Sun-Kissed Healing Calendula Infused Oil
(using Solar/Sun Infused Method also referred to as "Simpler's Method Oil Infusion")
One of my favorite things to make during the summer months are herbal infused oils which have had the opportunity to infuse under the warmth of the sun. Allowing your herbal oils to sit in the sun is generally the preferred method of making herbal infused oils - especially when using freshly wilted plants - as the sun helps to evaporate off any remaining moisture from the herbs and gently cooks the oil to help extract the healing properties of the plants into the oil. We will be showing you how to make a soothing and all-purpose healing "Sun-Kissed Calendula Oil" using your common garden plant,
Calendula officinalis, which is commonly referred to as "pot marigold".
Just make sure it is the medicinal variety if you are growing or harvesting the flowers yourself as there are many ornamental marigolds.
Supplies Needed to Prepare a Calendula Infused Oil
*1/3 ounce by weight of Calendula flowers (or ½ cup firmly packed wilted or
dried Calendula)
*12 fluid ounces Jojoba Oil
*Pint sized mason jar
*Wooden stir stick or spoon
*Sunny weather (preferred)
Supplies Needed to Strain an Herbal Infused Oil
*Pyrex measuring bowl (or something similar, preferably with a pour spout to make it easy to pour and bottle)
*Muslin cloth,
cheese cloth and/or stainless steel mesh strainer
*Rubber spatula (optional to help scrape oil and herbs)
*Funnel (optional to ease pouring and minimize potential for spilling oil)
*Bottle and label for storing
*Vitamin E Oil to help preserve (optional)
How to Make a Healing Sun Infused Calendula Oil
- If using recently harvested plants be sure to wilt the plants until they are mostly or completely dried. This is important as water from freshly harvested plants can cause the oil to turn rancid more quickly and can create an environment for pathogen growth, reducing the stability and shelf life of the infused oil. If you are not harvesting and drying your calendula you can purchase some of the beautiful and vibrant healing flowers here.
- Cut or break up the dried plant material into smaller pieces, if not done so already. You can do this by hand, with scissors or lightly pulse grind herbs in a grinder/blender.
- Loosely pack the herb(s) in a mason jar until slightly over half full and no more than ¾ of the way full.
- Pour in your carrier oil (I used jojoba oil for this recipe, but you could choose almond oil, sunflower oil or even olive oil) and completely saturate the flowers. Mix well, preferably with a wooden stick or spoon, to release all air bubbles and to make sure herbs are completely saturated with oil and flowing loosely. Avoid over-packing the herbs into the jar. Let the herbs settle and top off mixture with additional oil if needed so that ½ - 1 inch of extra oil covers the herb(s).
- Cover jar with a piece of muslin or cheese cloth and secure the fabric with the ring. This allows the oil to breath and release moisture to help prevent condensation and water droplets from dripping down into the oil. This step is optional as you can also use a tightly sealed lid instead which is thought to help prevent oxygen from causing the oil to oxidize. I have used both methods over the years and have come to prefer the muslin cloth, especially when using wilted herbs as they can sweat out moisture into the oil when it sits in the sun/heat.
- Place oil in a sunny window or outside in the garden under the sun. Periodically check on your oil and wipe off any condensation which builds up inside the jar as needed to prevent it from dropping into the oil. Make sure you bring the oil inside at night or on days with high moisture/humidity to prevent moisture from the environment getting into your oil.
- After 2-4 weeks of infusing the in sun, your calendula oil should yield a beautiful light orange hued oil infusion which can be used for general first aid healing and various skin ailments. (Refer below for properties and uses of Calendula oil)
- Keep an eye on the oil levels especially in the first 24-48 hours as the herbs will continue to absorb the oil. Top off with more oil as needed to maintain ½ - 1 inch of extra oil covering the herbs. If condensation appears inside the jar, wipe off with a paper towel. This is generally more of a concern when using freshly wilted plants but can also occur when using dried herbs, especially if it gets a chance to sit in the sun.
