h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thanks for a very interesting piece on one of my favourite cosmetic herbs. I'd like to try making the wines, but winemaking "seems so difficult". Making wines seems to be such an English pastime.

I've been making herbal cosmetics for many years. Elderflower is one of my little secrets. An infused oil of elderflowers is beneficial for most skins, especially dry skin, sunburn and also for some types of eczema, soothes psoriasis etc. It's a piece of cake to make, assuming you have access to flowers (fresh is best, but dried is acceptable). It is also excellent as the oil fraction of a simple Galenical cream (i.e. oil, beeswax and rose water).

In case anyone's interested:

Elderflower Infused Oil:

Fill a sterilized glass jar with elderflowers, leaving about 3 or 4 cm. space at the top. Add a tablespoon or so (depending on the size of the jar) of cider vinegar. Pour over this extra virgin olive oil to cover. Place in a sunny spot like a windowsill for about 2 - 3 weeks, stirring daily to prevent it from going musty.

Strain through muslin into a sterilized glass jar. Cap, label and store in a cool dark place or in the refrigerator.

For a stronger and more traditional infusion, repeat this procedure three times = a triple infused herb oil. That is: take another jarful of elderflowers, add the 1 x infused oil, topping it up if necessary. Leave 3 weeks ... etc etc.

Cider vingear extracts the water soluble fractions of the herb. Straining through muslin is preferable to using coffee filter paper as it doesn't remove all the goodies (like filter paper does, though you get a nice clear oil). Olive oil is the most stable cosmetic oil, and best for making herbal infusions (i.e. it doesn't go rancid like almond oil for instance).

Anyway, just adding to The Body of Elder Lore.

sf. Did we correspond before, in PR whilst I was 'polishing' the Entry? I know I was talking to someone from 'Aussie' about herbal cosmetics.

As a herbalist, you might also be interested in my recent Entry about Goose Grass (A4072781)

No. I've never met you before in my life. Just happy to see my old friend the Elder in this site. I've found it to be an excellent remedy for when you need to 'sweat it out', like with a cold or flu.

I'll have a look at the gosegrass article in a minute. Any bright ideas about what to do with a couple of kilos of rosehips. ?? Not wine. Too hard. Perhaps a nice honey mel for sore throats or some infused oil and a bit of tincture.

Only thing I can think of at present is rosehip syrup.

I looked back on the PR thread and discovered it was kea I was communicating with before.

I just had a look at goosegrass/cleavers. Interesting. I mostly use it as a skin herb. The tincture is excellent as first aid for mosquito bites. That's one I stumbled on in an emergency. I did a reply but I think it disappeared into cyberspace.

I know a virologist who is doing research into Australian medicinal plants. What is it with virology and plants??

What is it with virology and plants??

Well, I remember once reading a book by Sir Christopher Andrewes - a famous British virologist. In it he said something like, 'Anyone with a modivum of knowledge could go out into their garden and isolate a completely new virus'!

How about that?? It's all part of life's rich pageant. I've been getting into the interconnectedness of life i.e. micorrhyzia etc. What Beatrice Potter got laughed out of science for - you know - describing lichens as a symbiosis of algae and bacteria. Are there any good viruses?? I've always wanted to know that. In fact, has anyone ever looked for 'good viruses' anyway?? To my way of thinking, they're more like Invasion of the Body Snatchers than anything else.

That virologist I know said she liked virology because you don't have to kill anything to get a result. All you do is mess around with cell lines, and you can't really get emotionally involved with a cell line.

Have you ever looked at herbal antivirals?? St. John's Wort for instance. It can kill a cold sore at 20 paces. If I feel one coming on, I take a few high doses of Hypericum and it just goes away. I think (without looking it up) it somehow interferes with the viral envelope. You can also considerably shorten a nasty flu with a bit of well directed herbal therapy.

Anyway, have a good one. Off to watch The Bill.

Can't think of any 'good' viruses off the top of my head.

Ref herbal viral remedies: liquorice contains glycrrhizin which appears to prevent the growth of a number of viruses. It is particularly effective against herpes viruses, e.g. herpes simplex which causes cold sores. It is also said to be effective against herpes virus 8 which causes Karposi's sarcoma.

Garlic is able to combat various gastro-intestinal infections such as dysentery, typhoid, threadworm and tapeworm. The oil is also effective against TB. It also combats fungal infections such as athlete's foot and ringworm.

As regards viruses, it may also be able to reduce the virulence of HIV virus.

At some stage I'm going to write an Entry on 'Medicinal Applications of Garlic'.

It will be a VERY LONG entry.

Interested to read your reference to galenical cream of oil, beeswax and rosewater. I had a recipe back in the early nineties, but I have lost it. I know I used borax to emulsify the oil,wax and rosewater, but I can't remember the quantities. Can you help?
I also used to make an ontment by heating comfrey leaf in olive oil, straining and then adding beeswax. I can't remember the proportion of wax to oil. I think I used an ounce of wax to a pint of oil, but I am not sure.

I hope this comes out via copying so I don't have to type it all up for you. I tend to collect recipes from many sources, some are in metric and others in Imperial etc. Basically, if you're in a non-metric area, 28 ml. = 1 oz. I often convert it at a ratio of 1 oz. to 30 ml. / g. as it's easier to measure. Also, if the cream goes 'flaky' when you add the water fraction, just put it back in the bain marie (I use a frying pan about half filled with water with a heatproof bowl holding the wax etc. not posh at all!!) and warm till the wax is melted again and give it a good beat with an electric beater.

A reasonable proportion for making ointments (i.e. without a water fraction) is about 4 oz. oil to 1 oz. (or less, c. 3/4 oz.) wax. Check that the wax flakes are sun bleached, not chemical bleached or get the yellow stuff from honey shoppes etc.

Here goes:

Galen’s Original Cold Cream

3 oz. (84 ml.) Olive oil
1 oz (28 g.) Beeswax
1 oz (28 ml.) Rosewater

Melt the beeswax in a bain marie. Add the olive oil and warm gently until combined. Beat in the rosewater, remove from the bain marie and beat until cool.

Pot up.

You can make a fluffier cream by doubling the amount of rosewater. The cream will need brisk beating to make it emulsify. Add a small amount of borax to the rosewater to assist with the emulsification process (c. ½ tspn.).

Borax: … an emulsifier, water softener and preservative. It enables creams to hold water in emulsion in a ratio of 3 / 2. Add it to any beeswax cream in the proportion of 1 part borax to 16 parts beeswax, or approximately ½ tspn. To 28 g. wax.

Lanolin Cold Cream

14 g. white beeswax
28 ml. Anhydrous lanolin (i.e. the smelly type, AKA wool fat)
84 ml. Non-drying vegetable oil (i.e. olive, almond, apricot, peach kernel)
28 – 36 ml. Rosewater or other suitable floral water, distilled water, rainwater, sparkling or still natural mineral water or spring water.
Scant ¼ tspn. Borax (optional).

Melt wax and lanolin in a bain marie. Add oil and stir until clear and combined. Mix borax in warmed water, add to wax/lanolin/oil mixture.

Beat well. Remove from heat and beat until cool.

Pot up.

Zinc and Lanolin Cold Cream

Mix into the above formula 10% zinc ointment (16 g.), or add c. ½ tspn. Zinc oxide which has been mixed to a cream with a little of the oil content.

Zinc: is healing, it corrects and normalizes the skin’s acidity (pH balance). Making zinc cream … use the maximum amount of rosewater.

Good luck. Any probs. get back to me.