12 Real-Life Uses of Dragon’s Blood
In Harry Potter, dragon’s blood is a powerful and versatile substance studied by great wizards such as Albus Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel. As such, it seems like the sort of thing that could only exist in fiction. However, dragon’s blood does exist in real life, albeit not in the same form. Instead of being the literal blood of a fictional creature, it’s actually a type of tree sap. Its name comes from the bright red color of the resin. The most interesting thing about dragon’s blood isn’t its appearance, though. Like in Harry Potter, dragon’s blood has a lot of different uses, from medicine to art. Here are 12 of them, although unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like it makes a good oven cleaner.
1. Perfume
Dragon’s blood has a strong earthy scent and makes for an excellent perfume, both on its own or mixed with other scents. If you’re interested in wearing dragon’s blood perfume, there are quite a few options available online.
2. Ink
Due to the bright red color of the sap, dragon’s blood can easily be turned into equally vibrant ink. Unlike actual blood, dragon’s blood will retain its bright color after drying. It’s easy to make too. All that’s needed is ground-up dragon’s blood resin, gum arabic, and either a water or alcohol base.
3. Antiviral
One of the oldest uses of dragon’s blood is in medicine. It was used all around the Mediterranean basin as a cure-all during ancient times. With modern research, we now know that, despite not being a good cure-all, it does have some interesting medicinal properties. For example, its chemical components taspine and proanthocyanidin are natural antivirals.
4. Stopping Bleeding
In addition to being an antiviral, taspine is a coagulant, which means that when placed upon bleeding wounds, it will encourage the blood to clot and help stop the bleeding. That being said, while this method was common in ancient times, the substance has yet to go through any human trials during drug testing, although it has shown some success with animals. As such, I would stick to more modern methods to stop bleeding unless you have no other choice.
5. Curing Stomach Ulcers
Dragon’s blood can be helpful when dealing with GI issues, including stomach ulcers. In this case, there actually have been completed studies on its effects, and dragon’s blood can be found in some pharmaceutical products. However, I still wouldn’t recommend ingesting the substance on its own or without medical recommendation.
6. Fever Reducer
With this particular use, there isn’t any modern research to back it up, but dragon’s blood was certainly used in traditional medicine to help with fevers. Thus, while it’s possible for the resin to have anti-inflammatory properties, it might not be a great idea to test that.
7. Dye
As with ink, the bright red color of dragon’s blood is what makes it useful for dyes. The fact that it was easily available for trade in ancient times also made it particularly attractive. With the rise of industrialization, the need for such natural dyes has fallen out of use, although it is possible to make dragon’s blood dye at home.
8. Violin Resin
Dragon’s blood first started being used as a varnish in the 18th century by Italian violin makers, and it’s actually still used for that today. It can often be found in the varnish coatings of Stradivarius violins. It helps give violins a deep, rich red-brown color.
9. Incense
As mentioned before, dragon’s blood has a strong scent, which makes it an excellent incense. It should be noted that dragon’s blood has no opiates within it, nor any psychoactive effects. However, dragon’s blood incense is still sometimes sold as “red rock opium” to potential drug buyers.
10. Painting Pigment
Once again, the color is the big draw here, creating a beautiful ruby red, or deep pink if it’s watered down. One cautionary note, however: While dragon’s blood interacts well with other natural paints, it doesn’t always blend with more modern paints. So keep that in mind if you intend to use it for a project.
11. Toothpaste
Although you’re very unlikely to find it in any modern-day commercial tubes of toothpaste, there was an 18th-century recipe for toothpaste that contained dragon’s blood. It’s not impossible to try to re-create this recipe; however, I wouldn’t really recommend it since there’s no evidence this recipe would actually be good for your teeth.
12. Spells
Yes, it is used in spells. Dragon’s blood has a long history with the occult, often used as a stand-in for actual blood. The substance is usually used in spells related to love, protection, and banishing.
