INDIAN SALVE: Some readers may remember lively discussions about
so-called Indian salve a few years back in Round the Square. By all
descriptions, it was a panacea for whatever ails you.

We picked up the Salamanca, N.Y., newspaper the other day and,
lo and behold, there was an article about a workshop on traditional
Seneca medicine including one on how to make this salve.

As our readers know, this salve is used to treat minor ailments
such as scrapes, burns, cuts, sprains and rashes such as poison
ivy.

Herbalist Yolanda Smith of the Cattaraugus Territory, who led
the workshop, had collected a small bunch of each of the three
primary natural ingredients – jewel weed, yarrow, and St.
Johnswort.

The entire plant – leaves, stems and roots – are washed and
dried and then broken up into smaller pieces. Place them in a
stainless steel cook pot along with 34 ounces of extra virgin olive
oil.

(In ancient times, Yolanda said, it was likely that rendered
animal fat such as bear grease would have been used in place of
oil.)

Yolanda cooked the pot on the kitchen stove until the plant
particles were crisp. She strained the cooked plants out of the oil
and discarded them, noting that the oil had turned dark green in
color and fragrant from the herbs.

Into the infused oil, she gradually added pieces of beeswax and
allowed them to melt.

“This is the part that’s hard to gauge and just has to be done
by trial and error. Add too little beeswax and the salve will be
too soupy. Add too much and it will be too stiff,” she told the
newspaper.

The finished salve was allowed to cool and portioned out into
small containers for the members of the class. It keeps best if
stored in the refrigerator.

A couple of pointers for would-be salve makers:

First of all, be sure to properly identify the plants in the
woods so they can be used to their best and safest advantage.

This is not the optimal time to gather herbs, Yolanda said:
“It’s best not to collect your plant materials while the lightning
bugs are out.”

To cook the concoction, do not use aluminum cookware – only
stainless steel.