Salve
Fill a jar about 2/3 full of dried herb. Fill to the top with a light oil such as olive oil. Cover and set in warm place for 2-6 weeks. Shake jar a couple times a day or so. Strain out herb through a cloth and squeeze out the oil.
A quicker method is to put the jar in a hot water bath for several hours. Use an open crock pot on the lowest setting, and shake jar every so often. Can be strained through a colander lined with a loosely woven cloth. About 6 or 8 hours of hot bath. You will see the color of the oil change to a beautiful green.
This oil can be used as is, or made into a salve by warming ever so slightly in a double boiler and adding some melted bees wax. Depending on how firm you want the salve:
1+1/4 ounces wax per cup of oil makes firm, but not hard
1 ounce wax per cup oil makes more like a lotion consistency.
Also add a little vitamin E oil, if you like, to help preserve the salve. About 1/2 tsp. per cup oil. Or 1 tsp. per 3 cups oil. Not much is needed.
How to make: Salve
part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e095va7iAX0
part 2
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqDq_VnZ8Ok
Tincture
If using fresh herb: pack jar max. 7/8 full with herb and then fill jar to cover herb with 190 proof vodka. 100 proof or 80 proof will still work, but if that is the best available, then it would be good to dry the herb first.
If using dried herb: fill jar 2/3 full with herb and fill with vodka to cover herb. You will probably have to add more vodka to keep herb covered as dried herb soaks up the vodka.
Let jar sit for 2 - 6 weeks before straining. Shake or stir jar every other day or more. If using 190 proof, the lesser time is needed. You will see the clear vodka turn a dark color. These tinctures keep indefinitely, store in cool dark place.
How to make: Tinctures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dloPF1QDuw
Tea
make an infusion rather than a tea by simmering a handful of healthy-looking fresh leaves or 3Tbls. dried herb in one cup of water for 10 minutes. Drink 2 – 8 cups a day during recovery period from an injury or operation.
• I don't think this tea lends itself well to milk and honey. Yuk. I find it is better flavored as a vegetable bullion or vegetable broth, salt, pepper, garlic, a squirt of vinegar, tomato juice, Tobasco, etc.
FDA admits comfrey can be taken internally
It does work...
Vitamin B12 in Comfrey
Comfrey grown in unsterilized soil can have .7mg vitamin B12 per 100mg of leaf. To make the soil un-sterile use your imagination – unprocessed manure will inoculate the soil with the bacteria that produces B12. Just be mindful of nasty bacteria in uncomposted manure.
Add flowers to a salad. Leaves chopped/steamed as a pot herb.
Mainstream drug company
original link no longer works, you get redirected
http://magazine.merck.de/en/Life_and_Assistance/comfrey_root/Kytta_ointment1.html?magazineRateArticle=tcm:1113-41759-64
archive… photo of original page:
archive… photo of original page:
https://web.archive.org/web/20100702022843/http://magazine.merck.de/en/Life_and_Assistance/comfrey_root/Kytta_ointment1.html?magazineRateArticle=tcm:1113-41759-64
A natural classic with a big future
2009/6/10
Scientific pharmaceuticals research developed out of herbal medicine, and in some cases it has returned to its roots. An example of this is comfrey root extract, which has been used to make a pain-relief ointment since 1931. Its range of complex ingredients are even more effective than modern substances. Here’s the story of Kytta ointment.
At Merck, developing the drugs of the future involves not only a search for new active ingredients; it also requires continuous assessment of tried and tested products. Recent clinical tests of Kytta-Salbe® led to impressive results. Although it had been known for years that the pain-relief ointment containing natural ingredients from comfrey root extract is just as effective as synthetic drugs for treating muscle and joint pain, this fact has now been proven by the new clinical study.
In a double-blind study involving 143 patients suffering from ankle joint distortions, Kytta-Salbe® was shown to be at least as effective as a gel containing the synthetically produced active ingredient Diclofenac. The comfrey root ointment was even superior in several respects, including the main target criterion. The impressive results of the comparative study were presented at a press conference held at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “We are continuing with the clinical tests, which we expect will provide us with much more good news in the future,” says Julia Wehner, Product Manager for Kytta products.
Roots in tubes
Merck has had the pain-relief ointment with comfrey root extract in its product lineup for many years. The basic recipe was developed in the Black Forest back in 1931. But even in ancient times physicians knew of the analgesic and healing effect of the roots of comfrey (Symphytum officinale L.). Among them was the Greek medical expert and pharmacist Dioscurides, who practiced in Rome in the first century AD. The plant’s effects, which Dioscurides described in his five-volume work De Materia Medica, is also reflected in its German name, Beinwell. The word consists of the elements “bein” (“bone”) and “well” (from Wallen, meaning “growing together”).
Comfrey found its way into folk medicine — and the recipe books of illustrious figures in medical history, including Paracelsus and Hildegard of Bingen. And the plant’s use wasn’t confined to Europe; Christian missionaries taught North American Indians how to use comfrey to treat muscle and joint pains, sprains, rheumatism, and gout, thus helping to make comfrey’s use as a medicinal plant widespread on the continent. Merck Selbstmedikation GmbH once highlighted this early case of medical information exchange between cultures by using the slogan “An Indian knows no pain”.
Even people who are not aware of the historic roots of comfrey use will quickly be convinced of the ointment’s effectiveness by the new studies. In the past several years, research with this ointment has focused on knee joint arthritis and ankle joint distortions. Merck uses the same precision in producing the extract as it does in clinically studying the ointment. That’s because the natural ingredient has to meet the same quality standards as synthetic ones. Merck partner companies let the comfrey plants grow for at least three years before they are harvested and the roots are processed into the ointment. At this age, the plants have a sufficient concentration of active ingredients in their roots for them to be harvested in fall or winter, depending on the region of cultivation. A special process is used to produce a liquid extract from the plant, which is then incorporated into the ointment. When applied to the skin on the painful area, the active ingredient can get to work quickly and effectively.
The root for treating injuries
According to Wehner, one of the product’s special strengths is that it combines modern research with ancient wisdom. “Our customers are very happy that we managed to pack a lot of traditional healing lore into our modern extract,” she says. People throughout Germany have long relied on comfrey, which in various regions is referred to by local names that reflect its healing properties.
Pharmacologists found out long ago that the extract’s key active ingredients are allantoin, rosmarinic acid, and various types of polysaccharide. However, clinical studies will continue to be conducted to determine the exact effects of the analgesic and anti-inflammatory ointment on certain ailments. The specialists at Merck all agree that the comfrey-based medication will continue to generate good news, and studies focusing on other muscle and joint ailments are already under way. Modern medical researchers are thus providing hard facts that confirm the lore of ancient doctors and Native American healers.
© Imago
In addition to its pleasing appearance, comfrey provides relief for people with muscle and joint pain
© Dpa
Even in the first century, the physician Pedanios Dioskurides recognized the effectiveness of comfrey root
© Merck
The genus of the comfrey plants: The active ingredients are in the root
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