Plantain, a post all about Plantago major, a versatile beneficial wild herbaceous medicinial perennial plant, a common weed, with edible leaf and seed, used for centuries to help treat and heal wounds. Boy that was a mouth full. Like our beloved dandelion, overlooked and often mis-treated as a pest, another wild weed growing in your lawn, and everywhere from playgrounds to parking lots.
For all my fellow gardening friends, this botanical can be transplanted from getting mowed in the yard to a flower bed and transformed into the medicinal harvested herb or leafy green edible landscape. Here in North Carolina, growing zone 7b, in the flower bed it grows like and about the size of Hosta. Here's a photo of Plantain Broadleaf, transplanted into the flower bed in spring and nice seeds forming in August.
Now just for fun, I want to share with you that Plantain will alwo grow in terriums, dishes of water and/ or bog style planters, and as a low light house plant. There now you know! Have fun, Happy Gardening.
More About Plantain
Now both Broadleaf Plantain ( plantago major ) AND Narrowleaf Plantain
( plantago lanceotata ) have been used in health studies for promoting wound healing, reducing inflamation, and treating digestion disorders. All information given is for just that; informational purposes and are based upon various health studies, and the information is from HealthLine.
Plantain, readily available, and edible. Edible raw or cooked. The yound leaves tender like a baby spinach. The older leaves more like a kale, and can be cooked in soups and stir fries. The seeds contain psyllium, a type of fiber used as a natural laxative.
The leaves of plantain contain several compounds that are known to be anti- inflammatory. Comounds including flavonoids, and terpenoids, glycosides, and tannins. These compounds by reducing inflammaion; blocking microbial growth and relieving pain does support wound healing. Which is what lead us to the plantain salve. Before I get to the making salve, and recipe part, there's a few more things about Plantain you want to KNOW.
These same compounds may alleviate certain digestive issues also by reducing inflammation. It's all about the anti-inflammory compounds. Not only as a topical for skin, scalp, or lips. Plantain would make a grat addition to a Digest Ease herbal tea, which I will be making also, FYI.
By reducing inflammation interally, may improve digestion, promoting healing for the digestion system and digestive tract. Even Narrowleaf Plantain can promote bowel regularity, help treat diarrhea, and stomach ulcers. Even better a great go to, for common issues like stomach pain, bloating, and helping IBD and IBS. So harvest some plantian for some tea too.
WILD HARVEST PLANTAIN
Just go for walk, identify your plantain, pick from bottom of stem. Allow to air dry. Store in air tight conatiner to use for tea, tincture, topicals and various other skin care products, like lip balm or salve.
Keep reading, almost to the recipe.
MAKING SALVE WITH MAMA
Because Plantain can promote healing of wounds we choose to make a plantain salve. Salves are vesatile "First Aid Ointments" or topicals applied when you get cuts, scraps, bug bites, rashes, sores, or relief for skin issues like acne, or Eczema and Psoriasis. I have been making salve since 2015, Miracle Salve, a calendula infused first aid topical. Calendula like Plantain is a great for
anti- flammtory wound healing. For about six months or so now, I started using the crock pot method for making salve instead of the tradtional double boiler. You can use the salve recipe with a double boiler if you don't have a small crock-pot or simmer pot. The pot must be a insert, you have to be able to lift the crock out of the heating element to pour the hot oil. And if you dont have a crock pot or double boiler. Simply place a oven safe glass dish over a pot of simmering water, which is what I WAS doing.
Okay, so we are infusing plantain into oil, by heat, that can then be added to our salve. The oil can be olive oil, coconut oil, avocado, sunflower, a combination of oils or back in the day; they used lard. Just saying.
You will also need some beeswax. You can get the block and grate it, I've dne before, or get the pellets. The pellets are just so much easier. It doesn't effect the salve on if it is yellow or white beeswax. Also some essential oils of Tea Tree, and Lavender. These are optional. The shelf life without essentials 3 to 6 months, also no scent, except natural aroma. With the essential oils, bonus added benefits of killing germs, extending shelf life to 1 year up to 2 years, bonus healing benefits of the oils, and aroma or scent of salve. LOL.
Last on the list is a storage container. You can use glass jars, or good microwave safe plastic, with lid.
Then the star of the show! Either 2 cups of chopped fresh, clean Plantain leaves. OR 1 cup of dry.
Go out and harvest your own or purchase dry Plantain, ready to use here at our shop, wink wink, or some where else. We used our fresh dried plantain leaves.
PLANTAIN SALVE RECIPE
MAKES 12 OUNCES
2 cups oil
1 cup of dry chopped Plantain
6 Tablespoons Beeswax
36 drops of Lavender essential oil
36 drops of Tea Tree essential oil
Place oil and plantain in crock pot and simmer for minimum 2 hours.
Then strain plantain from oil with cheese cloth in a colliander over a large measuring cup , or bowl. Then return your plantain infused oil to the crock pot and add beeswax. Stir with wooden spoon until beeswax is melted.
Remove from heat, add essential oils, then pour into storage container.
Allow salve to cool before adding lid.
Plantain Salve Tin Available
If your not sure about making your own salve, or you would like to try it first before you dive in, Plantain Salve is available for purchase. Salve comes in a travel size tin with lid, at 1 ounce, for $6.00. Click on the link to go to our website to order yours today.
https://www.etsy.com/SalisburyGardenGifts/listing/1334912741/plantain-salve-homemade-all-natural?utm_source=Copy&utm_medium=ListingManager&utm_campaign=Share&utm_term=so.lmsm&share_time=1666983944986