I’m just going to share a little bit about Calendula and how to make an infused oil, and then you’ll get a wonderful salve recipe and photos contributed by Maria Epp. If you are following along with the Advent series, you can get to the original post here, and the Week 2 post here.
Calendula is an all around wonderful healing plant. It heals skin gently, helping rashes and skin conditions, and is anti-microbial and anti-fungal. For more information, check out the calendula page at hollowreedholistic.ca.
Also, if you are wanting to start little ones off with herbal salves, lip balms, and identifying and learning about edible and medicinal plants, be sure to take a look at our Tiny Herbalist kit for kids.
Please share your favourite herbs for healing salves in the comments!
Calendula Infused Oil
It’s very simple to make an infused oil.
1. Start with dried flower heads or petals. Some people use fresh herbs, and I have also read to dry them first as the fresh herbs contain water and that can lead to mould in the salve. If you are concerned, please do some reading and make an informed choice.
2. Using a mortar and pestle or just your hands, mash up the flower heads, to separate the petals and free some of the healing oils of the plant.
3. Fill a clean, dry, canning jar about half full with the flowers.
4. Add organic olive oil (or oil of choice) to the jar, keeping in mind that the fresh flowers will take up, or absorb, less oil than the dried. Cover 1-2″ above the flowers. If the oil ever goes below the level of the flowers, top it off to cover back to 1-2″ above.
5. Choose one of three options:
- Place the oil in a sunny spot (sun-infused oil) and gently swirl once or twice a day for 10-20 days. This is the method that Maria and her family used to make their infused oil.
- Place the oil in a dark cupboard (cold-infused oil) and gently swirl once or twice a day for 10-20 days.
- Make a quick infusion (if you’re like me and would like to make it this week for Christmas gifts!). To do this, heat the oil and flowers gently (no higher than 120 degrees) for 4-6 hours. You can use a crock pot, yogurt-maker, double-boiler, or even a coffee pot heater.
6. Strain the herbs out of the oil and use 1 cup of the infused oil for the recipe below!
Calendula Beeswax Salve
Recipe and all amazing photos in this post by Maria Epp.
Ingredients
- 1/4 c Beeswax chunks or grated
- 1 c oil – infused with calendula petals
Instructions
1. Melt gradually in saucepan.
2. Add 5-10 drops of essential oil if desired.
3. Pour into jars.
4. Cap and let cool.
Shelf life of 1-2 years.
Maria Epp is mom to two beautiful girls, partner to Nathan, and creative explorer with a passion for nature and working with her hands.
This post was shared as a part of Simple Lives Thursday and Unprocessed Fridays.