Comfrey Comfort

Will Comfrey Provide Comfort?

I have been reading about natural remedies and how people used to treat certain ailments and I thought it would be interesting to experiment.  Before you get the mistaken impression that I'm going to use leeches or engage in blood-letting, let me tell you that Benjamin has been running track and is suffering with muscle soreness.  He comes home from practice complaining and we want to try to help him.

In this post we talked about growing comfrey in our garden back by the compost pile.  In that post we also discussed the healing properties that the leaves have as they contain allantoin, a chemical compound that has positive results in relieving soreness, inflammation, and skin irritation. It has been shown to aid in cell regeneration and help with muscle and joint pain.

So we decided last night to make a Comfrey Poultice.  A poultice is described as being "a soft, moist mass of plant material applied to the body to relieve soreness and irritation and held in place with a cloth."  I looked at several websites and used a combination of "recipes" to make our comfrey poultice.  Here's how we did it:

First, I walked out to the garden and snipped off about a dozen mature comfrey leaves.  Comfrey leaves are large, leathery, and fragrant.  There were a few stink bugs that were on the leaves so I washed the leaves up, sending the stink bugs down the drain and into a watery oblivion.

Comfrey Leaves from our Farmacy

Then I got a sharp knife and chopped the leaves into squares about 1 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches.  It really doesn't matter how small, just chop them up.

Chopped up comfrey leaves

Put them all in a food processor and puree.  It doesn't take very long for the leaves to turn into a substance that looks just like pesto, BUT DON'T EAT IT!  Comfrey is toxic if taken internally.  It is just to be used topically.

Comfrey Puree

When it is fully pureed, it will be a little too "liquidy" so get a 1/2 cup or so of flour and throw in there.  The flour acts as a binding agent to firm things up into a dough-like substance.

Adding Flour

Once you use the processor to mix the flour in, you can see that it has a firmer consistency.

Thickened up

Now that your comfrey is processed, you can make your poultice.  I used an old T-shirt that I cut up to fit the size of the sore area on Benjamin's leg.  It runs from just below his kneecap to his ankle, so I had to make a long bandage.  You'll want to adjust the size of this recipe and the cloth to the body part that you are treating. Now use a spatula to remove the pureed comfrey from the food processor and apply to the cloth bandage.

I'll admit, this looks like something you might find in a diaper, but I decided not to judge a book by it's cover and pressed on.

No, this isn't what you think it is!

Carefully take the poultice and apply it to the affected area, ensuring that the comfrey/flour mixture comes in contact with the skin.  I used strips of the T-shirt to tie the poultice in place. 

Healing for a sore leg

Tricia wrapped it further in a trash bag so that the green comfrey juice wouldn't drip on the carpet.  

Heal Thyself!

Benjamin was a good, patient patient!  He allowed us to doctor on him.  You are supposed to leave the poultice on for 4 - 6 hours and he complied.  I called at lunch today to ask if Benjamin had felt any relief as a result of applying the comfrey poultice.  Benjamin said that he thought it felt better but wasn't really sure.

I know that is not a resounding testimonial and certainly not what I was hoping for. We'll try the comfrey poultice again for rashes to see if it has healing effects as allantoin is used in topical ointments and creams for skin irritations.  We'll report back our experiences when we experiment again.

Growing Comfrey

We had been hearing about the numerous helpful properties of comfrey and wanted to plant some in our garden.  As if reading our minds, a friend of ours gave Tricia some comfrey they had in their garden.  It was dug up by the roots and wrapped in a paper towel and my wife brought it home.  By the time I got home in the afternoon, the plant had wilted and looked terrible.  I promptly took it out to the garden, planted it, and watered it, hoping to revive it so that it would grow, but after a few days, I noted the time of death and sadly mourned the passing of our comfrey plant. I remember going inside and asking the Queen of Our Maker's Acres Family Farm to make sure to water bare root plants in the future so that they don't die - like our ill-fated comfrey.

Imagine my surprise (and shame) when a month later I saw green growth coming up out of the ground in the location by the compost pile where I had planted the comfrey!  It's ALIVE!! The comfrey grew back from the roots and it has flourished. Here's a picture of the plant:

Comfrey flourishing by the compost pile

Now to the things that comfrey can be used for.  First, comfrey contains a chemical compound called allantoin.  Allantoin moisturizes and promotes in cell growth.  It is a healing aid to help with swelling or inflammation, soreness or in relief of rashes or blistering of the skin.

A poultice can be made by boiling the fleshy, leathery leaves in water and then wringing out the leaves and then putting the warm, softened leaves into a cloth and applying it to the injured part. We've not done this yet, so I cannot give a review of the results, but we intend to and I'll let you know our thoughts.

Healing Leaves

In the articles that I read on comfrey like this article HERE, I learned that comfrey is a liver toxin and as a result, it isn't to be taken orally, applied to broken skin, or fed to livestock - so there's that note of caution!  Comfrey has been used throughout the ages for its healing properties and I was surprised to learn that it was once called, knitbone, or boneset, for its ability to help mend bone fractures.

Image Credit

Another one of the good aspects of comfrey is that it is known as a 'miner.'  It sends out a root system that can go down 10 feet.  This brings up nutrients that might not otherwise be accessed by other plants in the garden and allows those nutrients to be used.  Additionally, comfrey, when mixed in the compost pile, is said to aid in the decomposition of the pile, similar to what manure does.  Some people use it as a soil conditioner or fertilizer and lay the leaves in the ground when planting potatoes.   

Healthy comfrey

Comfrey can be harvested by simply cutting it all down to about two inches above the soil level and it will grow back in a month, allowing you to harvest again.  The leaves can be dried and stored so that you can use them later.  We're new to growing comfrey, so stay tuned and we'll report back our experience using it.