"Natural Healing with Herbs for a Healthier You"
Obviously, cultivating and wildcrafting from different locations will result in a different balance of chemical make-up of the plants. I wildcrafted from two different locations, noted later in this text, and the taste was as different as the areas picked.
The resin on the leaves is a natural creosote that has properties akin to turpentine. When used as a fomentation, the tea is able to “…penetrate into the walls of muscles and tissues in order to relieve stiffness and pain (Dr. Christopher).
Chaparral also contains saponins which when shaken with water will foam resembling soap. This makes chaparral a given for shampoos and medicinal washes, especially since this herb is so imbued with medicinal qualities. According to Christopher Hobbs in his workbook for the School of Natural Healing, “Many Chinese herbs contain saponins; …These compounds are very water-soluble, a condition that adds to the effectiveness of many Chinese teas which are nearly always decocted in water.”
According to Dr. Christopher, there are no alkaloids in Chaparral and it is completely non-toxic. The Federal Drug & Food Administration would probably beg to differ with him on that, but there have been hundreds of years of documented medicinal uses of the herb without adverse affects.
The herb contains a sizable amount each of gums, resins, esters, acids, alcohol, sterol, sucrose, and volatile oils, and the New Mexico Agricultural Experimental Station claims that Chaparral contains nearly as much protein as alfalfa, along with an abundance of sodium and potassium.
The Herb Shop in Springville, Utah analyzed a specimen of Chaparral and the chemical contents included:
> 12.2% Protein > 3.1% Fat > 21.6% Fiber
> 3.8% Ash > 27.2% Carbohydrate > .37% Calcium
> .62% Phosphorus > .49% Potassium > .12% Sodium
> .08% Chlorine > .11% Magnesium > .0007% Iron
> 12. mg/lb Manganese > 2. mg/lb Copper > .81% Resins
>6.8% NDGA > .37% Volatile oils
Also included in the chemical make-up were tannic acid, gallic acid, pyrogallic acid, tricosanone, 2,methyl, and 1,4naphthoquinone (Dr. Christopher).
I would say that the above is quite a nice variety of natural and organic minerals for the benefit of our body.
Only one site did I find the Chaparral named “Shegoi,” which is apparently what the Native Americans called it, and this site attributes to the Chaparral “18 flavone and flavonol aglycones, quercitin bioflavonoids, larreic acid, and two guaiuretic acid lignins, one of which is called NDGA (Nordihydroguiaretic acid)” (Shegoi).
Not only has NDGA has been touted as being a cancer and tumor inhibitor, antioxidant, it was used previously as a food additive due to its antioxidant virtues and was apparently used extensively to keep meats from going rancid. Now days, manufacturers use BHT and BHA as preservatives, which is probably why man needs only one-third of the embalming fluid once needed. Why not go back to using these natural methods of preserving our foods!
