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Chickweed is one backyard herbal remedy it is good in salads and also serves as an ointment for the skin. You will often see its white flowers stinging in the grass in early spring. Read on to find out how to make chickweed ointment (and why you’d want to do it!).
Benefits of chickweed
Like many other weedy spring plants, chickweed is a nutritious and cleansing herb. I like to think that nature knows we could all use a spring cleaning after long winter months! Chickweed contains a wide variety of nutrients, including:
- complex of vitamins A, C, E and B
- calcium
- the iron
- magnesium
- manganese
- phosphorous
- potassium
- silicon
- zinc
- GLA
- Bioflavonoids
One of the best ways to benefit from chickweed is to eat it in large quantities like others. spring salad. Internally, it is used to help moisten dry tissue and soothe inflammation throughout the body. People with arthritis find that it can help lubricate stiff joints from the inside out. It also helped move congestion, infections, and cysts in the body.
The benefits of chickweed ointment
We can use the benefits of chickweed all year round in the form of an ointment. While it doesn’t work exactly the same way as chickweed salad, an ointment is beneficial on its own. Chickweed works both internally and externally to soothe irritation and inflammation. Chickweed ointment can help:
- Remove impurities from the skin, such as pimples
- Take out the shards, like that black drawing ointment
- Relieve painful joints
- Soothe itching, dry and irritated skin
- Improve damaged skin (cuts, wounds, burns, etc.)
- Soothe hemorrhoids
- Disperses excess fluid and congestion in the body
Search for chickweed
Most stores don’t have a chickweed on their shelves, so the best bet is to have it in the wild. This weed likes to grow in patches and is often found in backyards or can be grown as a ground cover.
Chickweed is a bushy green plant with low growth. The flower petals are star shaped and have five lobes, each lobe divided into two. There is a line of tiny hairs that run down the length of the stem.
Scarlet Pimpernel looks like the American chickweed, but it is poisonous. The best way to tell the two apart is to look at the flowers. Chickweed has white flowers, while scarlet mackerel has orange / red flowers.
Preparation for stellate balm
We can use fresh chickweed for ointment, but I prefer dry it first. The high moisture content of this herb can cause the infused oil and balm to deteriorate faster. An easy way to dry chickweed is to put it in the dehydrator on low heat for a few hours.
No dehydrator? Tie the chickweed in bundles and let it hang upside down in a cool, dry place for a few weeks.
There are several ways to prepare an ointment, but one of the fastest is the stovetop method with a double boiler. It also encourages any water in the plant material to evaporate during the brew. I use the stovetop method for my homemade healing ointment.
Supplies needed for do-it-yourself chickweed ointment
Titmouse ointment recipe
This soothing ointment contains chickweed for sore joints and a variety of skin problems. I also added lavender to help calm and clarify damaged skin.
Instructions
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In the top of a double boiler or heat-resistant glass bowl, combine chickweed and oil.
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Place the bowl over a saucepan half filled with water, or in a double boiler if using it. Simmer the water gently over low heat for 3 hours, refilling the water if necessary.
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Strain the herb and pour the filtered oil into a glass measuring cup. Top it off with a little more oil if needed to get 1 cup.
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Return the beeswax and oil mixture to the clean double boiler or glass bowl. Fill the lower pot with water and stir frequently until the wax is completely dissolved.
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Turn off the heat, add the essential oil if you use it and immediately pour the ointment into the containers.
Have you ever used chickweed? What will you use this chickweed ointment for? Leave us a comment and let us know!
Sources:
- Codekas, C. (2021, February 11). Foraging for chickweed: identification, look-alikes and uses. Cultivate the forage ferment.
- The Academy of Herbs. (2015, March 15). Chickweed. Herbarium
- Tilgner, S. (2009). Herbal medicine at the heart of the earth. (2nd ed.). Wise Acres LLC.
