Cayenne-Tumeric Salve

I got the idea for this salve from James Duke's The Green Pharmacy. In a section on arthritis, here's what Duke has to say about red pepper or cayenne:

Red Pepper (Capsicum, various species)

Red pepper causes some pain on the tongue, but ironically, it interferes with pain perception elsewhere around the body. The pain relieving chemical in red pepper, capsaicin, triggers the body to release endorphins, nature's own opiates. Red pepper also contains aspirin-like compounds known as salicylates.

You can make a red pepper tea by mixing red pepper into water, but it would be a whole lot more pleasurable to have your red pepper cooked in a variety of spicy dishes. for a quick hit, try a splash of hot pepper sauce in tomato juice.

Compounds in red papper can also help relieve arthritis when you apply the herb to the skin. Researchers have discovered that you'll get significant pain relief if you apply capsaicin cream directly to painful arthritis joints four times daily. In one study of this treatment, the capsaicin cream reduced RA pain by more than half. Osteoarthritis pain was reduced by about one-third.

Capsaicin creams are generally believed safe and effective for arthritis. Look for capsaicin in the ingredient list of over the counter pain creams such as Zostrix or Capzasin-P or ask your doctor for a prescription capsaicin product. If you use a capsaicin cream, be sure to wash your hands thoroughly afterward. You don't want to get it in your eyes. Also, since some people are quite sensitive to this compound, you should test it on a small area of skin to make sure that it's okay for you to use before using it on a larger area. If it seems to irritate your skin, discontinue use.

Well, I check the pharmacy prices for Capzasin-P and it was about $14 for a tube of it. That's too steep for me, so I decided to make some at home. I also decided to add tumeric to the salve, as tumeric is a terrific anti-inflammatory herb. I used lard as a base for the salve, since one of my favorite medicine women recommends it--that's Kiva Rose at Medicine Woman's Roots. You can read her blog on the Simplest Salve Ever here.

I put about 10 tablespoons of lard into my little salve-making pan and heated it to low on the stove. When the lard had liquidfied, I added 2 heaping tablespoons of powdered cayenne (I had just ground up one of my cayenne ristras earlier) and one heaping tablespoon of tumeric. I let it cook on low for about an hour, then strained it and poured it into little jars. Voila, cayenne-tumeric salve. I then gave two of the jars away to friends who also have trouble with painful joints. One of them is Fred, who suffers badly from rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and the other is Kathy who has the same knobs growing on her thumbs that I do on mine. They both find the salve helpful with the pain, but it doesn't make the arthritis go away entirely. It doesn't with me either, but the salve is useful to have when the ol' thumbs get achy.

I don't know if the growing, painful knobs on my thumbs is RA or what. I will probably get it looked at some time or another by a medical doctor, see if they can tell me what it is. At any rate, the salve is easy to make and you probably have all the ingredients you need in your kitchen, so give it a try. If you do, please let me know if the salve works for you. I'm very interested in finding what works for folks.

Duke also suggestes simply adding powdered red pepper to any white hand lotion you have around, add enough to make the lotion pink or reddish and apply a little to your skin. When I apply the salve to my skin, it doesn't sting--I thought it would, but it doesn't. The tumeric and pepper make the salve a reddish-orange and the reddish-orange stains your skin a bit. But hey, it's worth it to make the pain die down a bit.

By the way, I am always looking for little jars--baby food jar size. If any of you have a bunch you wouldn't mind getting rid of, I'd gladly swap you some nice sassafrass roots or other dried herbs I have that you might want. Feel free to email me for any bartering you might want to do--my email addy is patricianeill@hotmail.com.
HM

Cayenne does stop bleeding!

I sharpened my kitchen knives the other day. Usually after I do that, I'll cut myself on the now sharp as hell knife. And sure enough, I was cutting up potatoes for mashed potatoes tonight and cut my finger a tiny bit. No big deal, but then I remembered a post I did on cayenne pepper a while ago...

