I am the maker of oil!!!

So, blah blah blah, haven’t been blogging for nearly a year, blah blah blah.  Now that we have that out of the way, onto my oil!

In an effort to get a head start on some of my Christmas gifts, I’ve decided to attempt a salve for some people in my family.  I settled on using Castor oil as the main base and mixed it with Grapeseed oil since the castor was so viscous (like really viscous, I worry that the salve might come out too sticky).  If the salve does end up too sticky in the end I’ll probably use less castor oil next time and mix it with a less viscous oil (like grapeseed, apricot kernel, sweet almond).

As for my herbs to infuse the oil, I ordered some dry lavender (to make another project) and some dry rosemary.  I picked lavender because the aroma causes to to relax (hence my other project) and the rosemary was really for my dad’s arthritis, soothes the achy muscles too.  The ratio I just kind of winged, it’s not for consumption so I did go a little heavier then if you were cooking with it.

30 oz Castor oil
16 oz Grapeseed Oil
3 cups Lavender (approx)
1 cup rosemary (approx)
Large enough jar to accommodate everything (I used a large canning jar)

I really just kind of estimated the herbs, in my jars case I filled it up to a little under half way.  After I got the oil in let everything settle for a bit, shook it to get the air bubbles out, and that was that.

I’m using the solar infusion method, so settle the jar on a nice sunny window and let it infuse for about a month.

If you do decide to make your own, make sure your jar is as clean as it can possibly be.  These things can be a potential for a mold or making your oil rancid you want to make sure the jar is sanitized, a run through the dish washer in sterilization mode will work, I boiled my jars then let them sit on simmer for 20 minutes.  Make sure everything is as dry as possible (jars AND herbs).  Even a hint of water in the oil can cause botulism so let your jars dry out before you fill it up.  BTW you can do herb infused oil with fresh herbs too, I just don’t know how lol.