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plantain salve methods/recipes?

Posts: 8898

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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posted 10 months ago

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My big jar of plantain salve made in 2020 is almost gone and I can't quite remember how I made it.

I know it was using dried plantain leaves steeped in coconut oil or maybe olive oil.

Then added some beeswax.

It is nicely solid at our cold room temps so I'm thinking coconut oil is what I used. Then I would have had to keep it warm to 'steep'...in my crockpot?

Does this method/recipe sound familiar to anyone? Carla?

It has been a life saver this winter for my dry over used hands

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Joylynn Hardesty

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posted 10 months ago

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Sounds right. Here it is in a blog post, quicker than I could type it out. Melting point of coconut oil is 78*. In my house, it quickly becomes liquid in summer. So I use olive oil and beeswax.

Link to Mountain Rose Herbs plantain leaf, providesd in case you can't wait until your yard plantain has enough volume to harvest.

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Carla Burke

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posted 10 months ago

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I agree - sounds about right. I don't use coconut oil for skin stuff, because my skin is reactive to it (at least my face and more sensitive areas, like the inside of my arms, etc), so I tend to use sweet almond, macadamia, hazelnut, or tallow, instead.

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Barbara Simoes

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Location: Middlebury, Vermont zone 5a

posted 10 months ago

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I use the recipe I found on Practical Self Reliance. It's an amazing site that gives you so much information on any topic to do with homesteading and the like: https://practicalselfreliance.com/plantain-salve/

Judith Browning

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Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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posted 10 months ago

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Thanks everybody!
I should keep records.....

Now I'm wondering if the nice yellow color of this salve is from adding some calendula oil to the mix? I was making it also back then.

If I ration and don't share I've got enough to make it until some early narrow leaf plantain emerges I hope....might try one batch with olive oil and one coconut.

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"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Joylynn Hardesty

master pollinator

Posts: 4964

Location: Due to winter mortality, I stubbornly state, zone 7a Tennessee

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posted 10 months ago

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Shay butter is about that color....

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
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Judith Browning

Posts: 8898

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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posted 10 months ago

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Joylynn Hardesty wrote:Shay butter is about that color....

It is and I love it but I know I didn't use it in this salve.
I bought some years ago but thought it too expensive for use.

I really think it's likely I added some calendula oil and then the beeswax is pretty yellow itself.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Megan Palmer

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Location: Zone 9A, 45S 168E, 329m Queenstown, NZ

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posted 10 months ago

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I regularly make a comfrey salve using dehydrated homegrown leaves and roots steeped in extra virgin olive oil.

Even though the infused oil is very green, when it is melted with the wax, it always produces a lovely golden coloured salve.

I use a one part wax to four parts oil which is firm enough to scrape with the back of a fingernail and still soften in the warmth of my hands.

The wax comes from friends' hives and I render it myself.

I've also infused lavender, calendula leaves, plantain and yarrow for salves but comfrey is my favourite.

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Barbara Simoes

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Posts: 163

Location: Middlebury, Vermont zone 5a

posted 10 months ago

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When I made salve with just the plantain it was a pretty soft green; when I made calendula salve, it was a beautiful yellow, so I'd agree that you must have added calendula...either way, it will be great!

Ellen Lewis

Posts: 168

Location: SF bay area zone 10a

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posted 10 months ago

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The first plantain salve I made was from the seeds, not the leaves. Steeped in olive oil for several weeks, and then solidified with about 1/4 or 1/5 beeswax. It worked well. It was primarily a diaper salve, and my daughter had very sensitive skin.

Judith Browning

Posts: 8898

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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posted 9 months ago

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Thanks everyone!

Megan, those jars of salve are lovely

I just today gathered plantain leaves...only the narrow leaved one is prolific here so far.
Will dry them and try with olive oil this time.

Ellen,
Did you use mature seeds or green? Just the seeds or the whole seed head?
I'd like to try that also later on....thanks!

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

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