Swiss Alp Herbal Salve

Bettmeralp

As some of you are already aware, I participated in the eighth Weston A Price Tour of Switzerland led by chapter leader and Swiss native Judith Mudrak. During our tour, we visited Bettmeralp, whereby we had the opportunity to make our own salve from wild herbs we picked ourselves. Pictured above is "wild" arnica that I photographed on the alpine pasture with my micro lens! I wanted to share the process with you:

Directions and Ingredients

First, we picked herbs such as Arnica, Lady’s Mantle, Yarrow and Wild Thyme. We chose the herb or herbs we wanted to use for their medicinal value.

• Arnica – bruises and joint health

• Lady’s Mantle – sooth irritated/itchy skin, wrinkles

• Yarrow – wounds, infections and bleeding

• Wild Thyme – chest maladies, respiratory health, cough

Then, we followed these steps:

1. We mashed/mixed about a handful of the chosen herb or herbs in a small jar with 3 Tablespoons of sunflower oil. It was recommended that we choose a single herb but some chose more than one.

2. We let them sit in the oil infusion over the heat of a candle for about an hour while we had lunch. See photo.

3. We used a small funnel lined with very thin paper like cloth to drain the herbs into another cup and separate the liquid. Discarded the herbs

4. We poured the liquid herb infusion back into the glass jar.

5. We added 1 rounded teaspoon of lanolin and 1 rounded teaspoon of beeswax pellets.

6. We put the glass jar back on the heat and let the lanolin and beeswax melt.

7. As soon as it melted, we went outside where it was cold and stirred the glass mixture until the mixture started to solidify.

8. We poured it into small containers.

9. This could be replicated with any herb of your choice! Can you identify the wild herbs we found we found and used? See even more photos from that day, in my Bettmeralp album.