Guest guest Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 My neighbour's wife (old welsh farming family) told me that when she was a child, they would have it rubbed on the chest, neat, at the start of winter to ward off colds and flu. That's as much as I know about it, apart from the roast potato thing. Sally Owen  Dear All Does anyone have any tips on using goose fat for making a calendula ointment? I expect you would prepare it as you normally would for an infused oil, but would there then be any benefit to adding some beeswax to stiffen it up a bit? What sort of shelf life would it have? Would adding essential oils actually increase the shelf life? Anyone got any good recipes? Max -- Sally Owen MNIMH Medical Herbalist Mid Wales Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Dear Max,Just out of interest, why are you interested in using goose fat as a base for your calendula cream?RegardsCaroline Dear AllDoes anyone have any tips on using goose fat for making a calendula ointment? I expect you would prepare it as you normally would for an infused oil, but would there then be any benefit to adding some beeswax to stiffen it up a bit? What sort of shelf life would it have? Would adding essential oils actually increase the shelf life? Anyone got any good recipes? Max Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011  My mother used goose fat as a chest rub when I was a child. The thing I remember most about it was the horrible smell. This alone would put me off using it as a base for ointments etc. Pam Re: Goose Fat Questions My neighbour's wife (old welsh farming family) told me that when she was a child, they would have it rubbed on the chest, neat, at the start of winter to ward off colds and flu.That's as much as I know about it, apart from the roast potato thing.Sally Owen Dear All Does anyone have any tips on using goose fat for making a calendula ointment? I expect you would prepare it as you normally would for an infused oil, but would there then be any benefit to adding some beeswax to stiffen it up a bit? What sort of shelf life would it have? Would adding essential oils actually increase the shelf life? Anyone got any good recipes? Max -- Sally Owen MNIMH Medical Herbalist Mid Wales Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 > > Does anyone have any tips on using goose fat for making a calendula > ointment? I expect you would prepare it as you normally would for an infused > oil, but would there then be any benefit to adding some beeswax to stiffen > it up a bit? What sort of shelf life would it have? Would adding essential > oils actually increase the shelf life? Anyone got any good recipes? You can infuse poplar buds (= balm of gilead buds) to increase the shelf life. Or you could try adding vitamin E to slow the rancidity a bit. It's a fairly nice texture in room temperature up here, but if you're in a warmer climate you might want to add one or the other harder fat (shea, beeswax or similar) to harden it up. The essential oils will help with things like watery salves going moldy, but they won't help with salves goin rancid; two different things going on there. Goose fat is astonishingly good as a skin fat, but it does go rancid rather fast. Keep it in the fridge, and keep your spare goose fat salve jars in the freezer. (I'll be getting a pound or more of bear fat one of these days, to playing around with for salves. I've never had bear fat, but I might (just _might_) play stone-age-pretty and smear it into my hair as well) :-) Best, Henriette (Fried onions and apples in goose fat on bread ... yum!) -- Henriette Kress, AHG Helsinki, Finland Henriette's herbal homepage: http://www.henriettesherbal.com New book: http://www.henriettesherbal.com/articles/pract-herbs.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 25, 2011 Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 Henriette - thanks for that - pretty much what I needed to know. I've decided to try goose fat because I have a 86 year old patient who uses it successfully to treat his psoriasis, just using it on its own. Also, it was one of the main therapeutic oils in use before the industrial revolution, so it'll be good to see how effective it is. I guess the thing to do is put it in small jars - 15g or something like that, and as you say, keep stocks of it in the freezer.Bear fat in the hair?..... 'cos you're worth it?:-)To: ukherbal-list Sent: Monday, 24 October 2011, 7:57Subject: Re: Goose Fat Questions> > Does anyone have any tips on using goose fat for making a calendula> ointment? I expect you would prepare it as you normally would for an infused> oil, but would there then be any benefit to adding some beeswax to stiffen> it up a bit? What sort of shelf life would it have? Would adding essential> oils actually increase the shelf life? Anyone got any good recipes?You can infuse poplar buds (= balm of gilead buds) to increase the shelf life.Or you could try adding vitamin E to slow the rancidity a bit.It's a fairly nice texture in room temperature up here, but if you're in a warmer climate you might want to add one or the other harder fat (shea, beeswax or similar) to harden it up.The essential oils will help with things like watery salves going moldy, but they won't help with salves goin rancid; two different things going on there.Goose fat is astonishingly good as a skin fat, but it does go rancid rather fast.Keep it in the fridge, and keep your spare goose fat salve jars in the freezer.(I'll be getting a pound or more of bear fat one of these days, to playing around with for salves. I've never had bear fat, but I might (just _might_) play stone-age-pretty and smear it into my hair as well) :-)Best,Henriette (Fried onions and apples in goose fat on bread ... yum!)