Making Salve

     

Making Salve

The first step is to infuse oil with the herbs. You can use any kind of oil that comes from plants or animals, (olive, almond, sunflower, canola, coconut - although coconut oil melts at 72 degrees F - warm room temperature, so I don't use it for salve. It would be constantly melted unless you kept it in the fridge.) - no mineral oil or petroleum products. There are several ways to do this. The easiest way is to fill a glass jar 1/3-1/2 full with DRIED, ground herbs. Fill to the top of the jar with oil, stir it well, use a tight lid, put in a warm place like a south facing windowsill, on top of your fridge, etc. and shake whenever you walk by. Open daily to stir and let some air in. Leave this for 4-6 weeks. If you want to do this faster you can use a slow cooker. Use jars that fit in your slow cooker with the lid on. Set the jars with lids on, full of herbs and oil, into the slow cooker and fill it 3/4 full with hot water. Cook on low for minimum 5 days, 7 days is better. Take the jars out every day, set on a towel, remove lid and stir. Put the lid back on and return them to the slow cooker. When all jars are out of the slow cooker, add more very hot water so it doesn't dry out. You will have to keep adding water to the slow cooker as the days go by. Just make sure the jars are out of it and it's hot water you are adding. You can turn it off over night so it's not cooking when no one is there to keep an eye on it. Mine goes off and on during the days when I'm cooking herbs. Be very careful handling the jars. They are HOT. Don't handle them with your bare hands. For faster infusion, you can use a steamer. I use the slow cooker method most of the time.

When the 5-7 days are finished, strain the herbs. Toss out the cooked herbs. There is nothing left in them of any use. I use a little metal strainer that I can set on a bowl or a wide mouth jar, to strain the oil. When you have clear, strained, herb infused oil, it's time to add the wax.

You can use beeswax, soy wax or paraffin. All work equally well. I prefer to use soya wax for this purpose. Beeswax is becoming a non sustainable resource. I save my beeswax for lip balm. After straining the oil, you will need to reheat it to melt the wax. I reheat the herb infused oils in the microwave, without the metal lid. A small jar of oil takes about 2-3 minutes to get hot enough in the microwave. You can also set the jars in a double boiler on the stove to heat. If the wax is just not melting, the oil is not hot enough. Do not leave oil heating unattended and do not over heat it. It should be just hot enough to melt the wax within a few minutes of stirring.

When the oil is hot enough, add the wax and stir until dissolved. I use 100g of wax added to 400g of oil for salve. You can adjust this for your own preferences. Less wax makes a softer, oilier salve. When the wax is fully melted in the oil, pour it into your clean permanent containers and put the lid on. Leave them sitting still for a few hours as the salve cools and hardens.

I have a slow cooker that I use only for infusing herbal oil. The oils leak out slightly and the slow cooker will get a coating of cooked oil with little use. I wouldn't use it for food. You can often pick up an old slow cooker at the thrift store. I have three, one for herbal oil infusion, one for making soap and one for food.

My Bug Bite Salve recipe: purslane that I grow myself, plantain, yarrow, calendula, sow thistle, cayenne from the grocery store. (You can use "spices" from the store, i.e. oregano, thyme...)

My Pain Salve: willow bark, wild lettuce, cayenne, peppermint, lavender, chamomile, spruce, cloves (I use NOW clove oil).

My Healing Salve recipe: calendula, cayenne, cedarwood, chamomile, clover, lavender, rose, feverfew, horsetail, lemongrass, peppermint, rosemary, sage, spruce, sow thistle, yarrow (You don't need all of these herbs. Use what you can get here.)

My Anti-Fungal Salve recipe: Usnea, Lavender, Spruce, Tea Tree, Peppermint

My Nail and Cuticle Salve Recipe: Horsetail, usnea, lavender.