- Shake or stir daily (or at least every other day) with your positive, healing intentions. If you use a secured lid, then you can shake. If you use a cloth to allow the oil to breath, then you have to stir the herbs (chopsticks are great!). Periodically moving the herbs around is thought to help extract the properties of the herbs and keeps the herbs rotating in the oil to help prevent oxidation and pathogen growth. After 2-4 weeks, your oil should have extracted a majority of the healing properties of the herbs and will be ready to strain.
- One of my preferred ways of straining infused oils is to first gently warm the oil in the sun for a few hours or in a pot of hot water - double boiler style - for 20-30 minutes. (*See instructions below for how to make your own mason jar double boiler.)
- Place a stainless steel mesh strainer over a pyrex measuring bowl. Place a layer of muslin cloth or cheese cloth over the mesh strainer.
- Slowly pour the oil and calendula flowers through the cloth. Once you have a nice handful of herbal material in the cloth, fold the corners up and twist the fabric to create a pouch. Continue to twist and squeeze as much oil as you can from the herbs. Discard the herbs when finished and repeat until fully strained.
- Pour the infused oil into a container to store. Add Vitamin E Oil to help
preserve if desired. I tend to use about ½-1 ml of Vitamin E oil per ounce of infused oil. I like to store most of the oil in a large amber glass bottle or a mason jar and then pour the oil into a small bottle with a pump dispenser to use as needed. Or I use the oil to make healing salves and in my healing bath and beauty care recipes (see more info below about the various uses of calendula oil).
The above recipe yields approximately 10-11 ounces of Calendula infused oil.
This method does take the longest and may not always be appropriate. If you desire a more immediate oil infusion, the crock pot or double boiler method can be used instead (see below).
Properties and Uses of Calendula Infused Oil:
- General first aid and healing properties for cuts, scrapes, bruises, wounds, minor burns, bug bites/stings, swelling, strains, sprains, fractures, breaks, etc.
- Itchy inflamed skin, dermatitis, eczema, psoriasis, rosacea, hives, acne, chicken pox, measles, poison oak/ivy, other irritation from plants such as nettle stings, etc.
- Softens skin and moisturizes to heal dry, chapped and cracked skin. Great for garden hands or working hands. Calendula encourages new cell growth, speeding the healing of the skin and helps to prevent scarring.
- Anti-microbial properties - anti-bacterial to disinfect wounds; anti-fungal for athlete's foot, ring worm, etc; anti-viral for chicken pox or measles. It is also thought to have topical anti-biotic like actions beneficial for persistent skin infections like staff or for disinfecting and healing deep wounds such as bed sores.
- Calendula tends to be gentle enough to use on young children, infants and extremely sensitive or reactive skin.
- Add calendula infused oil to any skin recipe or personal care product which calls for an oil such as salves/balms, lotions/creams, shampoo, soaps, facial serums/oils, hair oils, bath oil, massage oil, deodorant, salt/sugar scrubs, baby diaper ointments/creams/balms, etc.
Lavender Infused Oil using the Double Boiler Method
As much as I love and prefer sun infused herbal oils, there are times when I need a healing oil more immediately and do not have time to wait 2-4 week to make an oil infusion. I also really enjoy using coconut oil for some of my herbal oil infusions which is solid at room temperature and not the most appropriate oil to use when doing the sunshine Simpler's Method. In these situations, it is best to use very low, indirect heat to slowly and gently cook the properties of the herbs into an oil. Using indirect heat helps to preserve the quality of the oil, medicine and flavor as the oils and herbs can easy get burned and the healing properties of the plants can be cooked out. The double boiler method allows you to use the heat from boiling water and steam to gently cook and infuse the healing properties of the plants into the oil. We will step you through the process of making an herbal infused oil using a double boiler and a common garden plant, Lavender.
