Herbal electuaries should be a part of your survival pantry or prepper pantry. Preparing for the day when you call 911 and no one answers requires that we go both old school and natural with our wellness home remedies.
SurvivalBased has shared a plethora of survival medicine tips and recipes to help readers learn how to prevent and treat a series of ailments and injuries during a long-term disaster. If you are not fortunate enough to have trained medical professionals in your family or mutual assistance group, stockpiling natural health remedy ingredients and learning how to use them should be priority number one of your preparedness plan.
Herbal Electuaries
Herbal electuaries are very similar to herbal syrups but are far easier to make and tend to keep a lot longer. An electuary is a mixture of a powdered or dried herb and honey. Raw honey works best and boasts the highest amount of health benefits.
When the herbs and honey are mixed, even the bitterest of the powdered natural ingredients are inoffensive to the taste buds. The thick paste created by herbal electuaries can be molded into lozenges, poultices, pill capsules, and chewable medications that both young children and the elderly can consume with ease.
Why Honey?
Honey has been used as a preservative for centuries and has many healing properties. The low moisture content found in honey allows it to prevent the growth of bacteria as the electuary awaits use.
Honey is not recommended for use on infants before they turn one year old. It contains Clostridium botulinum spores, which a baby cannot digest properly.
How to Make Herbal Electuaries
Herbal electuaries are incredibly simple to make. It takes only a few minutes to create shelf-stable natural medicines to add to you prepper pantry. Use raw honey whenever possible to garner the highest possible amount of health benefits. Locally grown honey will aid in the fight against seasonal allergies caused by ragweed and other area environmental factors.
Ingredients
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup dried or powdered herbs
Directions
1. If drying herbs via a solar dehydrator or electric dehydrator, powder them before beginning to make the electuary. You can run the herbs through a blender or food processor to turn them into a fine powder, or you can use a wooden spoon or muddle to pound the herbs into small pieces.
2. Put the powdered herbs into a glass or metal bowl.
3. Pour the honey into the bowl and stir the mixture until it resembles thick peanut butter. Add more herbs or honey to get the right consistency.
4. Store the herbal electuary in a mason jar with a tight-fitting lid until ready for use.
Once opened, the herbal remedy should keep for at least six months.
Herbal Electuary Usage
Adults and children age 12 and over can take one teaspoonful of the electuary per day to treat illness and ailments. Younger children should take half a teaspoon. Although herbs are natural ingredients, some can be harmful to pregnant or nursing women or provoke allergic reactions. Do your homework now, before the SHTF, and make sure the home remedies are safe for everyone in your family; label them with appropriate warnings and restrictions before storing on the prepper pharmacy shelf.
Beneficial and Healing Herbs
• Chamomile
• Turmeric root
• Golden milk
• Licorice root
• Raspberry leaf
• Cinnamon root
• Rose hips
• Echinacea root
• Ginger root
• Mint leaf
• Peppermint leaf
• Marshmallow root
• Dandelion root
• Burdock root
• Chicory root
• Slippery elm
• Elecampane root
Herbal Electuary Recipes
Common Cold
Treat and help decrease symptoms of the common cold and sore throat with a mixture of vitamin C and golden milk.
Golden Milk
• Mix together 1/4 cup each of cinnamon powder, ginger root powder, and turmeric root with three tablespoon of honey and one cup of either coconut milk or warm water. Anyone 12 and older can consume one teaspoon of the electuary every four hours. Cut the dosage in half for younger children.
Vitamin C Booster
• Mix together one tablespoon honey with three tablespoons rose hips. This mixture can be made into pills using a home capsule maker or chewable lozenges using candy molds.
Stomachache Herbal Electuary
• Mix together equal parts ginger and mint. For every 1/2 cup of powdered herbs used, add one tablespoon honey. To sweeten the taste and add an additional soothing ingredient, pour in one drop of peppermint essential oil for every 1/2 cup of herbs used.
Sore Throat Electuaries
• Mix together three tablespoons each of marshmallow root and peppermint leaf with 1/4 cup honey. Older children and adults can consume one teaspoon every four hours; cut the amount in half for younger children.
• Mix together two tablespoons honey with 1/3 cup of echinacea root. The root has a bitter taste. To avoid an unpleasant aftertaste and refusals by children, mix in just a pinch of peppermint leaf or mint leaf.
Chewable Flu Remedy
To prevent or treat symptoms of the common cold or flu, toss back several of these chewable herbal electuary “pills” every few hours. Although you can purchase capsule makers for herbal remedies that are easy to use, such a tool is not necessary for this recipe. Simply pour the ingredients into a plastic candy or chocolate mold to form bite-size chewables. Although I have found this herbal remedy very effective, it is not very shelf-stable. The chewables will last about one week.
Supplies
• 1/4 cup gelatin powder
• 1 cup elderberry syrup
• 1/2 cup hot water
• Olive or coconut oil for greasing the molds (I prefer coconut for the added health benefits.)
Directions
1. Grease the candy or chocolate molds.
2. Pour the gelatin powder and cooled elderberry syrup into the bowl.
3. Pour the hot water into the bowl and stir briskly.
4. Once the mixture is smooth, pour into the molds.
5. Place the molds into the refrigerator or cool space if the power grid has failed.
6. Once the chewable herbal pills have firmed completely, remove them from the cool space.
7. Place the chewables in a container with a firm-fitting lid with a paper towel or wax paper separating each layer.
Check back with SurvivalBased to read part two of the herbal electuaries guide to learn even more recipes for natural herbal remedies and survival medicine tips.
[Image via Daniel78/Wikimedia Commons]