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by Dan Riegler December 14, 2023 9 min read 1 Comment
By Dan Riegler
Spruce & Pine trees are often planted in urban areas and offer their resin freely to anyone who recognizes their value.
As we enter another winter here in the Northern hemisphere we brace ourselves for the onset of coughs, colds, flus and respiratory issues including the current variations of COVID. Cold, damp weather exacerbates old achy joints while short days and long nights bring some of us a sense of dread with Seasonal Affective Disorder looming in the dark. This is the time to prepare ourselves for the inevitable seasonal discomforts.
Literally dripping with an abundance of healing plant chemicals, our tree resins, across the globe, have traditionally addressed these discomforts and many more. Pine, Spruce, Fir, Frankincense, Myrrh, Elemi, and many other tree resins provide us with a wide range of therapeutic properties and applications.
Fragrant, gooey and sticky Spruce resin. A wonderful gift from the trees.
These vibrant-smelling substances are well established as antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antitussive and act as agents of emotional grounding and spiritual clarity. Pine and Spruce resins share a long history of use around the world as decongestants, wound healers and relievers of musculoskeletal pain. There is an abundance of research online that supports their traditional medicinal uses, and I suggest you look some of them up.
One of the best-known uses of these tree resins is to help treat and alleviate respiratory distress. Compounds in Pine, Spruce and other tree oleoresins ease our breathing, calm our minds and help break up phlegm so we can expectorate it (cough it up). The list of therapeutic properties our trees bring us grows daily as more research is performed and ancient traditions are examined.
Many tree resins are also excellent in muscle and joint rubs. They stimulate surface blood flow which helps remove toxins from muscles and joints, invigorate tired muscles, ease aches and pains, reduce swelling and inflammation in joints and reduce the pain of sprained and strained muscles.
St. John's Wort/Spruce Muscle & joint rub-In the shop
The past few decades, with the growth of Aromatherapy, we have focused on essential oils as representatives of the therapeutic powers of plants. However, in the case of oleoresins, the essential oils only bring us a small part of the healing compounds in the plant material. When we distill the essential oils out of the above oleo resins, we are left with the resin portion which contains some of the tree’s most valuable therapeutic compounds.
Above-the pure resin of Frankincense Sacra after the essential oils have been removed through distillation. This is a material packed with therapeutic compounds and resin acids including the Boswellic acids
We have used vegetable oils and animal fats to extract the active compounds in oleoresins for our medicine, perfume and cosmetics for thousands of years . In colder climates, vegetable oils were not as readily available as animal fats and many therapeutic and cosmetic products were delivered in a base of tallow, lard and other animal fats. I'm happy to say I have noticed a revival of these traditions lately and it is good to see more of our ancient knowledge reclaimed and brought back into our culture.
Though all these oleoresins will dissolve in alcohol, alcohol extracts are not suitable for external use. Once the alcohol has evaporated we are left with a very sticky material that sits on top of the skin. Oils and fats not only neutralize the stickiness but they facilitate absorption into the skin. This is important since many of these therapeutic compounds are absorbed through the skin and pass the blood/brain barrier.
That's it! You now have a potent, fragrant, whole oleo-resin, medicated oil that works effectively “as is” rubbed on the chest and/or the back, for respiratory issues, coughs, colds, congestion, bronchitis, asthma, etc. Or, it can be used for stiff, sore muscles, joint pains, sprains and other muscle and joint issues.
If you want to keep your oil as a ready to use medicated oil, you can add essential oils to compliment the applications you are using your extract for, such as Rosemary, Eucalyptus and Peppermint essential oils for respiratory issues, Chamomile for sleep, or Wintergreen or Birch for use as a muscle rub.
I recommend keeping the percentage of essential oils you add to under 2% of your total weight to reduce the chances of skin irritations. This mixture will keep for years.
It is often recommended to add 400 IU, (one gel cap), of vitamin E to each cup or 250 ml. of medicated oil, or a small amount of benzoin resinoid to retard oxidization/rancidity. However, if your oil is fresh and the product is stored in a cool dark place, you can expect a shelf life of at least 2 years. Hopefully your product will be so effective and popular it won't stay unused for that long.
(Please note that If you decide to make a salve from your oil, do not add the essential oils to your oil at this point, but to the salve, as per the instructions below ).
A Mainstay for many families and a valuable asset in medicine cabinets around the world. I have made my great Northern Cough & Chest Balm for 28 years now with only minor variations in the formula.
And Always Remember to keep clear notes! If your product is a success, you will want to reproduce your recipe as precisely as possible in the future and avoid disappointments.
Your salve will keep for years. Hopefully it will not last that long, and it will get used up quickly for its wonderful healing properties. It will make a great gift, providing comfort through the worst parts of colds and flu, to family and friends.
Dan
Dan Riegler is an Herbal Apothecary, Artisan, formulator, distiller and advocate for sustainable management of our aromatic and medicinal plants. A lover of Nature, he is a friend to trees and a sap for resins. Dan travels regularly to East Africa to visit Frankincense and Myrrh trees, harvesters and collectors.
Apothecary's Garden shop www.apothecarysgarden.com, provides an ever-growing selection of fresh & fair trade, ethical and sustainably harvested medicinal and aromatics materials including Frankincense and Myrrh, local, exotic and classic fragrance materials, artisan distilled essential oils, natural perfume ingredients and animal essences. Apothecary's Garden shop showcases Dan's aromatic, cosmetic and therapeutic preparations, salves, cremes, tinctures and oils, as well as those of Guest artisans from around the world.
The Blog, Apothecary's Garden is a journal about Herbs, plants and processes, formulas, plant Alchemy, traditional wisdom and our Relationship with Nature.
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Please bear with me as I rewrite, update and link my old Blog posts to the new shop. If you don't see the tutorial or post you are looking for, pop in periodically. I should have them all up, updated and running in the next few weeks.
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beleszove
January 15, 2024
Great article, Dan! I have yet to find a tree where I can collect enough resin to do anything with it other than warm the tears in a resin burner, but I’m looking forward to that day. I am wondering what your preferred collection too is? So far I have been using wooden coffee stirrers with rounded ends to get into crevices but they are a bit flimsy. On the plus side, they are cheap and easy to compost.
Also for medicinal body oils, I like to put them in a rollerball bottle with a wide ball to avoid overdispensing. It takes a bit more time to get a good amount out but also massages the oil in while you’re doing it.