Nature's Aspirin
Did you know that a specific tree bark is one of nature’s oldest and most powerful medicines? Willow bark was used for millennia by the Sumerians, Chinese, and Greeks, with some believing its use originated with Hippocrates, the father of medicine.
A breakthrough occurred centuries later when English vicar Edward Stone discovered that dried willow bark eased fevers. Scientists in Italy and Germany eventually extracted and purified the active compound, which they named salicin, Latin for willow.
The discovery led to the creation of aspirin, which is used to ease pain, reduce inflammation, and prevent blood clots. Our bodies convert the key compound in white willow bark, salicin, to salicylic acid, which can help lower inflammation, pain, and aches.
White willow bark is one of the oldest and most effective natural medicines. You can make it at home by harvesting white willow branches and scrapping them with a knife to make shavings. You can then infuse these shavings into herbal teas and tinctures! I use white willow bark to make a single-ingredient tincture, a fever and pain relief tincture, and a pain relief herbal tea!
