Winter seems so long and Spring so far away. Wouldn’t it be nice to have some balminess in your life right about now?

Cottonwood, commonly referred to as Balm of Gilead, is dropping his resinous buds right now! These heavenly smelling buds and twigs can make all sorts of Herbally goodness including oils, salves, vinegars and honeys. Cottonwood buds are used as an analgesic, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and much more !
Unsure how to find and harvest these herbal gems? Look below my recipe to find a video on how to locate, harvest, and process Cottonwood buds.
Herbal honeys are a great way to sweeten the medicine and make it go down easier. Making a herbal honey out of Cottonwood buds is a great way to soothe sore throats, doing double duty as this honey balm will ease the pain of a sore throat while the antiseptic qualities will fight the germs. And making a herbal honey is so easy too!
Honey Balm
Ingredients:
Fresh Cottonwood buds
Raw honey, preferably from a local source
Tools:
Double Boiler
Jar with lid
Chopstick
Spatula
Labels
Fill a jar about 1/3 full with the buds.
Cover with honey and fill to the top of the jar. Gently stir with a chopstick to allow honey to completely cover the buds.

Add more honey if needed to fill the jar.
Pour the honey into the top of the double boiler, scraping out the jar with the spatula.

Gently heat the honey for about 20 minutes but do NOT let it come to a boil. You want to warm the honey enough to help extract the resin without killing the good microbes in the honey.
Pour the honey mixture back into the jar and screw on the lid.
Let sit for 2-4 weeks in a warm spot.
To use, you can eat a spoonful or make a hot lemonade:
Squeeze 1/4 lemon into 8 oz hot water. Add 1 tablespoon of honey balm and stir well. Or, simply eat a teaspoonful as needed. You can also add a teaspoonful to any herb tea.
Ready to learn more about Cottonwood? Grab the Cottonwood ebook.
Harvesting the buds can be a bit tricky if you don’t know when and where to do it. Watch my video to learn how to harvest and process Cottonwood buds:
To see the entire lesson on Cottonwood and many other medicinal plants, join Herb Club, where you’ll get over an hour of video lessons for each plant, expanded curriculum, and live sessions for parents and for kids.