Herbal Medicine Making Skill: Making an Herbal Infused Oil

Making an infused oil the slow way

This lesson teaches you how to make herbal infused oils using a cold extraction method, using sunlight and time to infuse the goodness of herbs into your quality oil. In the previous recipe for headache salve we used the hot extraction method to speed up the time it takes to infuse the herbs in the oil.

Almost any herb that you can make into tea you can transform into infused oil. Once infused in a good oil, like virgin olive oil or organic sweet almond oil, you can turn it into a salve or ointment to use externally, or even a cooking oil or salad oil. Herbs are so very versatile. They heal you on the inside and on the outside.

First some caveats when infusing herbs in oil

Dried herbs are preferred when making infused oil. The moisture from fresh herbs can cause mold and bacteria to grow in the oil, during the weeks when it’s macerating. The moisture can also cause the oil to go rancid. However, using dried herbs to make infused oil alleviates this danger.

Making Infused Oils Step by Step

Equipment you’ll need:

Wide mouth pint Mason jar

A tight fitting lid

Fine Sieve

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Organic Virgin Olive Oil or Organic sweet almond oil or other cold pressed oil of your choice
• 1 cup of dried herbs of your choice or 1 1/2 cups of fresh and wilted herbs
• ¼ tsp. Natural vitamin E or 4 capsules of natural vitamin E

Directions

• Wash and sterilize all equipment
• Put herb of your choice into a dry jar
• Pour oil over herbs
• Use a knife to press down herbs and remove air pockets
• Cap tightly
• Allow to macerate in a warm, sunny window
• Tilt the jar daily to mix herb with oil
• After 4 to 6 weeks, strain oil, you can leave it longer.
• Bottle in a coloured glass bottle,
• Add vitamin E, and gently shake to mix.
• Cap tightly and label.
• Store in a cool, dry place and protect from intense light

Now your infused oil is ready to use to make salves, ointments, healing and moisturizing balms, creams, and moisturizers.

Making an infused oil when you are in a hurry

Use this method for making an herb infused oil when you are in a hurry. This is the method we used to make the headache salve in this unit. This method infuses herbs in oil in about an hour. You’ll need a double boiler and a glass measuring cup. This method is useful when you want to make an ointment or a salve for immediate use.

• Make a double boiler using a glass measuring cup.
• Place the oil for your recipe in the glass measuring cup.
• Place the herbs that the recipe calls for in the glass measuring cup with the oil. Simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes. Shut off the heat. Allow the oil to come to room temperature naturally. Strain out the herbs and press them to removes as much of the oil as possible. Discard the herbs. Your oil is now infused with herbs and ready to use.

Once you have your infused oil you can use it as a massage oil or you can transform it into a salve with the addition of beeswax. More about salve making in another lesson.