Sunday, November 3, 2013

Mason Jar Monday - DIY Cold and Flu Medicine - Organic Medicine


It is cold and flu season. I have had a touch of a cold this weekend. My sore throat had me in the kitchen preparing homemade organic herbal treatments that I have found poking around the web. I thought I would share some links to posts that teach you how to make and store your own organic herbal medicines. 

Frugally Sustainable:  Herbal cold and cough syrup made of simple ingredients such as garlic, echinacea, licorice root, ginger, and honey. Step by step instructions are provided. 

Copyright Joan Henna Lion via Flikr
Canning Granny:  This site has a variety of different solutions for everything from the flu to simple indigestion. Lots of good tips and tricks to help you preserve herbs as well on this website. 

The Prepper Journal: This great post shows you that there is value even in common weeds we regularly battle and pull from our gardens. Learn how to put these to good use.

Herbs-Info: Shows how to make a natural honey citrus syrup for sore throats and coughs.

Herbal Medicine Chest: Herbal medicine for the more "personal" areas of the body. Douches, enemas, and suppositories are discussed here.

Finally, here is a recipe to get you started. Calendula is easy to find in loose tea form.


This medicinal oil is simple to prepare and has so many uses. The oil is perfect for cradle cap, diaper rash, chapped or chafed skin, bruises, and sore or inflamed muscles. The oil can be used alone, or incorporated into salves, massage oils, lip balms, ointments, creams, and lotions.

Organic Olive oil
Organic Calendula flowers

Glass Jar
Copyright Terrapeutic Hebs via Facebook

1. Place Calendula flowers in a clean, dry glass jar. If using fresh Calendula, wilt for 12 hours to remove most of the moisture (too much moisture will cause the oil to go rancid) before adding to the jar. Pour olive oil into the jar, making sure to cover the flowers by at least 1” of oil so they will have space to expand. Stir well and cap the jar tightly.

2. Place the jar in a warm, sunny windowsill and shake once or more per day.
3. After 4-6 weeks, strain the herbs out using cheesecloth. Pour the infused oil into glass bottles and store in a cool dark place. 
Heat Method: I prefer to infuse oils utilizing the solar or folk method described above, but heat can be applied if you need the oil quickly. To prepare, follow step 1 from above, but place the Olive oil and Calendula flowers in an uncovered container. Warm over low heat at approximately 100 degrees F for at least 3-5 hours, the longer the better. A yogurt maker, double boiler, or inside the oven with a pilot light on are all effective ways to heat the oil, just make sure to check the temperature occasionally to ensure that the oil isn’t getting too warm. Once the oil has infused, strain out the herbs using cheesecloth and package the infused oil into glass bottles.

7 comments:

  1. I love making things at home. :D I am going to do more of that, and I will poke around those links. :)

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  2. Ooh I love these old remedies.
    Will keep these in case I get a cold but mega doses of Vitamin C usually keep them in check :-)
    Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Sounds good! I am all for natural/ homoeopathic remedies!

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  4. Thanks for sharing this, I try to use natural remedies whenever I can. These all seem pretty easy to make with familiar ingredients.

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  5. Thanks everyone. I think that these remedies have a valid place in my medicine chest and am hopeful you will find them useful as well!

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