I recently uploaded an article by Sarah Head to the Herb Society website about Horse Chestnut, in it she details how to make a horse chestnut flower remedy, so I thought I’d have a go. This weekend on our walk I found a few trees with plenty of ‘Sticky buds’ on them so picked enough to make the remedy. The thin white line between my finger and the bud in the photo above is actually the sticky sap that surrounds the leaf bud and it really is sticky, almost glue like.
The Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) is not a native of the UK and is often confused with the Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa) also not a native of the UK and another plant said to have been introduced by the Romans. Sweet chestnuts are edible but horse chestnuts are not, the leaves on the sweet chestnut are different to horse chestnut as are the capsules that surround the nut, sweet chestnuts look more like hedgehog prickles, whilst horse chestnut resembles a slightly spiky golf ball.Sarah’s simple recipe for Horse Chestnut Flower remedy is useful for dealing with “mental chatter, easing repetitive thoughts or worrisome behaviours” and this is how you make it:- Pick 6-8 sticky buds. Place them in a stainless steel or glass saucepan and cover with spring or distilled water. Place a tightly fitting lid on the saucepan, place on the heat and bring to the boil slowly. Simmer for about twenty minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and leave to cool. When the infusion is completely cool, remove 50ml and place in a sterilised glass bottle (dark glass is best). Add 50ml brandy to the infusion to help preservation.This is the mother essence. It can be taken as it is using 4 drops under the tongue or in water or fruit juice 3-4 times a day or every half hour in a crisis. Sarah advises us to take care when cleaning out the saucepan used for making the remedy as the buds leave a very sticky residue around the edges when cooked. She wasn’t wrong, my pan was rather sticky despite being non stick, but with some hot water and scrubbing it cleaned up like new. The remedy really is simple to make, the hardest part was cleaning the pan.
At one of Sarah’s workshops in May last year we made a couple of sun infused flower essences hawthorn and dandelion. I took a sample of dandelion flower essence home with me and I use a couple of drops when I’m feeling tense. This year I’m going to make a few more flower essences using the sun infused method that I can use to help me when I experience different things that I find difficult to cope with. Amongst the ones I want to make are honeysuckle, rose, gorse, dandelion, calendula, blackberry, borage, peppermint and lavender.Making sun infused flower essences is easy, you need a sunny day a clean glass bowl, pure spring water and the flowers of your choice. Find your sunny spot, and a spot that is going to stay sunny for at least 5 hours. Add the water to the bowl, then sprinkle the flowers on the top and leave them to infuse in the water for 3 – 5 hours. Once infused fill a bottle 2/3rds full of the sun infused flower essence and add 1/3rd brandy, take a few drops in water or juice several times a day.
