A Burn Remedy in the Potato. Honey, Too!
I bet you never thought of the potato or honey as a burn remedy. These ancient remedies are excellent for first aid. Now, usually I share herbal recipes, but today I’m going to share with you about the healing properties of two common foods, potatoes and honey, for mild burns.
I take care of virtually every first aid situation that comes up in my family with the herbal potions and salves I’ve made, but when it comes to mild burns I have found great success working with two foods in my cabinet: potatoes and honey.
That’s right, potatoes and honey are both great burn remedies. Let’s dive into how they work…
Important Note
These treatments are for minor burns or sunburn. For burns that affect a large area or for more serious burns, seek medical attention.
A Minor Burn Potato Remedy
This simple potato burn remedy can help support the body as it heals from a minor burn. Here’s how to make a potato poultice in your own kitchen.
Ingredients you’ll need…
- 1 large potato
- If you have a minor burn, first make sure you get cold running tap water on it immediately. If it’s not clean, make sure you clean out the burn with cold running tap water.
- Then, peel, slice, or grate a potato.
- Apply the potato peels, slices, or grated potato onto the affected area.
- Keep replacing your potato peel dressings (or sliced or grated potato) as needed. At some point, you may need to hold the dressing on with a bandage or gauze.
Yield: 1 potato poultice
What is a Poultice?
This mass of potato you are using is called a poultice. Now you know that a poultice is a mass of plant matter that you can apply to an affected area in a first aid situation. You’ll see this term in a lot of herbal books, and a poultice is one of the simplest herbal remedies to prepare.
Does raw potato help minor burns? It sure does! Learn about the benefits of potatoes below.
The Benefits of Potatoes
Potatoes are excellent at drawing out the heat from a minor burn. Some other uses for potatoes include itch relief and a poultice for sties. Perhaps the most ironic thing would be getting burned while making french fries. Then you could treat the burn with your left over raw potatoes!
Want to Learn More About Food as Medicine?
Most people don’t know that potatoes can help soothe minor burns — this helpful trick sure is handy to know in the kitchen. And this remedy is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to food as medicine. If you’re ready to take your herbal kitchen skills to the next level, then you’ll love our Culinary Herbalism course.
Created by world renowned health expert K.P. Khalsa, Culinary Herbalism is an information packed video series that teaches you the healing qualities of food, and how to simply incorporate healthful herbs into your everyday life. After this course you’ll not only be more confident as a kitchen herbalist but also have a better understanding of how food can support your digestive, cardiovascular, immune health, and more.
You can find Culinary Herbalism (plus many more incredible courses) on HerbMentor, our affordable online platform for herbal education. Try HerbMentor for just $1.
Honey is a fantastic home remedy for minor burns.
Another Minor Burn Remedy: Honey!
Once you are finished using your potato, protect and support the burn’s healing process by simply applying honey to it. Then wrap in a sterile bandage. Honey has so many uses that there are entire books written about it. In addition to topically supporting minor burns, ingesting local honey can support folks with seasonal allergies. Honey also makes a wonderful preservative for herbal remedies. Learn how to make a rose petal honey to add to all your favorite desserts here.
Another idea for minor burns: you can also wrap a minor burn in bandages soaked in apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is yet another supermarket herbal remedy that has a myriad of uses. In fact, I own a book called Honey, Garlic, and Vinegar.
The Herbal Remedy Vault has all of our printable recipe cards...
