The Beauty and Benefits of Calendula
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Calendula to comfort your heart and soothe your spirit
It's cultivated in the kitchen garden for the flowers. You dry these for teas and broth. Used for medicines since historic times, calendula is making a comeback in the modern first-aid kit and used as beauty care in numerous products. I use calendula salve to hasten the healing of the little cuts and burns I pick up in the kitchen.
I just love calendula for its sunny golden beauty. Indeed, just to look at a bed of blooming marigolds comforts the heart and spirit. Try it.
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It hath pleasant, bright and shining yellow flowers, the which do close at the setting downe of the sunne, and do spread and open againe at the sunne rising.
Niewe Herball, or Historie of Plantes,(1578).
Calendula in History
Calendula, the Common Marigold, is a lovely and instantly recognisable plant with its pale-green leaves and golden orange flowers. It's called after the ancient Roman calends which were the first days of every month and the start of the new moon cycle. (Presumably they were called this because they are in bloom at the start of most months of the year).In Italy, the idea of the calends is kept in the name by which calendula is often called, the fiore d'ogni mese, the flower of every month.
In earlier times Persians and Greeks used it as a food garnish, mostly in soups and stews, while in Europe, it was used to colour butter and cheese. In India, the bright calendula is used to decorate Temple Altars.
In Australia, we use it as a garnish for food, for medicinal purposes, and blooming in our gardens just for the sheer beauty of it.
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Calendula in Herbal Medicine
We have always turned to plants, fungus, shells and aromatic substances for treatment of ailments since prehistoric times.Calendula has high amounts of flavonoids, plant-based antioxidants and anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and antibacterial effects
Oral forms of calendula have been used historically to treat stomach irritation and ulcers. Calendula tea for example, or broth, has some antispasmodic properties so it relieves muscle tightness.
Folk medicine, or 'grandmothers' medicine' has advised women to use calendula for relief from muscle spasms and cramps.
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The Herbal Medicine Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual
A good beginner's guide
The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual
Amazon Price: $14.11 (as of 02/15/2012)![]()
Natural home remedies with perspectives on the art of herbal medicine's application.
Recipes for folk extractions including plenty of recommendations for usage, with instructions on how to extract herbs, make tinctures, and apply them properly.
How to Make Calendula Salve

This recipe for Calendula Herbal Salve is distributed on a leaflet from my local 'organic health shop'.
- In a double water boiler, put 1 Tablespoon of Lanolin. When melted, add 1/2 cup of pure Almond/Olive Oil. When combined, add 1/8 cup of Beeswax, melt thoroughly
- When melted and mixed, add chopped Calendula Leaves and Petals to the mixture. Take off heat and leave to sit overnight
- The next day, place over double boiler again, and melt gently. Pour into prepared jar, and leave to harden
In addition to treating minor cuts and abrasions, the salve is great for chapped lips and nappy (diaper) rash.
Abundantly Herbal Calendula Cream - 4 oz
Amazon Price: $26.99 (as of 02/15/2012)![]()
Calendula tinctures, ointments, and washes are commonly used to speed the healing of burns, bruises, and cuts, as well as the minor infections they cause. In Australia we know about sunburn - I always have an ointment containing calendula in my first-aid kit.
Magnificent Marigolds
Noida Flower show 2009
Recipe : Potato Soup with Calendula
Ingredients
- 1 kilo - 2lbs - of peeled cubed potatoes
- 2 knobs of butter
- 1 diced onion
- 2 cups of chicken stock or broth
- 2 cups of milk
- pinch of nutmeg
- 1/4 cup of chopped basil
- 1/4 cup of whole calendula petals
- 4 tablespoons yoghurt
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
Melt the butter in a soup pot and add onions.
Cover and cook until the onions are tender.
Add potatoes and cook 4 minutes. Add milk and chicken stock.
Cook over low heat about 15 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
Blend in food processor and puree until smooth.
Stir in the fresh basil, distribute into 4 separate bowls, and top with yoghurt and calendula petals.
Recipe : Carrot and Calendula Soup
Knob of butter
1 sweet onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup Granny Smith apple, coarsely chopped
1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cumnin
Kilo of carrots, coarsely chopped
4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 cup milk
1 cup fresh calendula petals
Instructions
In a large stockpot, melt butter over a medium low heat. Add onion and garlic, toss till translucent. Add apple and spices, stir through. Add carrots and stir through for roughly 5 minutes over a low heat.
