This warming herbal salve is made with cayenne pepper and ginger. This cayenne pepper salve is easy to make and it is beneficial for topical applications. You can tweak the recipe somewhat for the herbs you have on hand, adding St. John’s Wort, Calendula, Lavender, and others depending on your specific needs, herbal preferences, or to remove potential allergens.
Several years ago, when I was having some lower back pain, I came across an analgesic salve made for back pain at Costco. It was made with herbs. It worked perfectly. It was soothing, pain-relieving, and didn’t make me drowsy. Most of the over the counter pills for back pain made me feel like I was in a perpetual fog. I hated that feeling. When I went back to Costco to get a second jar, they no longer carried it. When you are relying on a supplier for your herbal remedies you may find that the supply dries up. When you make your own herbal salves you aren’t dependent on being able to find what you need at the store.
When your back is sore, your muscles are overworked, or your joints are a little stiff, warm them up with this quick to make herbal salve. Cayenne pepper salve is warming and pain-relieving. I like to add Ginger for an increase in warmth. Ginger is anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving. St. John’s Wort Oil helps with shooting pains, and stiffness, making normal movement easier.
Salve making is one of the basic skills of homegrown healing. Moms and Grandmas have been making salve in the kitchen from herbs gathered in the wild or from the garden for hundreds of years. You can make an herbal salve in 30 minutes in your own kitchen, while you are doing other things.
I used St. John’s wort oil in this salve. See here to learn how to infuse fresh St. John’s wort flowers in oil. While you can purchase ready-made St. John’s Wort oil, I highly recommend that you make your own from flowers growing close to home. Your oil will be more potent when made from herbs that are thriving under the same stressors that you yourself are living under.
St. John’s wort is anti-inflammatory, pain-relieving, and helps with mild to moderate nerve pain and shooting pains of all kinds.
Cayenne Pepper is warming and pain-relieving. It increases blood flow and periphery circulation. There is a substance in cayenne pepper that blocks the pain receptors in your brain and relieves pain temporarily. It helps with all kinds of pain from arthritis, to muscle aches, menstrual cramps, and nerve pain.
Ginger is anti-inflammatory, pain-relieving, and it increases warmth and blood flow to the area where it’s applied.
Rosemary Essential oil is anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and anti-spasmodic.
Peppermint essential oil is cooling and pain-relieving.
Let’s make salve!
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Warming Cayenne-Ginger Salve
Description
An analgesic salve you can make today with cayenne pepper, ginger, and St. John’s wort in a beeswax base. Good for relief of mild to moderate pain.
Ingredients
You’ll need:
- 1 cup glass measuring cup
- Saucepan to create a double boiler
- Canning jar ring
- Measuring spoons
- Popsicle stick to stir the mixture
- Reusable cloth tea bag
- 2 – 2 ounce tins or 1 — 4 ounce jar
Ingredients:
- 4 tbsp. St. John’s wort infused oil
- 2 tbsp. cayenne pepper powder
- 1 tbsp. ginger powder
- 2 tbsp. Shea butter
- 2 tbsp. beeswax
- 20 drops of rosemary essential oil
- 20 drops of peppermint essential oil
Instructions
- Place St. John’s wort infused oil in the glass measuring cup. Spoon the cayenne and ginger powders into the cloth tea bag. Tie the top of the tea bag using a half hitch. Place the tea bag with spices into the St. John’s wort oil, in the glass measuring cup.
- Create a double boiler using the saucepan and the canning jar lid. Place the glass measuring cup in the saucepan and simmer on medium heat for 30 minutes. Occasionally turn the tea bag over and press with the back of a spoon while the oil is warming, to ensure that the spice powders are moistened with the oil.
- After 30 minutes remove the glass cup from the saucepan and allow the oil to come to room temperature. Remove the tea bag and press in a potato ricer, held over the cup, to remove the last drops of infused oil from the bag.
- Reserve the oil in the glass cup. Discard the pressed herbs. Empty and clean the bag for another use.
- Place the glass cup back on the double boiler. Add shea butter and beeswax. Simmer over medium heat until the beeswax and shea butter is melted.
- Remove from the heat. Stir in essential oils.
- Pour into containers. Allow to cool completely before putting the lid on the containers, to prevent condensation from getting on the lid.
Cayenne Pepper – Ginger-St. John’s Wort Salve
Yield: 2 – 2-ounce tins or 1 — 4-ounce jar
You’ll need:
- 1 cup glass measuring cup
- Saucepan to create a double boiler
- Canning jar ring
- Measuring spoons
- Popsicle stick to stir the mixture
- Reusable cloth tea bag
- 2 – 2 ounce tins or 1 — 4-ounce jar
Ingredients:
- 4 tbsp. St. John’s wort infused oil
- 2 tbsp. cayenne pepper powder
- 1 tbsp. ginger powder
- 2 tbsp. Shea butter
- 2 tbsp. beeswax
- 20 drops of rosemary essential oil
- 20 drops of peppermint essential oil
Method:
Place St. John’s wort-infused oil in the glass measuring cup. Spoon the cayenne and ginger powders into the cloth tea bag. Tie the top of the teabag using a half hitch. Place the teabag with spices into the St. John’s wort oil, in the glass measuring cup.
