So you got a bag of herbs from your local medicinal herb shop – now what?
Do you boil the leaves and drink the tea? What if you got the powder, roots, rhizome, or even the branches? Preparing herbal concoctions can be a bit more work than taking supplements that contain herbs in them, but they can be effective, cheap, and a fun way to re-connect with nature. You just have to know what to do with what you got!
Poultice
A poultice is a herbal mixture that’s applied to the skin. Poultices are great for two types of conditions: skin ailments, and localized pain and/or inflammation. For a poultice you have to know if your active ingredient is water-soluble or fat-soluble (this is where your ND comes in!) – otherwise you could be wasting your time. For example: turmeric is fat-soluble which is why traditionally in India, a paste made from turmeric and milk is used – that way the turmeric is better absorbed in the fat of the milk!
So here’s how you make a poultice:
- In a bowl, mix your powdered herb (or smashed fresh herb) with a bit of hot water or hot milk. If you’re vegan you can use olive oil if the active ingredient is fat-soluble. You want a SMALL amount of liquid – enough to make a paste…if it’s too runny you’re poultice will be a mess. Let it cool so you can apply it to your skin without burning yourself.
- Apply the herbal mixture to a thin cloth (or gauze, or if you don’t have either you can double up some toilet paper!). Apply to the affected area. You can wrap bandage around it or plastic with some tape to keep the poultice in place.
- Leave on for 1-2 hours. Clean with water after use.
Tea Infusion
Teas work best for the aerial part of a herb (i.e. the dried flowers of the herb) or the leaves. Most people think they should boil some water with the herb and then sieve the mixture — this is wrong! When you do this to delicate herbs, it actually DESTROYS the active compounds. So here’s what you do: boil some water – take it off the heat and pour it into a cup with the dried herb. Let it steep for 5-10 minutes (covered because many times the active constituents are unstable compounds that can quickly evaporate into the air) and then sieve out the herbal remnants.
Decoction
This is similar process to a tea infusion – in fact the end product is still a tea, but a decoction is used for the harder parts of the plant (branches, roots, rhizome, bark – PS: a rhizome is similar to a root – it’s the legs that grow off an old potato, or as another example, it’s the part of the ginger plant that we use). So to do a decoction, you boil your herb vigorously in water for 15-20 minutes with the lid closed. This way you fully extract all the goodness that’s locked in that bark or rhizome!
Hopefully this post inspires you to use your herbs or make a trip to your local herb store and see what healing goodness nature has for you!
Dr. Rahim Kanji, N.D. is a Naturopathic Doctor practicing in Toronto, Canada. He has a passion for evidence-based natural medicine, specifically empowering his patients to make nutritional changes which create dramatic impacts to their health.
