this season, and after a few batches I wanted to share what actually worked, since most recipes I found skipped the details that matter.

What worked for me:
- Leaf only, never root. The pyrrolizidine alkaloid concentration is much higher in the root, so I keep the root for the compost tea and use only leaves for anything that touches skin.
- Drying the leaves first (2-3 days until crumbly) before infusing. My first attempt with fresh leaves made the oil go cloudy - too much moisture, and it molded within a month.
- Slow infusion in olive oil over a double boiler, 2-3 hours on the lowest heat. Faster stovetop infusions smelled "cooked" and lost the deep green color.
- Ratio that set well: about 1 ounce of beeswax per cup of infused oil. The spoon test (dip a cold spoon, let it set, check firmness) saved me from a too-hard batch.

What I'd do differently: label everything immediately. Comfrey salve looks identical to my plantain salve once it's in the tin, and comfrey is external-use-only on unbroken skin - not something you want to mix up with a salve you'd use on scrapes.

I wrote up the full process with measurements and the safety notes here if anyone wants the step-by-step: https://growforageheal.com/comfrey-salve-recipe/

Curious what others do with the alkaloid question - do you use comfrey salve on broken skin at all, or stick to bruises/sprains only?

Thanks for sharing all these details. I appreciate the note about drying the leaves first because that is something a lot of recipes don’t really emphasize. The moisture issue makes a lot of sense, and the spoon test sounds like a simple way to get the texture right.

I’ve always been cautious with comfrey because of the pyrrolizidine alkaloid concerns, especially when it comes to broken skin. I tend to keep it for things like bruises, sore muscles, and general aches rather than using it on cuts or scrapes. The labeling tip is a good one too since so many herbal salves can look exactly the same once they’re in jars.

I owe this thread a correction, and Anne's and Susan's question is what makes it necessary.

I don't have a comfrey patch. I don't have a garden at all - I research and write about herbs, and when I posted this in July I wrote it in the first person as though I'd made those batches myself. I hadn't. The method and the safety notes came from reading, not from my own kitchen, and I should have said so plainly, the way I did in a later thread here.

That's why the variety question has no honest answer from me: there is no plant of mine to name.

I'm sorry - particularly to those of you who replied with real experience. Megan, your account of the cut finger and the cold infusion is worth more than what I posted.

If the staff would rather remove the thread, I understand completely.

Majed Almajed wrote:I owe this thread a correction, and Anne's and Susan's question is what makes it necessary.

I don't have a comfrey patch. I don't have a garden at all - I research and write about herbs, and when I posted this in July I wrote it in the first person as though I'd made those batches myself. I hadn't. The method and the safety notes came from reading, not from my own kitchen, and I should have said so plainly, the way I did in a later thread here.

That's why the variety question has no honest answer from me: there is no plant of mine to name.

I'm sorry - particularly to those of you who replied with real experience. Megan, your account of the cut finger and the cold infusion is worth more than what I posted.

If the staff would rather remove the thread, I understand completely.

Hi! What you posted started an interesting and informative discussion.  You are welcome here!  We're all human!