-- Henriette Kress, AHG Helsinki, FinlandHenriette's herbal homepage: http://www.henriettesherbal.comNew book: http://www.henriettesherbal.com/articles/pract-herbs.html------------------------------------List Owner: Graham White, MNIMH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 25, 2011 Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 This brings to mind something I read on Jim Mc's site, but have never tried. It's from King's American Dispensatory: " Dr. C. W. states that, when fatty substances are heated for several minutes with slippery-elm bark, in the proportion of 1 part of the bark to 128 parts of the fat, and then the fat be removed by straining, this has acquired the property of not undergoing rancidity (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1852, p. 180). " Here's the link to Jim's page: http://www.herbcraft.org/slipperyelm.html He reckons it works - must try it sometime. Mala > What sort of shelf life would it have? Would adding essential oils actually increase the shelf life? Anyone got any good recipes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 25, 2011 Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 Carying on the unusual fats theme..... I tried a small pot of emu oil once, the chap selling it reckoned the New Zealand Rugby team swore by it for musculo skeletal problems. Very nice texture. And Dr , founder of the Master herbalist school was a very strict vegan, but used lard for drawing ointments (with plantain) Sally Owen > This brings to mind something I read on Jim Mc's site, but have never tried. It's from King's American Dispensatory: > > " Dr. C. W. states that, when fatty substances are heated for several minutes with slippery-elm bark, in the proportion of 1 part of the bark to 128 parts of the fat, and then the fat be removed by straining, this has acquired the property of not undergoing rancidity (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1852, p. 180). " > > Here's the link to Jim's page: http://www.herbcraft.org/slipperyelm.html > > He reckons it works - must try it sometime. > > Mala > > >> > What sort of shelf life would it have? Would adding essential > oils actually increase the shelf life? Anyone got any good recipes? > > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > List Owner: Graham White, MNIMH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 25, 2011 Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 Sally Owen wrote : And Dr , founder of the Master herbalist school was a very strict vegan, but used lard for drawing ointments (with plantain) not that strict though !! annette Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 25, 2011 Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 He wouldn't eat it, and recommended raw food, but he said that lard was unsurpassed for drwing. Sall Sally Owen wrote : And Dr , founder of the Master herbalist school was a very strict vegan, but used lard for drawing ointments (with plantain) not that strict though !! annette -- Sally Owen MNIMH Medical Herbalist Mid Wales Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 Hi sally but very strict vegans wont use such things externally at all - some of my patients wont use my comfrey ointment as it has beeswax in it. Annette Re: Re: Goose Fat Questions He wouldn't eat it, and recommended raw food, but he said that lard was unsurpassed for drwing.Sall Sally Owen wrote : And Dr , founder of the Master herbalist school was a very strict vegan, but used lard for drawing ointments (with plantain) not that strict though !! annette -- Sally Owen MNIMH Medical Herbalist Mid Wales Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 > Hi sally > but very strict vegans wont use such things externally at all - some of my > patients wont use my comfrey ointment as it has beeswax in it. :-) I regularly get strict vegans in my week-long herbal class at a local school for young adults. In a class of about 25, at least 5 will be vegans. They're so young ... So I tell'em, " We make beeswax salves. You each get one of each we make. Those who don't want beeswax salves can suffer; they get to take the equivalent amount of the infused oil " . So once, a girl asked about that: Do I have anything against vegans? No, I don't, I said, but I do see them as being rather too black-and-white in a many-shaded world. And bees thrive in their managed hives; beekeepers regard a dead bee in their raw honey-wax mix as a mistake, something to avoid. I think that over the years, two strict vegans wanted the oil. All the rest have taken the beeswax. Best H. -- Henriette Kress, AHG Helsinki, Finland Henriette's herbal homepage: http://www.henriettesherbal.com New book: http://www.henriettesherbal.com/articles/pract-herbs.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 mm, I know. He used to treat very serious conditions though - no NHS in America, and I presume he simply used it because he honestly believed it was the most effective treatment for his patients. He told an anazing tale of saving a gangrenous leg with baths of marshmallow, extremely intensive treatment. Fascinating man. (Don't try this one at home, boys and girls) Sally Hi sally but very strict vegans wont use such things externally at all - some of my patients wont use my comfrey ointment as it has beeswax in it. Annette Re: Re: Goose Fat Questions He wouldn't eat it, and recommended raw food, but he said that lard was unsurpassed for drwing. Sall Sally Owen wrote : And Dr , founder of the Master herbalist school was a very strict vegan, but used lard for drawing ointments (with plantain) not that strict though !! annette -- Sally Owen MNIMH Medical Herbalist Mid Wales -- Sally Owen MNIMH Medical Herbalist Mid Wales Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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