This week, @walkerland writes about herbal infused oils, a perfect natural recipe for beginners. Herbal infused oils are versatile and serve as the base for many other herbal preparations such as salves, lotions, and creams. They also make delicious flavored cooking oils.
Herbal infused oils are a centuries-old method of extracting the beneficial medicinal properties of herbs into the oil. These oils can be used for a variety of health, skin care, and culinary preparations.
Ayurvedic beauty rituals included oil treatments, which promoted physical and spiritual cleansing. Ancient Indians believed that if you couldn't eat it, it didn't belong on the skin. Their skin care was edible and derived from the most nutritious herbs and oils around.
Making your own herbal infused oils is a simple process and perfectly suited for beginners. It is often the gateway into making your salves, creams, lotions, and in cooking flavored oils are excellent for making vinaigrette, seasoning food and so forth.
Selecting Ingredients: Oils and Herbs
There are countless oils you can use. Each ingredient brings its valuable properties to the infusion.
Carrier Oils
Carrier oils are vegetable oils derived from the fatty portion of the plant. There are many different oils you can use, and most can be found at your local food store.
Try to make sure that what you're buying is 100% cold pressed (unrefined) and organic. If possible buy oils that are grown locally.
Each oil comes from a plant, and as such offers its unique benefits and properties. Some are better for dry skin, oily skin and so on. Some oils you might consider include olive, sunflower seed, avocado, coconut, grapeseed, almond, and sesame oil.
Selecting Herbs
Oil infusions are generally quite gentle enabling you to get creative with combinations of herbs to suit your needs. That said, you should always take time to know the medicinal uses of the herbs you will be using. In many cases skincare and culinary herbs are interchangeable, but not always.
For culinary uses consider herbs such as basil, chives, chive blossoms, dill, fennel seed, Nasturtiums, rosemary, garlic, ginger, peppers, thyme, lemon balm, lemon peel, and all of the herbs familiar to you in the kitchen.
For skincare consider herbs such as calendula, comfrey, yarrow, aloe, rose petals, rose hips, mint, lavender or one of the other many healing herbs available.
How To Make Herbal Infused Oil
For beginners, dried herbs can be the easiest to use. Moisture from the plant material can cause spoilage. If working with fresh, do not wash the herbs and allow them to wilt for a day in a dark/dry location before using.
Lightly bruise the herbs to release the fragrance. A Mortar and Pestle works excellent. Chop up the herbs into fine pieces. Doing this ensures that more of the oils are released from the plant material into the oil.
Fill the jar with herbs 3/4 full with herbs and then cover with oil. To prevent spoilage ensure that all of the herbs are covered by at least an inch of oil.
Affix a lid and shake gently.
Using the warmth of the sun to help speed up the process, place the jar outside in a warm spot but not directly in the sunlight or set on a sunny windowsill. The other option is to heat the oils using the stove top method gently. If you are in a hurry or working with fresh herbs for the first time, this might be an option to consider.
Shake the jar every few days and infuse for two to three weeks. Once you are happy with the infusion strain the herbs out of the oil using cheesecloth and re-bottle for long term storage.
You can also do a double infusion where you strain out the plant material and go through the infusion process once more.
About The Author
@walkerland is co-founder and writer for Walkerland, a homesteading and self sufficiency website written to provide knowledge and inspiration to others who are interested in living a more self sufficient, healthy lifestyle. She is also co-owner of Wildwood Consulting a small business solutions company.
You can find her online:
Steemit | Homesteaders Co-op Walkerland | Wildwood Consulting
References
Herbal Infused Oils For Natural Skincare
Herb Infused Oils: The Herbal Academy
Ancient Rituals: Luxurious & Simple Botanical Oils & Elixirs
Disclosure
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MORTAR and PESTLE!
THAT'S the term I've been looking for. I've been searching for ages because I just call it the "Crusher musher" lol And I have ALWAYS called it the crusher musher. Even my step kids and Frank now call it that rather than the French term for it.
I just had a moment hahaha I'll keep calling it the crusher musher, but now I have the proper term to use for when I'm writing and such.
thank you for sharing, good elixir have a great day
Have a great day @angeltirado! :)
Herbal oils can be sooooo nice to have in the kitchen! I suddenly feel to make some spiced garlic herbal oil for over avocado salads - it being nearly avocado season. Getting dried garlic in Thailand is well nigh impossible, but I guess I can slice and prepare some myself. Always generous to share simple techniques for budding and new herbalists.
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We eat massive salads every day during the summer and a nice sprinkle of infused oil is usually all I dress mine with. You could do the quick infusion method with fresh garlic and just remove the garlic once the oil cools. I haven't tried it but most of the recipes seem to use that method.
That sounds like a plan! We use very few dried herbs or spices (other than Indian things). OK. On my list to make garlic-herbal oil for avocado salads in the coming day or 2-3. Might even post about it. ;)
avocado salad sounds amazing to me right now. I could probably eat it every day and not get tired of it!! I love them in a big way but they cost so much here and I am often suspicious of produce that's traveled across the world and still looks fresh in the store for weeks. Maybe I'll succumb to temptation though if you post about it.
Love love love your instruction editorials! Simple .. you make us feel anyone can do it!!! I am making a calendula oil and a comfrey one too!
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Thank you. Oooh, lovely!! Calendula oil is so wonderful. Comfrey is one thing I've wanted to grow for years but was not able to find any. This year I got lucky and have 12 root cuttings coming. So excited!! The only kind I could get was sterile Russian Comfrey (Symphytum x uplandicum) which only propagates through root cuttings. It does not spread invasively which is a bit disapointing.
Great article!! Now that I read this, I realize how much I needed to remember how easy is to make your own infused oil. I will make some lavander oil for sure!! 💜
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Lavender is @walkerland fave!!
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Then @walkerland would definetely love this!! All with lavander!
Lavander theme homemade cosmetics, healthy cosmetic products and more in a healthy gift bascket.
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oooh, that basket is so beautiful. Wow! 💜💜
I'm glad you like it! 💜
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such a great tutorial, I do love to make infused oil. I feel so lucky to be able to use the oil I have harvested on the land and then infuse it with the flowers and herbs that I grow here. I love your work @walkerland xx
Thank you @trucklife-family. I thought of you when I wrote this. I can't get the idea of harvesting olives from those big old trees and having freshly press oil. Hard work but magical!
oh it really is such hard work, but that makes it all the more precious really and I do like physical work every now and again xx