June 23rd, 2019

I made a dandelion infusion last night as one of my labs and discovered the taste was much milder than I expected. In fact, both kids enjoyed it.  The problem was, it's a diuretic and I drank it just before bed...  I can tell you it works!  LOL  My son was acting like he was wide awake but he went to sleep pretty quick once we went to bed.  That made me happy.  I put him in his bed then went out pretty quick myself!  I haven't started breakfast yet but have no doubt we will eat before I'm done writing this. The list below is still pretty long so I'll probably break it down into 2 days.  I moved my virtual herbariums under member only last night.  Membership is free and I have to invite you (send me a comment) until I have the money to upgrade my page here but a lot of work goes into them and it occurred to me, once I finish school, I will continue my research on these herbs and I want to put priority on herbariums for everything in my lab kits.  A lot of work and I'd like that to mean something.  I may make it a paid subscription way in the future but we'll see where that goes. For now it will remain free.   This blog will always be free. I will need to work on some of the other ones soon.  Only one left to talk about since I'm going into the ones I've updated.  I'll start that one on Tuesday.  The kids are happily watching Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure or as she calls it "Terrance". Time to get breakfast cooking before they get upset over being hungry. Breakfast is done. I went to put my son's diapers in the drier and discovered I forgot to start the washer...  Gonna be a great day!  lol  Fortunately all I need to do is fight the kids to read my text book. I only have 3 more herbarium entries to do for my formal assignment and one of those is brewing.  I need a couple more recipes to try. Then I can get those last done.  I want to focus on the harder things.  I need to be able to pass those finals!

On to the constituents of comfrey.

Triterpenes are oil-soluble as well as high percentage alcohol soluble. These tend to make great essential oils and are used for steam therapies, like making a peppermint oil and using that to help with congestion through steam, as an example. Reading this section, this can get pretty complicated so I'll only add a bit more if requested. While most triterpenes are NOT water soluble, the glycoside triterpenoids are which is why it's important to know which is which.   (Ganora, 209, p. 45, 46, 68, 134, 140, 141, 142, 144).

Tryptophan is the stuff in our thanksgiving turkey dinner that puts us in a coma after eating...  LOL The reason for this is tryptophan is a mild sedative that relaxed the consumer (Ganora, 2009, p. 33).

Methionine is an amino acid that contains sulfur (Ganora, 2009, p. 11).

Lysine is used to treat cold sores.  I know the index says it's in Ganora and I'm leaving the reference here in case I find the correct page in the future but It's not on the page it says it is (Ganora, 2009, p. 162).

Reading the one page on triterpenes really highlighted to me, again, why it's important to understand the extraction techniques for each constituent.  It can serious change what your extraction is capable of doing.  If you make a tea and the active constituent for the indication is only alcohol-soluble, you are going to get a failed result.  I really am glad I'm taking these classes. Understanding the plants this indepth is vital, in my opinion to tailor herbal medicines to a person's individual health.  Anyone can buy a book and follow the recipes and have SOME result.  Optimal results, however, depend on a more detailed understanding.  I'm glad these posts keep reinforcing this to me.  It's great motivation to keep learning.  Have a great day!

Constituents: mucilage (glucose)

Isoleucine (Ganora, 2009, p. 104).

Protein (Ganora, 2009, p. 11, 22, 24, 45, 65, 77, 92, 101).

Amino acids (Ganora, 2009, 12, 21, 44, 45, 65, 101, 103, 104, 107, 114, 133, 154).

Choline (Ganora, 2009, p. 93).