THE HOME APOTHECARY
Home Crafted Recipes Using Herbs and Essential Oils
Disclaimer:
This e-book is for educational purposes only. It does not provide medical advice. Information in this e-book is meant to motivate you to make your own health care
and dietary decisions based upon your own research and in par tnership with your health care provider.
No information in this e-book should be used to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any disease or condition. Though I am a trained herbalist and can recommend
and suggest medicinal herbs for various health goals, I am not a licensed or registered healthcare practitioner. The content is not intended to be a substitute for
professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have
regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this book.
Any statements or claims about the possible health benefits conferred by any foods, supplements, or activities have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug
Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. By using this e-book you agree to these terms.
The Home Apothecary: Home-Crafted Recipes Using Herbs and Essential Oils | 2
I’m Jackie, a thir tysomething mother of two and wife of an Army Veteran. I’m the headmistress behind
The Paleo Mama website and author of Everyday Natural: Living a Pure and Simple Life Is Not As
Complicated As You Think 1.
My journey into crafting my own herbal recipes star ted when I was pregnant with my first child nearly
11 years ago. I remember reading the ingredients for the first time on my sunscreen bottle and then
searching online for what “oxybenzone” could do to my unborn baby. Then I found out that my hair
dye had lead in it, my body wash had known carcinogens in it, and in my deodorant was aluminum,
which is a known hormone disruptor.
So I purged my drawers and dresser tops of these dangerous products and star ted making my own.
Not only did I discover that it was fun to create homemade products for my health, my home, and
my children, but it was also so much cheaper, and I was saving money!
This passion into getting my hands dir ty with ingredients like coconut oil, shea butter, cacao butter,
bentonite clay, essential oils and herbs, led me to the desire to learn more about these beautiful gifts
of the ear th through having my own herbal garden, dabbling into permaculture principles, attending
plant and mushroom walks, and, eventually, through attending herbal medicine school to become a
trained herbalist.
I am confident that once you make your first batch of homemade body butter, or create a nightly
ritual of sipping on my Golden Milk latte, you will fall in love with the ar t of herbal medicine making.
There is something so cathar tic about creating your own healing recipes and seeing your own
apothecary overflowing with tinctures, infused honeys, body butters, home-crafted cleaning products,
medicinal bone broth, and delightful tea blends.
I hope you enjoy these recipes and are able to create some beautiful gifts for yourself, your family and
your friends.
About In love and gratitude,
Jackie Ritz
the Author
I’d love for you to stay in
touch and subscribe to my email list
1
Jacqueline Ritz, Everyday Natural: Living a Pure and Simple Life Is
Not as Complicated as You Think (Lake Mary, FL: Siloam, 2017).
A Note About
the Recipes
I tried to make the largest collection of home crafted herbal recipes
with the least amount of ingredients, but without sacrificing quality
and efficacy. There might be some ingredients that you have never
heard of and never used before. I’ve created a Home Apothecary
resource page to help you order the products that you need.
Jackie’s Top 10 Favorite Recipes
You’re going to discover that you love cer tain recipes in this book 1. Quickie Fire Cider 6. All Purpose Healing Salve
and there will be ones that you come back to year after year.
2. Traditional Elderberry Syrup 7. Mint Chocolate Body Cream
I’ve poured my hear t out in these pages, wasted gallons of coconut 3. Mushroom Hot Chocolate 8. Grapefruit Sugar Scrub
oil, and have truly found what I believe to be the best collection 4. Herbal Bone Broth 9. Probiotic Deodorant
of herbal concoctions for your home apothecary. Because of my
experience with these recipes, I do have some favorites.
