Ever heard of herb-infused oils? You must be fascinated with the uses as you know it can be used for cooking and even for body care. You can find a variety of essential oils in the market. But, do you know you can prepare your own herb-infused oils?
Making herb-infused oil can be an interesting experience. You can use different carrier oils for this purpose. However, olive oil or coconut oil would be a great choice. However, depending on your preferences, you can use the rosehip oil as well since it is great for the skin.
Making The Herb Infused Oil
Let’s discuss a simple method for preparing the herb-infusion oil known as herb infusion.
- To prepare the oil using the herb-infusion method, you can use the traditional folk method or ratio method. In the ratio method, the ingredients are measured whereas in the folk method these are eyeballed. Depending on your ease or preference, you can use any method of your choice.
- Take a sterilized container and fill it in half with the dried herb. Now pour carrier oil to it. The herb should be covered one inch in the oil. The oil should be at room temperature. This is the folk method.
- Use a sterilized spoon to mix the herb and oil. There should be no air bubbles in the mixture.
- Close the lid of the jar by placing a naturalized wax paper on it. Shake the jar little. Now, you can place this jar in a dark spot, for example, your cupboard could be ideal. Let it stay in the spot for 6 weeks. You can shake the jar and release the herbal components after every 2 or 3 days.
- When infusion time is done, pour the mixture from the main jar to a new container using a strainer and line it with a fine cloth. You can compost herb. This new mixture can again be placed in a dark spot. You can leave it overnight at the dark spot. The herb sediments would settle at the bottom. You can further strain the jar using a finer filter.
- Now, you can put this mixture in different containers and put vitamin E in it. You can label the containers for your reference.
Tips to Keep in Mind When Preparing the Herb Infused Oils
Below are some tips to keep in mind when preparing the herb-infused oils:
- To make the herb-infused oils, it would be wise to use the dried herbs of good quality. It would be long-lasting and thus would be beneficial. You can use fresh herbs as well but there chances of bacteria and mold.
- To avoid botulism, use dried herbs for preparing the herb-infused oils for cooking purposes.
- When you use a certain jar for storing the herb-infused oils, don’t forget to label these.
- Rosemary is a herb-infused oil. When cooking potatoes, you can use this one as a culinary oil. However, you can use it for a bath and it is in sugar scrubs and many other shampoos. In fact, if you feel your scalp is itchy, you can try this oil. Some people would prefer using it for the growth of their hair.
- Select a good quality of herb when preparing the herb-infused oils whether for cooking or personal care.
- The minimum time to prepare the herb-infused oil is two weeks. However, the ideal time would be four to six weeks. You want the best quality of herb-infused oil so you have to let the herbs infuse well with the oils.
- The most suitable carrier oil would be olive oil but you can also use rosehip oil depending on your preferences. Rosehip oil would be ideal for using it for body care as it has anti-aging properties. It would be beneficial for your skin and combined with the power of the herbs, it would be great!
Final Words
The method mentioned above for the preparation of the herb infusion oil is quite simple. There are various other methods. However, you can use the one you like the most. Make sure you are using the best quality herbs and carrier oil for the preparation.
