Bacon Fat Poultice for a Sebaceous Boil

by I Kinnell
(Scotland)

One of my fathers and the most impressive thing I've seen!

My brother was afflicted with a large boil to the side of the nose. A blocked sebaceous gland.
Minor surgery had been mooted, however my father saw it and said 'Don't talk nonsense come here..' He cut a small strip of bacon fat placed it over the boil and secured with a sticking plaster, saying "Come and see me at the end of the week"
My brother did so and I was on hand to see the sticking paster removed and with it every last ounce of the boil. Not a pretty site. However after a wash, the skin healed perfectly within a couple of days.

Apparently the raw bacon fat breaks down the skin/flesh making it, for want of a better word 'rotten' soft & pulpy...Yep that's about right!

I've never heard of it before. My Father's from Glasgow by the way and a child of the war years and post war austerity. He has a very straightforward way with ailments, from a (apparently) scientific viewpoint and mistrusts doctors and just about all medication. His mantra is if an ailment is caused by a foreign or rogue body, it's because it finds the conditions perfect. Make the condition uncomfortable! From Lime juice cordials to raise acidity in the stomach for minor upsets (works) to eating raw onions for throat infections or gargling salt. He's a hit at kids parties!
No painkillers either. It rubbed off on me and saved my life.
Never taking painkillers - I phoned a friend for some one night. She actually came to the house to see what was wrong because she knew I never take painkillers.
A few hours later I was in intensive care... but that's another story.