So I have to say, after having gone through the covid years that the BCW tincture was one of the best things ever for that insanely painful sore throat. Simply fill a mason jar with all the fresh buds and all cover it with 190 proof alchohol - or the highest proof you can get (as we are dealing with a very resinous herb.) Put your lid on and then leave for at least 3 weeks shaking regularly, again thanks to the high resinous aspect of the medicine and needing to get it really “dissolved” or taken up by the alcohol.
The BCW honey was fab and I highly recommend it. I’m a bit of a pooh bear honestly in that all things should be doused with honey but my all time favourite BCW medicine and one I love to make and pass along is the black cotton wood ghee, inspired by Michael Moore although he recommended tallow.
Oh And a correction, the actual full name of BCW is Populus balsamifera subsp. trichocarpa - I somehow forgot to say the whole thing1
Use a 1:1 fresh black cotton wood buds to ghee weight ratio, macerating the buds very gently in the ghee (beware the crispy cockroach stage - means you’ve gone to far) for a long time over a low heat. I would place mine in its special black cotton wood pot near the wood stove and let it sit for a couple of days where it would go through heat cycles with the wood stove. You can use a water bath type crock pot also. When you get tired of baby siting the menstrum strain with your special black cottonwood sieve and put in container of choice.
What’s a special BCW pot and sieve? Well its one that you get from the thrift store and use year after year. These things are impossible to clean well unless you want to use gobs of alchohol and basically are ruined for any other use. Simply scrape clean and put away in a ziplock bag for next year.
The ghee absorbs wonderfully into the skin and can also be cut with your favourite oil to make a great daily winter moisturizer with the added benefit of smelling divine.
Again medicines I like to make are:
Tincture with 190 proof ETNL (dont need much, a quart will last a long time as a little goes a long way)
Infused ghee
Infused oil - Safflower or olive oil will do but Ive also used castor oil
Infused honey
Again for those of you wanting to buy buds I believe that Reisha and Gabe might have some ethically small batched wildcrafted buds in the store
www.waysidebotanicals.com/shop
Oh And a correction, the actual full name of BCW is Populus balsamifera subsp. trichocarpa
All the websites mentioned on the show have now faded and no longer exist - however all my contact info for herbal and other inquiries can be found here and any resources mentioned can be found here.
just have a hard time with unfamiliar sounds and then also gripped by paranoia that I am pronouncing words wrong has me freezing up especially with the latin.
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