What comes to mind when you think of an infusion? You’’d probably think of a tea - herbs infused in water. But did you know you can make an infusion with oil? I filtered this infused oil today, having ‘brewed’ it for hours to extract all the healing goodness from the herbs.
It takes a long time to make an infused oil. The way it’s done depends on what herbs are used in the infusion. In one method, herbs are steeped in oil for hours on a very low heat. Then the oil is filtered. As part of my training as a herbalist, I learnt pharmacy. We herbalists learn to make all the medicines and preparations we use to help people get well. You will often hear us talking about creams and ointments, but we also talk about liniments, embrocations, poultices and lots of other ways of giving herbs as medicines.
I needed to make more of this particular infused oil because I’ve used so much of it in recent weeks. It helps repair injured bones and muscles. One of the people I gave it to recently had a nasty fall from a step ladder and hurt his back. Nothing was broken fortunately but he had lots of bruising, was very sore and stiff. The oil helped the bruising and relaxed the muscles. Two weeks later he was right as rain. You might not think of herbal medicine if you’re injured but this is just another of the many ways herbs can help with health problems. Obviously it’s important to check out any possible fractures with a visit to A&E, but even with fractures a herbalist can help with the recovery and repair. This is another aspect of my work that I really enjoy - you can almost see healing happening and it’s so nice to see someone moving around freely again after a bad tumble.