5. Cinnamon Vanilla & Golden 10. Morning Swish
Turmeric Ghee
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2 Disclaimer 30 Lip Balms
3 About the Author 31 Spiced Chai Lip Balm
32 Hibiscus Orange Lip Balm
4 A Note About the Recipes
33 How to Make a Perfume Roll-on
5 Introduction to the Book 34 How to Make Homemade Deodorant
9 Recommended Herbs and Supplies 35 Basic Deodorant Recipe
to Start Your Apothecary 35 Deodorant for Sensitive Skin
10 Part One: Home Crafted Teas and Tinctures 36 Probiotic Deodorant
10 Introduction to Teas and Tinctures 37 Oil Cleansing Method: A Natural
11 How to Make Herbal Infusions and Decoctions Skin Care Alternative
12 Medicinal Tea Blends 37 Oil Cleansing for Dry Skin
12 Herbal Chai Tea 37 Oil Cleansing for Oily Skin
12 Sleepy-Time Tea 37 Oil Cleansing for Normal Skin
12 Tummy Tea 38 Blossom Facial Serum
13 Moon Cycle Tea 39 Herbal Oral Care
13 Lactation Tea 40 Remineralizing Tooth Powder
13 Aphrodisiac Tea 41 Oil Pulling
14 Folkloric Alcoholic Tinctures 42 Morning Swish Recipe
15 How to Make a Folkloric Tincture 43 Oil Pulling Bites
17 Top 5 Favorite Herbs to Tincture 44 Part Three: Everyday Herbal
18 Part Two: Crafting Body Recipes Remedies for Staying Healthy
for the Home Apothecary 44 Introduction to Everyday Herbal Remedies
18 Introduction to Crafting Your Own Body Recipes 44 Congestion Steam Bath
18 How to Infuse Oil for Salves with Eucalyptus Essential Oil
20 All Purpose Healing Salve 45 Nasal Cleansing
Contents 21 Comfrey Salve 45 Neti Pot Saline Flush
22 Body Butters and Creams 45 Neti Pot Calendula Tea Flush
23 Whipped Sleepytime Butter 46 Sore Throat Gargle
24 Lavender Body Butter 46 Saline Gargle
25 Mint Chocolate Body Cream 46 Apple Cider Vinegar Gargle
26 Magnesium Cream for Sore Muscles 46 Essential Oil Gargle
27 Sugar Scrubs 47 Garlic Ear Oil
27 Sugar Scrub Base Recipe 48 Hot Onion Packs
28 Grapefruit Sugar Scrub 48 Happy Ears Essential Oil Roll-On for Kids
29 Sugar Scrub Bars 49 Soothing Winter Season Crockpot Elixir
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50 Elderberry Syrup 69 Herbed Goat Cheese
51 Traditional Elderberry Syrup 69 Cinnamon Sugar Goat Cheese
51 Alcohol-free Elderberry Syrup 69 Honey Lemon Goat Cheese
52 Fire Cider: Spicy Herbal Vinegars 69 Garlic and Chives Goat Cheese
53 Quickie Fire Cider 70 Herbal Beverages
54 Classic Fire Cider 70 Mushroom Hot Chocolate
55 Immune Boosting Detox Bath 71 Golden Milk Latte
57 Bentonite Clay Poultice 72 Matcha Latte
58 Baking Soda Poultice 73 Herb Infused Finishing Salts
59 Part Four: Herbs in the Kitchen 74 Zesty Lemon and Sage Finishing Salt
59 Introduction to Herbs in the Kitchen 74 Italian Finishing Salt
60 Infused Culinary Oil 74 Smoky Barbeque Finishing Salt
61 Spicy Chili Culinary Oil 75 Smoky Homemade French Fries
61 Italian Herb Culinary Oil 76 Homemade Vanilla Extract
62 Infused Honey 77 Part Five: Herbal Cleaning
62 Basic Honey Infusion Recipe Recipes for Your Home Apothecary
62 Elderberry Honey Infusion 77 Introduction to Herbal Cleaning
63 Ghee: Clarified Butter Medicine Recipes for Your Home Apothecary
64 Basic Ghee Recipe 78 Natural Floor Cleaners
65 Italian Herb Ghee 79 Homemade Laundry Detergent
65 Golden Turmeric Ghee 80 Wool Dryer Balls
65 Cinnamon Vanilla Ghee 81 Furniture Polish
66 Herbal Bone Broth 81 Natural Glass Cleaner
68 Italian Herb Dressing 81 Multipurpose Citrus Cleaner
82 Afterword
Contents
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It has been nearly eleven years since I star ted taking increasingly bigger steps toward
a more natural, healthy lifestyle. During those eleven years I have researched, googled,
gone to various schools, taken online classes, read hundreds of blogs, made thousands
of recipes for my home, whipped up tinctures and body butters, made some terrible
Elderberry syrup, cried over spilled bottles of expensive essential oils, and failed
miserably over and over again.
In my pursuit of living a more natural life, I almost gave it all up. I became consumed
with the need to be and do everything that every exper t was telling me to do. I
felt guilty because I wasn’t living up to my perfect idea of who “Mrs. Natural” was.
I burned the midnight oil and read every health and wellness website, raided our
cabinets and cupboards, threw my husband’s deodorant away many times, and
became too fearful to use anything.
This is not what I want for you.
There are hundreds of different opinions out there about what natural living is. The
whole idea of natural living is constantly evolving. What you learned today is merely a
stepping stone to what you will learn tomorrow. So let me give you my simple working
definition of what natural living has become for my family, after I nearly threw in the
towel and gave up on trying to be perfect.
Natural living is providing the cleanest, healthiest
food, herbal remedies and household products
for my family, and avoiding as many chemicals
“ and additives as possible. It is helping each family
member to become less stressed, happier, and freer
Introduction by living as simply and as close to nature as possible.
