Growing & Using Oregano by Sara Pitzer

Author:Sara Pitzer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC
Published: 1996-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

Folk Uses for Oregano

In the days when most medicines came from the herb garden, oregano was used to treat everything from bruises to bunions. While oregano is not a substitute for standard medical attention when you are treating a serious illness, some of the old uses can still be comforting. For instance, although we have cleaners and deodorizers that have made strewing herbs unnecessary, a vase full of fresh or dried oregano in a sick room helps relieve the “medicinal” odor of the room. Similarly, you can freshen the air in a room by simmering fresh or dried oregano in water in an open container.

Old-time use of oregano usually involved infusions, decoctions, macerates, or tinctures. Each had its special uses.

Infusion. To make an infusion, steep fresh or dried oregano leaves in hot water, and then strain them out, essentially producing a tea. Some of my Amish neighbors in Pennsylvania treated colds and flu with a tea made of oregano and parsley leaves.

Decoction. To make a decoction, put oregano leaves in cold water, turn on the heat, and boil for five or more minutes, then strain out the leaves and cool the liquid. An oregano decoction is soothing to irritated skin. It takes some of the sting out of sunburn and helps as much as anything else in relieving the itch of mosquito bites and poison ivy. It is surprisingly effective as a flea repellant if you sponge your pet with the decoction and then let it dry without rinsing. And for people, using the decoction as a hair rinse alleviates scalp itch and leaves a subtle fragrance in your hair that is in no way suggestive of pizza.

Maceration. To macerate means to steep in cold liquid. Oregano steeped in cold water produces a very lightly flavored liquid that makes a pleasant, non-medicinal-tasting mouthwash. (It sounds awful if you think only of oregano as a pizza herb, but remember that oregano is in the Mint Family.) Oregano tinctures are produced by macerating oregano in alcohol for several days. Use the resulting tincture for backrubs and therapeutic massage. Do not drink it! Allowing a tincture to evaporate to about half its original volume produces an extract that relieves some of the pain of bee strings.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.