Supplies Needed to Prepare a Lavender Infused Oil using a Double Boiler
*½ ounce by weight of Lavender flowers (or approximately ½ cup freshly wilted or
dried flowers)
*8 fluid ounces Olive Oil (or use another oil of choice)
*Double Boiler (or make your own using a large pot, 3 mason jar rings and a mason jar - instructions below)
*A wooden stir stick or spoon
Supplies Needed to Strain an Herbal Infused Oil
*Pyrex measuring bowl (or something similar, preferably with a pour spout to make it easy to pour and bottle)
*Muslin cloth, cheese cloth and/or stainless steel mesh strainer
*Rubber spatula (optional to help scrape oil and herbs)
*Funnel (optional to ease pouring and minimize potential for spilling oil)
*Bottle and label for storing
*Vitamin E Oil to help preserve (optional)
How to Make a Healing Lavender Infused Oil
- If using recently harvested lavender be sure to wilt the flowers until they are mostly or completely dried. This is important as water from freshly harvested plants can cause the oil to turn rancid more quickly and can create an environment for pathogen growth, reducing the stability and shelf life of the infused oil. If you are not harvesting and drying your lavender flowers you can purchase some of the lovely and fragrant healing flowers here.
- Cut or break up the dried plant material into smaller pieces, if not done so already. You can do this by stripping the flowers off the stem and breaking them up a little by hand. You can also lightly pulse grind herbs in a grinder/blender but I generally don't find it necessary to do this with lavender since the flowers are so small already.
- Add water to the bottom pot of the double boiler and place it on the stove on medium heat. Cover with the top pot.
- Measure your lavender and pour it into the double boiler.
- Pour in your carrier oil (I used olive oil for this recipe) and completely saturate the lavender flowers. Mix well, preferably with a wooden stick or spoon, to release any air bubbles. Allow the herbs to settle and top off the mixture with additional oil if needed so that the lavender flowers are moving freely and are fully covered by the oil.
- If you are making your own double boiler using a mason jar, fill a pot up
with water and place 3 mason jar rings on the bottom to create a rack. Place your mason jar filled with herbs and oil in the center of the rings so the glass is not touching the pan. Make sure the water levels are high enough to cover most of the jar but is not too high to risk getting water in it. Bring the water to a gentle simmer and allow the heat from the water to heat the glass jar and act as a double boiler to gently infuse the oil.
- Cover and gently cook for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally. Periodically check the oil to ensure it does not over-heat and make sure the bottom pan always has water in it. You do NOT want the oil to reach a simmer. If it does, it may burn and degrade the oil. Turn the stove off and on as needed to regulate the temperature and wipe off condensation from the lid and inside the pot as needed to prevent water from getting into the oil.
- If I do not need the oil immediately I will usually allow the herbs and oil to sit 1-2 nights to continue infusing at room temperature. I then re-heat the oil back up again for 30-60 minutes and then turn off the heat and allow the oil to cool slightly before straining it. If I do need the oil immediately, I skip this step and strain the oil shortly after it cooks.
- Place a stainless steel mesh strainer over a pyrex measuring bowl. Place a layer of muslin cloth or cheese cloth over the mesh strainer.
- Slowly pour the oil and lavender flowers through the cloth. Once you have a nice handful of herbal material in the cloth, fold the corners up and twist the fabric to create a pouch. Continue to twist and squeeze as much oil as you can from the herbs. Discard the herbs when finished and repeat until fully strained.
- Pour the infused oil into a container to store. Or use the oil to make healing salves or in healing bath and beauty care recipes. See more info below about the uses of lavender infused oil.
The recipe above yields approximately 7 ounces of Lavender Infused Oil.
Properties and Uses of Lavender Infused Oil:
- General first aid and healing properties with anti-septic actions for cuts, scrapes, bruises, wounds, burns, bug bites/stings, rashes, etc.
- Itchy inflamed skin, dermatitis, hives, acne, chicken pox, measles, poison oak/ivy, etc.
- Soothing and healing to skin, especially for burns (caution: do not add an infused oil on a fresh burn. Use water based preparations for the first 2-3 days. Once the burn has cooled and the skin is no longer releasing heat, then you can apply a lavender infused oil to speed the recovery and healing and to help reduce scarring.
