St John's wort tincture, elderflower syrup, plum butter simmered for three days and calendula salve on lard — recipes passed down by whisperers and grandmothers.

Chamomile — authentic photo, Wikimedia Commons

⚠ Important: This is how the old Slavs, whisperers and our grandmothers used these recipes. We are not doctors — this is a record of old folk knowledge and cultural heritage, not medical advice. Consult a doctor or pharmacist before any use of herbs and preserves, especially with medication, in pregnancy, with chronic illness and for children.

Before pharmacies existed, every village cottage had its own: the pantry. Tinctures for digestion, syrups for cough, preserves for winter and salves for 'everything that hurts'. We collected the recipes the way whisperers and grandmothers passed them on — step by step, no shortcuts. You will find the full versions in the app, in the Book of Knowledge → Grandma's Recipes.

St John's wort tincture — 'St John's blood'

St John's wort — Wikimedia Commons

Pour 500 ml of 70% spirit over two cups of flowering St John's wort tops (picked at sunny noon). Three weeks in the dark, shaken every two days — the tincture turns ruby-red, once called 'St John's blood'. Strain and let it mature for two weeks. 15–20 drops in water were taken 'for sorrows and for the stomach'. Caution: St John's wort interacts with many medicines and increases sun sensitivity.

Elderflower syrup

Elder — Wikimedia Commons

Layer 30–40 umbels (picked before noon, never rinsed!) in a jar with slices of two lemons. Pour over a cooled syrup of 1 kg sugar and a litre of water. After 48–72 hours strain, boil with a teaspoon of citric acid and bottle. A spoonful in hot water served 'for fever and cough' — elder makes you sweat. Remember: before picking, grandmothers bowed to the shrub, for 'the spirits of the ancestors live under the elder'.

Plum butter — a three-day ritual

5 kg of ripe damsons, stoned, are simmered without sugar over low heat for 2–3 hours a day for three days, stirred with a wooden spoon — slowly, in one direction only, 'so the good does not turn back from the house'. On the third day the mass is nearly black and so thick a spoon stands in it. Jar hot, pasteurize 20 minutes.

Calendula salve on lard

Warm two handfuls of calendula heads in 250 g of melted lard for 15 minutes (it should barely shimmer, never fry). Cover for 24 hours, rewarm, strain into jars, keep refrigerated. For chapped hands, chafing and cracked heels. 'What calendula cannot heal, nothing will heal', the grandmothers said.

Comfrey salve — the 'bone-knitting herb'

Warm 100 g of grated comfrey root (dug after the first frosts) in lard for 20 minutes, rest overnight, strain. External use only — for bruises, joints and sprained ankles. Comfrey is never taken internally.

Four thieves vinegar, garlic honey and onion syrup

Peppermint — Wikimedia Commons

Three classics of the protective pantry: four thieves vinegar (sage, rosemary, thyme, lavender, mint and garlic macerated 2–4 weeks in apple vinegar — the legendary protection 'in times of plague'), garlic honey (2 heads of garlic in 250 g of honey for a week — a teaspoon daily from October to March) and the oldest Polish 'syrup': onion with sugar, left overnight, given by the teaspoon for cough.

Where to find the full recipes?

In the Ezostylia app, in the Book of Knowledge, a new tab awaits: 'Grandma's Recipes' — 12 complete step-by-step recipes (tinctures, syrups, plum butter, rose petal jam, salves, compresses) with whisperers' lore. Also read our article on the herbs of the whisperers with authentic photos.

Photos: Wikimedia Commons (public domain / CC). Recipes: records of the folk tradition of Podlasie and the Polish countryside.

Grandma's recipes: tinctures, plum butter and herbal salves