Jeremiah asked this famous rhetorical question Jer. 8:22. “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been
restored?” The dire conditions of the people that caused them to need balm was given in the verse previous. “For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken; I
mourn, dismay has taken hold of me.” Jeremiah was dismayed, and maybe even disgusted, that the condition of the people have gotten so bad.
Balm, of course, is a medicinal salve. The people were wounded from their sins and idolatries and needed to be resorted. This brokenness is compared to physical maladies
and physical cures to illustrate how unnecessarily tragic it was. People had sought the balm of Gilead to help their illnesses for centuries. In fact, the caravan that Joseph
was sold to was heading to Egypt carrying balm from Gilead. (Gen. 37:25) A few years later when Joseph sent his brothers back for their remaining brother Benjamin (before he
had revealed himself to them) their father Jacob said to take the best products of the land “to carry down to the man as a present, a little balm.” (Gen. 43:11) After the captivity,
when Israel took the promised land, Gilead, on the west side of the Jordan, became part of their land. The tribe of Gad settled there. The balm trade then became an Israeli one.
(Ezk. 27:17) The reason for all this was that one of the trees there secreted a turpentine like resin that was highly sought after. It is said the this balm was worth twice its weight in silver.
Balm of Gilead/Cottonwood Oil
If you have a cottonwood grove where you live, you know the amazing aroma the trees give off. The buds of the tree, which are available from fall to late winter, exude a resin that many call “balm of Gilead.”
What I like to do is make a rich, luxurious balm of Gilead oil with the buds. Often, you find cottonwoods (Populus balsamifera or P. trichocarpa for all you botanical techie types) growing along river banks.
What I usually do is wait for a good windstorm. After a windstorm, I’ll find cottonwood branches, entire limbs, or even entire trees all along the riverbanks. If I was only making a small jar of oil, I could certainly pick the
buds right of a live tree and put it right in my jar. However, being there are so many of these trees around me, I like to wait to gather buds from trees or branches that are no longer going to turn into spring leaves.
In other words, downed branches, limbs and trees.
The colder the day, the better. Gathering too many of these buds can be quite a sticky situation! Native people made glue from the resin.
If you do get resin on things you don’t want resin on, just use your leftover tincture making vodka to clean up when making balm of gilead,
(I would also recommend wearing surgical gloves when handling the buds to keep the resin off your hands).
After collecting your buds, do the following to make balm of Gilead:
1. Fill half a mason jar with the buds.
2. Pour olive oil to the top, (if you use coconut oil it will make its own semi-solid
salve).
3. Use the mason jar screw band and screwed down a paper towel (or a rubber band on a
regular jar). The buds will expand and lots of water will evaporate out. I would put
the jar on a small plate in case it overflows in the middle of the night.
4. Label the mason jar with the herb name and date it.
5. Everyday for a few weeks stir the oil with a stir stick or chop stick.
Make sure the buds are covered with oil. If buds are sticking out it will most likely go moldy. Don’t worry if buds are floating when you check it in the morning. Just keep stirring.
In time, they will all sink.
In six weeks you can strain it out. However, the longer you leave it the better. So soaking for a year is not unheard of!
Don’t wash the jar out after you strain it. You can keep the seasoned jar for your next years batch.
Store you finished balm of Gilead in easy to dispense bottles or containers.
What should you use balm of Gilead / cottonwood for?
Well, besides smelling WONDERFUL (you need not add any other scents to your salves or oils when using cottonwood), you would use your oil/salve as;
1. an anti-inflammatory (it cools things down),
2. antimicrobial (it kills really little things that can infect you),
3. it’s analgesic (calms the pain).
4. It’s incredibly healing.
5. It stimulates skin proliferation.
6. It makes a wonderful massage oil.
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