[Herbalist] Preservation of a product (was Bruise salve)

[Maggie MacDonald]

At 08:36 AM 2/6/03,foxryde said something like:
>Makes sense and is very period.  Use what you have in your back yard!  What
>about the Witch Hazel?  Why is it in there?  Where do you get leaves?  In
>the back yard again?  I use a Witch Hazel tincture in another one of my
>products, but I make it with the bark.
>

Catherine's answer on the witch hazel:
The Witch hazel is in there for both it's astringent and hemostatic
properties, especially  handy in those cases of bruising that also include
welting - like "armor bites"

(*doh* I knew it was something like that, I was just too lazy to dig out
the notes from the herbalist classes) Again, I go with what my local
supplier has, and that's the bark.  There's another local shop that will
find any form of the plant you want, but at a significantly greater cost.

Regards,
Maggie