Add stock, cover and simmer for 20 - 25 minutes. Remove from heat, cool, until smooth. Return to pot and stir in milk. Cook over a medium low heat for 5 minutes. (Don't let it come to a boil). Stir in petals just before serving.
Calendula Herbal Tea
Infuse 1 heaping tablespoon of dried flowers per cup of hot water. Drink 2 to 4 cups each day, or soak a clean cloth in the tea and apply locally.
Recipe : Scrambled Eggs with Calendula
Ingredients
- 1/2 dozen eggs
- 2 knobs of butter
- cup milk
- pinch of nutmeg
- 1/2 cup grated cheese
- 6 calendula flowers - use petals only - remove petals and chop
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
Combine the eggs with everything except the Calendula petals.
Melt butter in frying pan and scramble the eggs. Stir in the Calendula petals at the last minute.
Divide the eggs and heap on toast, focaccia or English Muffin slices. Sprinkle with cheese and serve immediately.
Organic Body Care Recipes
A clear overview
It's a clear overview of herbs and spices, oils and flowers such as strawberries, baking soda and papayas to use in your own products.
Organic Body Care Recipes: 175 Homeade Herbal Formulas for Glowing Skin & a Vibrant Self
Amazon Price: $10.76 (as of 02/15/2012)![]()
Easy to follow recipes for body, face, and hair care plus a complete ingredient dictionary, and alternatives for hard to find ingredients.
Extensive and well organized, the author walks you through step by step and makes the process enjoyable and educational.
Includes a list of resources for further reading and online suppliers.
Calendula : Keats Good Herb Guide series
More Enchanting Edible Flowers
For Health and Natural Beauty

- The Beauty and Benefits of Sunflowers
- Is there anything more lovely than a sunflower with its bright golden beauty, captured from the sunshine of a hundred sunny days?
- The Beauty and Benefits of Dandelions
- Dandelion is one of the very best herbs for gall, spleen and liver complaints. It's one of the safest and most active plant diuretics.
- The Beauty and Benefits of Violets
- From classical times, violets have been cultivated for wine, perfume, medicinal purposes and used as decorative garlands and wreaths. Apart from anything else, violets are just beautiful!
How about you?
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Ladymermaid
Feb 5, 2012 @ 3:56 pm | delete
- I really like that you have included the calendula salve recipe within this article. Finding true natural recipes can be a task so finding yours is wonderful.
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Helene-Malmsio
Jan 9, 2012 @ 10:18 am | delete
- I have used calendula/marigold flowers in skincare preparations for years! Great lens, thanks!
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Reply
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Helene-Malmsio
Jan 9, 2012 @ 10:18 am | delete
- I have used calendula/marigold flowers in skincare preparations for years! Great lens, thanks!
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Zimmer CR Lawsuit
May 17, 2011 @ 1:14 pm | delete
- The German Government has approved the internal and external use of calendula flower preparations for treating inflammations of the mouth and throat. When taken by mouth, it has anti-inflammatory actions on the lining of the digestive system. Calendula may be used both internally and externally to combat fungal infections.
Zimmer Lawsuits
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Magicvegan
Jul 12, 2009 @ 11:20 am | delete
- Following a road accident I had a large open knee wound which the medical profession could not get to scab over. They tried many drugs including powerful anti-biotics for months. Then I remembered that my Gran used to swear by Marigold/Calendular for all things skin related. I boiled a handful of flowerheads for five minutes in a cupful of water, then soaked a dressing pad in the liquid and bandaged it up overnight. By the following morning, like magic, there was a scab just starting to form. I continued to bathe the wound a few times a day in freshly made liquid, and by the fourth day the whole wound had scabbed over! The following week I had a hospital appointment and they couldn't believe the difference. I told them what I had done.They were NOT impressed! I got a lecture about how I could have infected the wound, and they went on to say that it must have been the anti-biotics finally kicking in (I had been off them for 8 weeks)! So closed minded!
So, thanks Gran and Calendular!
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About Susanna Duffy
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What a simple pleasure it is to use your own garden plants for health and beauty. I regularly use Calendula Salve. more »
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