Create a double boiler using the saucepan and the canning jar lid. Place the glass measuring cup in the saucepan and simmer on medium heat for 30 minutes. Occasionally turn the tea bag over and press with the back of a spoon while the oil is warming, to ensure that the spice powders are moistened with the oil.
After 30 minutes remove the glass cup from the saucepan and allow the oil to come to room temperature. Remove the teabag and press in a potato ricer, held over the cup, to remove the last drops of infused oil from the bag. Reserve the oil in the glass cup. Discard the pressed herbs. Empty and clean the bag for another use.
Place the glass cup back on the double boiler. Add shea butter and beeswax. Simmer over medium heat until the beeswax and shea butter are melted. Remove from the heat. Stir in essential oils.
Pour into containers. Allow to cool completely before putting the lid on the containers, to prevent condensation from getting on the lid.
To use:
This can be massaged into joints and muscles to provide warmth and pain relief for mild to moderate pain.
Wash your hands after using this salve so that you don’t inadvertently get it in your eyes or mucus membranes. Avoid using on sensitive parts. If you are allergic or sensitive to any of the ingredients in the salve, they can be left out.
Where to Learn More:
Grab my eBook “Homegrown Healing, from Seed to Apothecary“.
Check out the amazing online herb schools that are eager to help you learn as much as you want to about Herbal Remedies and Herbology.
The Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine
Disclaimer: The information offered here is for education and information only. It is not medical advice. If you have any health concerns please discuss this with your primary health care provider.
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Grab my free ebook and learn to make DIY herbal healing salves at home now, with 14 easy to follow recipes that use the herbs and wild plants growing close to home. Salve making is one of the easiest skills to learn in DIY Herbalism.
The link to the 12 healing salves download isn’t there when you click it. Has it been moved?
Thank you for letting me know, Deb. I’ve updated it so the button should work for you now.
I was just wondering if there would be a downside to mixing the cayenne pepper and the ginger powder right into the oil? Thank you.
The cayenne powder will stain clothing so that’s the main reason to strain it out of the oil before you make the salve.
Hey. Did you use water in the double boiler. You didnt fry it or did you?. Cant find anything about adding water. But zimmer applies it to be water?
Here’s the method:
If you were to sell some of the salve you made how much would you charge for some? You sound like you know what you are doing and I am not a salver creator.
I don’t sell herbal remedies.
Will the cayenne pepper stain clothes?
Yes, it might.
I found the salve to be harder than I would like. Can I remelt it? What would make it softer?…adding more oil? more shea butter? I am out of St Johns Wort Oil, would it be OK to add some grapeseed oil after remelting or should you not mix the different types of oils?
Thx
Sure you can remelt and add more oil.
I just made this recipe and found that there was little warming sensation. Is there anyway I can make the warming more noticeable?
Thank you!
Hello just found your site. I have a horse that suffers from an allergy to gnat bites. They eat her midline between her front legs to her udders. If left uncovered and not put in the barn with a fan during the highest gnat time of day she will start itching and scratch her manes and tail totally out. I am wanting to make a barrier Salve that would stop the itching, heal but stay on for as long as possible. So far zinc oxide has worked the best. Could you give me any pointers. Something that would last would help so when I am out of town we won’t have my whole efforts destroyed and have her start itching again. Have to use something that is a heavy barrier, bug repellent, healer and last a while. Thank you
I just infused olive oil with St. John’s Wort, Calendula and Arnica to make trauma oil. Can I use that in place of the St. John’s Wort infused oil in this recipe?
I love your site and emails and am currently working my way through your free herbal course, am learning so much. Thank you.
Great post! Have nice day ! 🙂 mejsq
Would it be ok to add arnica oil to this recipe?
Of course.
Hi does the mixture harden ? Was considering trying this and make into bars ???
It does harden but you may want to change the ratios of liquid oil, beeswax, and shea butter to get the right consistency for a solid bar.
Is this cream safe for toddlers under two ? I often put their feet in a Cayenne bath and play for a few minutes . Rinse and it decongest . I was wondering if this would be a good alternative ?
I would not use this on a child. They might rub their eyes and that would be painful.
Thank you so much for this recipe. I am so excited to make it for my father for his arthritis. I gave it a try but didn’t end up with the red color you do. Could that be because I didn’t used St. John’s Wort oil? I infused rosemary in my olive oil instead because it’s what I had on hand.
Also, do you think it would work as well with chopped dry cayenne and ginger instead of ground?
Yes, you can use the chopped herb in this recipe, but you’ll want to strain it well.
Yes the St. Johns wort oil is red.