One of my local farmers markets is held at a small nursery in a nearby community, and during my first night of selling there I got the idea of teaching herbal medicine-making classes that would feature the plants currently being sold. The owner loved the idea and we began drawing up a plan.
The first step was to gauge public interest. We gathered about 40 names without much effort at all. However, people didn’t want to wait until spring, our original plan. They wanted to start learning immediately with fall classes.
And so it was that I had to start developing a lesson with hands-on medicine making using plants we could forage locally. Elderberries—and the rest of the shrub—seemed a natural choice. Everyone’s familiar with it, with its use in treating colds and flu, and with its high cost at the grocery store. And we have a free source of elderberries right up the canyon and only a few minutes from the nursery.
I have four elderberry shrubs in my backyard. Those are for my family. I can harvest easily and at the perfect time, unlike when I forage up the canyon. Somebody else might get there first. Like yesterday. I wasn’t able to come home with many elderberries, only enough for about a quart of syrup, sadly. Someone else had been there picking a day or two earlier. I’ll try again tomorrow.
However, as I’ve noted previously, the medicinal uses of elder extend far beyond the berries, which is fortunate for all of us. We can harvest the flowers in summer (and there were even a few clusters as I was picking yesterday) and the leaves whenever. And so it was that I brought home some leaves for making a salve.
Elder Leaf Salve
½ cup fresh elder leaves, packed
Olive or coconut oil to cover, about a scant ½ cup
1 tablespoon beeswax pellets
Pack the freshly picked leaves in a ½-pint canning jar and add enough oil to cover. Set the jar in a saucepan with 2-3 inches of water (depending on whether you are using a regular or wide-mouth jar) to create a makeshift double-boiler. Over medium-low heat, infuse the oil for 2 hours, adding water to the pan as necessary.
Pour the infused oil through a strainer to remove the leaves. Discard the leaves. Return the oil to the canning jar. Add the beeswax pellets and return the jar to the saucepan. Add more water if necessary.
Continue heating over medium-low heat until the pellets melt. Remove from the stove and pour into tins or jars. Label with name and date.
Notes. This ratio of coconut oil and beeswax yields a soft salve. For a firmer salve add a little more beeswax. If you use a ½-pint jar that has measurements on the side (Ball brand does this), you can easily gauge how much oil is in the jar and determine how much beeswax to add. This salve may also be made with freshly dried elder leaves.
Elder salve may be used to relieve the following conditions:
· Frozen shoulder (anecdotal report)
· Herpes sores[3]
· Sprains[4]
References:
https://thenerdyfarmwife.com/elder-leaf-salve/
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