How to Make Comfrey Tea
For more than 3,000 years, as far back as the Greeks and Romans, herbalists have made numerous claims concerning the powerful medicinal properties of comfrey. It was commonly known as "knitbone" because of its effectiveness in accelerating the healing of broken bones. It was also used to treat various ailments such as ulcers, dysentery, diarrhea, indigestion, gum diseases, tuberculosis and other lung diseases, whooping cough, cancer, and arthritis. Comfrey leaves are rich in allantoin, phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium, trace minerals, calcium, and vitamins A, B-12 and C.
Instructions
-
Making Comfrey Tea for the Garden or for Personal Use
-
1
If comfrey grows on your property or you have access to a wild patch nearby, gather fresh leaves. Using a needle and thread, make a knot at the end of the thread, and thread the needle. Run the needle through the fresh leaves as many times as the thread will hold. Tie the ends together and hang it to dry.
-
2
To oven dry, put the leaves on a sheet pan and place them in the oven at a low temperature. To microwave dry, put the leaves on a plate and set the microwave on low for about two to five minutes. Crumble the leaves, including the midrib. Store in an airtight tin or bottle until needed. If you don't have any fresh comfrey, you can order plants at a health food store or online.
-
-
3
To make a comfrey infusion for personal use, take fresh comfrey equal to 1/4 cup or 2 tbsp. dried and 2 cups boiling water. Put the comfrey in a small bowl and add the boiling water. Steep for 10 minutes. Dip a clean cloth into this infusion while it's still warm and apply it to bruises, minor cuts and scrapes, minor burns, sunburn, eczema, and insect bites. It's also very helpful for sprained ankles, sore elbows, knees, necks, shoulders, and broken ribs and bone fractures. Add this tea to your bath to give your skin a healthy glow. The allantoin in comfrey is very beneficial to the skin, causing burns and wounds to heal faster.
-
4
To prepare liquid comfrey for compost and garden use, fill your blender 3/4 full with fresh comfrey leaves, then add water to about 2 inches below the rim. Blend on the "Liquefy" setting until the comfrey is dissolved. Pour the undiluted blended comfrey into your composter or on your compost pile. It's an excellent activator because it contains more nitrogen than manure, and will enrich and heat up the pile to accelerate decomposition. For use in your garden, mix one part comfrey tea to 10 parts water and use as a liquid fertilizer. Comfrey's high potassium content makes it beneficial for flowers, vegetables, (especially tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and potatoes), berries, and fruit trees.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Comfrey tea for medicinal purposes is to be used externally and is not recommended for drinking because the leaves and roots contain high levels of pyrrolizidine alkaloids, implicated in causing liver damage. When harvesting fresh comfrey, wear latex gloves, long sleeves, shoes and long pants as the leaves can irritate the skin in some people. Comfrey is quick to rot, and fermenting comfrey smells like sewage.