The Home Apothecary It isn’t about becoming an anxious, hot mess because now you know about all those
chemicals, toxins, and GMOs attacking you through commercial foods and body
products. Before you knew about all these things, you were oblivious to the dangers in
them, and you probably were enjoying your life. It was nice. Now that you have a little
knowledge, you see all these warning labels and you feel like your brain might explode.
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Natural living and crafting your own herbal recipes shouldn’t make you feel
more stressed, less happy, less functional, more miserable, exhausted, and
anxious. It doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy this beautiful life anymore because you
are overwhelmed by the ugliness in it.
No one wants to feel like that. “Your life does not get
As you star t crafting your own home apothecary, remember this is a journey
better by chance.
into being more sustainable and to putting a priority on your health. The most It gets better by change.”
impor tant step you can take in this journey is the first one. It doesn’t have
to be a big one. And if that first step was purchasing this e-book, then I’m
honored to be your guide. - Jim Rohn
Stepping into the craft of making your own remedies with herbs and essential
oils is something that millions of people have done for thousands of years.
This is a healing ar t that is deeply rooted in the ear th and has survived many
natural catastrophes of time, the largest being the Industrial Revolution and
the introduction of technology. For a shor t while, the science of medicine
replaced the ar t of healing; and although modern medicine offers great
advances in our healthcare, emergency-oriented services, and medication for
serious diseases, its monopoly on health care poses a serious problem — no
one system can answer the needs of all the people in every kind of health
situation. In spite of these medical advances, we, as a society, are becoming
sicker and less healthy.
We have become dependent on doctors, and we are no longer in touch with
what amazing gifts this ear th offers to us. Out of neglect, we have forgotten
how to nourish and suppor t our own bodies with herbs and essential oils.
But the tides are changing. More and more people are becoming dissatisfied
with Western medicine, and there is a natural “awakening” happening all over
the world. Home-crafted remedies using herbs and essentials oils are beginning
to pop up all over the place.
Natural medicine is on the rebound, and people like you and me all over the
world are star ting to grow, gather, and make their own herbal recipes.
Healing is a craft, not a science, and if we are to heal ourselves then we must
find a way to connect with the traditions of our past through beginning to
craft our own home apothecary, stocked and stuffed with remedies that will
help us on our journey of healing.
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Recommended
Herbs & Supplies
to Start Your
Apothecary
Herbs Essential Oils Body Care Supplies
Lavender Almond Oil
Astragalus, sliced thin
Lemon Arrowroot
Calendula, whole flowers
Peppermint Baking Soda
German Chamomile flowers You can find my recommended
Wild Orange Beeswax pastilles
Cardamom, hulled brands on my Home
Tea Tree Bentonite Clay
Cinnamon chips or sticks Apothecary resource page.
Frankincense Castor oil
Comfrey root or leaves
Eucalyptus Coconut oil
Echinacea
Grapefruit Cocoa butter wafers
Elderberry berries
Vetiver Fractionated Coconut oil (liquid coconut oil)
Fennel Seed
MCT oil
Ginger
Olive oil
Hibiscus “roselle” calyxes
Jojoba oil
Lavender
Shea butter
Lemon balm
Sugar (brown, white, raw, sucanat, etc)
Lemon verbena
Vitamin E
Rose
Stinging Nettles
Valerian
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Introduction to Herbal Teas and Tinctures
Part One Herbal Tea Infusions and Decoctions
I have to admit that tea and tincture making is the easiest craft of all the herbal
recipes in this book. It is the bread and butter of your home apothecary.
If you have ever enjoyed a hot cup of tea (whether with loose herbs or using a
teabag), then you have made an herbal infusion. Infusions are when we pour hot or
cold water over plant material — mainly leaves, flowers, and fruits. These herbs are
then allowed to sit covered for twenty minutes. It’s very impor tant to cover these
herbs, especially aromatic herbs, or the beneficial compounds and essential oils will
evaporate out. After straining the herb or removing the teabag, the tea can then be
drunk, cooled to room temperature, or even refrigerated.
Decoctions are made with herbs that need to be boiled and simmered down. This
method is necessary for barks, roots, hard non-aromatic seeds, and mushrooms.
The herb is placed in water and then brought to a boil. Once boiling, you turn down
the heat to a simmer, place a lid on the pot, and then allow to simmer for twenty to
thir ty minutes.
Sometimes we make a tea with a mixture of herbs and will need to do a combined
infusion and decoction. If this is the case, you will make your decoction, turn off the
heat, and add your herbs to be infused for the next 20 minutes.
Benefits of Tea
• Tea is one of the most ancient forms of medicine and very comfor ting to drink.
• Tea is very inexpensive to make, especially if you grow and gather your own
herbs from your garden.
• Drinking tea is very hydrating (unless they are diuretic herbs) and a great
remedy when you are sick.
• Teas are a better choice for those who want to avoid any alcohol. Tinctures are
usually made with an alcohol solvent.
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