- Lavender's lovely and relaxing fragrance is great to enhance the scent of any medicinal oil and homemade body care product and can be used for relaxing and stress relieving recipes.
- Lavender is gentle enough to use on young children, infants and extremely sensitive or reactive skin.
- Add lavender infused oil to any skin recipe or personal care product which calls for an oil such as salves/balms, lotions/creams, shampoo, soaps, facial serums/oils, hair oils, bath oil, massage oil, deodorant, salt/sugar scrubs, baby diaper ointments/creams/balms, etc.
Violet Infused Oil Using the Crock Pot Method
The crock pot is another great way to slowly cook and infuse an herbal oil in as little as a few hours. It is one of the ways I also like to make my herbal infused coconut oils since coconut needs gentle heat to melt and extract out the healing properties of plants. It is just good to keep an eye on the oil and herbs while they are infusing and to keep in mind that every crock pot is different and the settings may vary between models and manufacturers. For example, I have had crock pots before where the warm setting was perfect for maintaining a hot oil infusion while other models would get too hot on the warm setting and cause the oil to simmer which should be avoided. With these higher temperature crock pots you can help regulate the temperature by plugging it into a timer which turns on the crock pot for 15-30 minutes every hour or two. This can help prevent the oil from getting too hot and reaching a simmer.
Supplies Needed to Prepare a Violet Infused Oil using a Crock Pot
*5 grams by weight of Violet leaves and flowers (or approximately ½ cup firmly packed and wilted whole leaves and flowers)
*1 cup of coconut oil (can measure either solid or melted)
*Small Crock Pot (or make your own using a large pot, 3 mason jar rings and a mason jar)
*A wooden stir stick or spoon
Supplies Needed to Strain an Herbal Infused Oil
*Pyrex measuring bowl (or something similar, preferably with a pour spout to make it easy to pour and bottle)
*Muslin cloth, cheese cloth and/or stainless steel mesh strainer
*Rubber spatula (optional to help scrape oil and herbs)
*Funnel (optional to ease pouring and minimize potential for spilling oil)
*Bottle and label for storing
How to Make Violet Infused Oil
- If using recently harvested violet be sure to wilt the leaves and flowers until they are mostly or completely dried. This is important as water from freshly harvested plants can cause the oil to turn rancid more quickly and can create an environment for pathogen growth, reducing the stability and shelf life of the infused oil. If you are not harvesting and drying your violet leaves and flowers you can purchase some sweet healing violet here.
- Cut or break up the dried plant material into smaller pieces, if not done so already. You can also lightly pulse grind herbs in a grinder/blender.
- Measure the coconut oil by firmly packing spoonsful of it into a dry measuring cup. Add it to the crock pot to melt.
- Measure your violet leaves and flowers and mix them into the melted coconut oil using a wooden stick or spoon. Allow the herbs to settle and top off mixture with additional oil if needed so that the violet leaves and flowers are moving freely and fully covered by the oil.
- Cover and gently cook for 2-4 hours, stirring occasionally. Periodically check the oil to ensure it does not over-heat and turn the crock pot off and on as needed or set it up to a timer to help regulate the heat. You do NOT want the oil to reach a simmer. If it does, it may burn and degrade the oil.
- If I do not need the oil immediately I will usually allow the herbs and oil to sit 1-2 nights to continue infusing at room temperature. I then re-heat the oil back up again for 30-60 minutes and then turn off the heat and allow the oil to cool slightly before straining it. If I do need the oil immediately, I skip this step and strain the oil shortly after it cooks.
- Place a stainless steel mesh strainer over a pyrex measuring bowl. You can also use a piece of muslin or cheese cloth but I sometimes just use the stainless steel mesh strainer in situations like this when I am making a small batch of oil and the herbal material is light and whole, making straining easy enough to not need to squeeze the herbal material much.
- Slowly pour the oil and lavender flowers through the strainer/cloth. Once you have a nice handful of herbal material squeeze the oil out. If using just the mesh strainer I use my hands or the back of a wooden spoon to press the oil. If using a cloth, fold the corners up and twist the fabric to create a pouch. Continue to twist and squeeze as much oil as you can from the herbs. Discard the herbs when finished and repeat until fully strained.
