From Mouth Care to Bloating

These last few medicinal recipes from my website do not warrant individual pages, so here they are! Rose Hip Tea to mouth washes to a tonic for bloating and osteoporosis herbs, they are here! 🙂


Herbs for Oral Hygiene

page 143 The New Age Herbalist. (1988 edition) Richard Mabey ed.

Herbs for Oral Hygiene

Many herbs have cleansing and antiseptic properties that make them suitable for oral hygiene. The most important herbs for oral hygiene are:

* sage (astringent)
* cloves
* peppermint
* thyme (antiseptics)
* parsley
* marjoram
* bramble and blackcurrant leaves
* juniper berries.

Chewing juniper berries, peppermint, or parsley will kill the odors of onion, garlic, or alcohol; rubbing the teeth with sage will clean them and sweeten the breath. Strawberries will whiten and clean the teeth, and remove plaque. You can make an effective mouthwash with a normal infusion of sage, mint, thyme, or marjoram. Another useful herb for the mouth comes from the tree Salvadora persica. Its stems are traditionally used in Africa, India, and the Middle East to clean the teeth and gums. Some of the herbs used for oral hygiene should not used under certain circumstances.

Leaf Mouthwash

Source: page 147 The New Age Herbalist. (1988 edition) Richard Mabey ed.

* One large handful of blackcurrant or bramble leaves
* 1 pt (1/2 litre) water
* 2 teaspoons lemon juice.

Pick the leaves when they are young and fresh, taking the bramble leaves from the tops of the stems. Put the leaves and water into an open saucepan and boil until the liquid is reduced by half. Add the lemon juice, strain, and use immediately.


Herbal combinations for bones, teeth, and calcium deficiency

From Today’s Herbal Health (2nd Edition) By Louise Tenney

* No. 1 Comfrey, Horsetail, Oat Straw, and Lobelia
* No. 2 Comfrey, Alfalfa, Oat Straw, Irish Moss, and Lobelia
* No. 3 White Oak, comfrey, Mullien, Black Walnut, Marshmallow, Queen of the Meadow,
Wormwood, Lobelia, and Scullcap

I don’t know where it came from, but we have used Horsetail, Yellow Dock, and Rose hips in a capsule against gum disease. Worked well, too.




From: sonshine
Date: Sun Jan 2, 2000 0:50am

Melana: you are correct, diet has much to do with our general health. And Henrietta is 100% correct, one cannot give general “one size fits all” recommendation via email based on very general data. And there is a belief that milk or increased calcium will “build strong bones” which is not really the case. For an interesting article on the subject of calcium see

Below are some quotes from the referenced webpage:

Society stresses the importance of calcium, but rarely magnesium. Yet, magnesium is vital to enzymatic activity. In addition to insuring proper absorption of calcium, magnesium is critical to proper neural and muscular function and to maintaining proper pH balance in the body. Magnesium, along with vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), helps to dissolve calcium phosphate stones which often accumulate from excesses of dairy intake. Good sources of magnesium include beans, green leafy vegetables like kale and collards, whole grains and orange juice. Non-dairy sources of calcium include green leafy vegetables, almonds, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, oats, beans, parsley, sesame seeds and tofu.

Osteoporosis is NOT a problem that should be associated with lack of calcium intake. Osteoporosis results from calcium loss. The massive amounts of protein in milk result in a 50 percent loss of calcium in the urine. In other words, by doubling your protein intake there will be a loss of 1-1.5 percent in skeletal mass per year in postmenopausal women. The calcium contained in leafy green vegetables is more easily absorbed than the calcium in milk, and plant proteins do not result in calcium loss the same way as do animal proteins. If a postmenopausal woman loses 1-1.5 percent bone mass per year, what will be the effect after 20 years? When osteoporosis occurs levels of calcium (being excreted from the bones)in the blood are high. Milk only adds to these high levels of calcium which is excreted or used by the body to add to damaging atherosclerosis, gout, kidney stones, etc.



Rosehip Tea

I gather and use rosehips all the time. However, the best time I have found to gather them is after a frost (if you live up north that is).

I dry them (they should be hard when gathered and turned to either a brown or red color.

You can then make a tea with them that is one of the best sources of vitamin C. We try to drink at least one cup a day during the winter months and have not had a cold for years. You just crush up about 1 teaspoon full (I use wild rose hips, from the multiflora rose, so it would be hard to say by the number count of rose hips) Put them in a pot on the stove and boil gently for about 5 minutes. It can also be stored for a day or so in the refrigerator if you like making more at a time.

God bless and be well,



Sunburn Spray

Quick Sunburn Spray recipe—it’s quite soothing:

* 20 drops lavender essential oil
* 20 drops geranium essential oil
* 2 drops rose essential oil (expensive; can also use tea tree oil)
* 4 ounces aloe vera juice

Add the oils to the aloe in a spritzer bottle. Shake before using. Other optional oil, peppermint.


Water Tonic to reduce bloating

* 2 T fresh parsley leaves
* 2 T dandelion leaves
* 2 T chicory leaves
* 2 t corn silk from fresh corn

Steep for 15 min in 2 C of boiled water and drink 1 C daily.