Comments on yesterday’s pine resin post got me thinking about how to concoct a pine resin salve that would keep. To use pine resin to pull a sticker, you really need the sticky power of the plain resin. Plain pine resin will harden and become unusable–to store it, the freezer is best. To thaw, you either wait while your sticker hurts, or you microwave it, which is why I froze mine in parchment paper (inside a freezer baggie). Whether or not microwaving the resin destroys its healing properties isn’t really an issue for sticker pulling. However, it might be when using pine resin as a wound sealant where you would also want the antibacterial and antifungal properties at play while the resin is applied to your skin.

In that case, you can either microwave the plain resin and take your chances that some healing properties might be destroyed (the sealant action certainly wouldn’t be) or you can wait while you heat it more slowly without a microwave. Or you can run right out to get some fresh resin (which is not always convenient). Or–you can create a salve. By combining the resin with other ingredients, you can prevent the hardening factor. Plain resin, no doubt, is a stronger wound sealant, but I experimented with a recipe mixing honey and a small amount of sweet almond oil and jojoba oil with pine resin for a concoction that will provide a longer shelf life with a non-hardening salve that retains all the healing aspects. This recipe is based on a beeswax salve I have here, with less oil. The small amount of oil added to the resin-honey mixture in this recipe provides added nourishment as well as making the mixture softer and easier to handle when applying. If you want a thicker mixture, use equal parts resin and honey with no added oils.

You could also add a few drops of a healing essential oil, liquid from several Vitamin E capsules, or even some crushed herbs, to this basic recipe.

Resin melts very easily in honey. If have any bits of hardened resin or small pieces of bark, you can remove them after melting.

Pine resin, the stuff of icky sci-fi movies.

The honey pictured above, by the way, is honey from Adam’s family farm.

Resin and Honey Salve:

2 ounces pine resin
2 ounces honey
1/2 ounce sweet almond oil
1/2 ounce jojoba oil

Melt resin in a small pot together with honey, sweet almond oil, and jojoba oil.

Stir well to blend.

When thoroughly combined, cool and transfer to your container(s).

This made enough for two 2-ounce canisters, and I’ll give one to “teacher” (Adam) next time I see him!

In further experimentation, yesterday, I made a sassafras tea soap with honey and pine resin. Will post about that soon!