And immediately put some powdered cayenne into the cut. I thought it might sting like hell, but it didn't. Didn't hurt at all. And it did stop the bleeding!

I'm not sure I'd use it on a gushing cut femoral artery, but on any other cut or gash I certainly would. So now you know--cayenne will stop bleeding within a few minutes or less. Yipppeeee!
HM

The Other Wonder Herb: Cayenne Pepper

You know, I've never been a real hot pepper fan--they've always been too hot for my tastebuds. I grew hot peppers, Scotch Bonnets, habeneros, jalapenos, tabascos, pimentos, you name 'em, I've grown them. And picked them, pickled them and made powerful hot sauces. But I've never quite developed the taste for the truly fiery peppers.

But now I'm determined to. Whether I like them or not, I'm going to be eating them and using them. The health benefits are just too good to pass up. I grew a bunch of cayennes this year, and the fruit is hanging in pretty ristas around the house.

I've been reading that cayenne pepper can stop a heart attack, or help a person fully recover from it. I've been reading that cayenne pepper can stop bleeding, even gushing blood. And it can regulate high blood pressure so that you never have high blood pressure again.

Yes, it sounds too good to be true to me too. Although I may not seem like it in my writings here, I'm pretty skeptical. "Prove all things," is what I've learned. What that means to me is that I will slice some garlic and put it over a weird looking mole on my skin to see if the garlic will make the damn thing disappear. Actually, my husband said he's got a weird mole, a "cancer spot" as he called it, and so we'll try the slice of garlic on him. If I get even remotely sickly with a cold or flu, I will chop up garlic and put it on the bottom of my feet and see what happens. Will Michael's "cancer spot" go away? Will I feel much better after the garlic on the feet attempt?

That's what I mean by prove all things. I hope you will proceed the same way. I've had great luck with trying what my family and friends have considered "oddball" remedies. What I've tried doesn't always work, of course. Pharmaceuticals don't either--but I've had better luck with natural than chemical. I've found that overall, this is a good way for me to deal with my own health concerns.

So, on to cayenne pepper and why it is so good for you.

First of all, it is high in vitamin C, vitamin A, the complex of vitamin Bs, vitamin E, calcium, and potassium. It's a potent nutrititional powerhouse. If you eat a lot of it, as they do in southern climes, it will make you sweat, which will cool you off. Sweating is your body's way of releasing heat.

Recently I've been reading Dr. Christopher's Herbal Legacy, and what they have to say about cayenne made me very curious. If you've the time and interest, read the entire section about cayenne here.

I've read the "cayenne can stop bleeding" info here and other places as well. I have not yet had the occasion to see if this is so for myself, but I will try it next time I accidently cut myself.

I've been too timid to try cayenne tea (one teaspoon ground cayenne to a cup of hot water), but I did make a cayenne tincture. The tincture is almost too hot to take a direct eyedropper full, but I can get it down in a small glass of water. I expect my taste buds will adapt to the heat so that I'll be able to take it directly soon. Perhaps as I get better at this, I'll be taking 3 teaspoons a day, as Dr. Christopher did!

When my feet get cold in the winter, I have put ground cayenne in the bottom of my shoes. This works well. You'll get a nice warming heat from it for quite a while. I will also be making a cayenne salve for muscle aches and pains. There's lots of these on the market already, of course, but I've got lots of cayennes around and plenty of lard or coconut oil or olive oil or for that matter, vaseline around. Much less expensive than anything commercial, plus I know there's no other nasty chemicals in it.

If you keep two herbs in your house at all times, and even in your BOBs and BOVs, keep garlic and cayenne. These two are kickass powerful. Garlic is an antibiotic. Cayenne will stop bleeding. I know garlic works, and I'm going to find out more about cayenne. But they are both potential life-savers, which is important in survival situations.

There will be more on cayenne in this blog. Stay tuned.

HM