- Pour the infused oil into a container to store. Or use the oil to make healing salves or in healing bath and beauty care recipes such as breast oil/balms, lymphatic scrubs, deodorant, etc. (see more info below about the uses of violet infused oil)
The recipe above yields approximately 7 ounces of Violet Infused Coconut Oil or enough to almost fill two 4 ounce jars.
Properties and Uses of Violet Infused Oil:
- The primary and most specific action of violet infused oil is to support breast health and to help break down and dissolve cysts, tumors and lymphatic congestion especially in the breast and arm pit areas. It is a very beneficial oil to incorporate into lymphatic and breast massages.
- Violet infused oil is also known to help with reducing cradle cap in infants.
- Violets have a cooling and moistening effect on the skin helping to reduce dry, irritated, red, hot and inflamed skin.
- You can work with the spirit healing properties of violet by rubbing a small amount of the infused oil or balm into the heart chakra for its heart healing and opening benefits or rub it into your 3rd eye to enhance intuition, clairvoyance and dreams.
General Tips and Considerations for Making Herbal Infused Oils:
*Make sure to properly label your container with the common and botanical plant name(s), date of infusion and some general uses, if desired.
*Store oils in a cool and dry place away from sunlight, heat and moisture.
*Storing your infused oil in amber or cobalt glass bottles helps to filter any damage or degradation from sun and indoor lighting.
*If I use coconut oil I like to store the oil infusion in a jar, otherwise, I store the oil in a colored glass bottle (amber and cobalt work great).
*Do NOT use oil which has gone or smells rancid! It is full of free-radicals and considered carcinogenic.
*Too much exposure to oxygen can degrade the quality and storage life of your infused oil so it can be beneficial to store the bulk of your oil in a larger container and pour it into smaller containers for use. This helps minimize how often you are opening the storage bottle and exposing your oil to oxygen.
*Sometimes we can get unwanted particulate matter which goes through the strainer into the oil. You can allow the oil to sit for a couple days and any moisture or herbal particulates will settle to the bottom. Then you can pour off the particulate and moisture free oil leaving any 'gunky' oil behind. This step is optional and only done if necessary.
*Do not fill your bottles up all the way. Leave room for the oil to be able to expand during fluctuations of temperature, humidity, barometric pressure and elevation.
*Most infused oils last about 6-12 months depending on the quality, shelf life and stability of the oil(s) used as well as how it is stored. Adding vitamin E oil and/or incorporating infused oil and essential oils of herbs high in anti-oxidants (i.e. rosemary, sage, chaparral, etc.) can help preserve and extend the storage life of infused oils.
*Make oil in small batches or enough to last up to 12 months.
*It is not necessary to use both a stainless steel mesh strainer and cheese/muslin cloth but I prefer to use both because I use the mesh strainer to help hold and suspend the cloth up, making it easier to handle. The mesh strainer also catches any particulates that may come out of the cloth. You can choose to use only one. If you use just the stainless mesh strainer, then you can use your hands or a large spoon to press the herbs and squeeze out the oil as shown with the Violet Infused Oil. If you use just the muslin or cheese cloth, then you can either use a tight rubber band to secure and suspend the cloth around the mouth of a jar or bowl. Or if you have an extra pair of hands to help you can have one person hold the cloth while another slowly pours the mixture through it. Then when you have a handful of herbs in the cloth, fold up the corners to create a pouch, twist and squeeze out the oil.
Candice Brunlinger has been studying and practicing herbal healing since 2004. Her passions include making herbal medicine, developing connections with plants, cooking, growing herbs, gardening, wild crafting, teaching workshops and classes, practicing tai chi and qi gong and being an "herbal mama". She teaches for the Northwest School of Botanical Studies, has a small clinical practice and an herbal product line, Herbal Infusions. You can visit her blog at http://nourishingherbs.blogspot.com/ or become a member of her Facebook group "Herbal Living" at www.facebook.com/groups/herballiving/.
