Herbal Preparations for Your Kitchen "Pharmacy"

[Marianne]

WTG Girls!

 

[Lesa]

Made the calendula salve this morning! Thanks so much for the recipe! I had another batch of dried flower petals- so I am infusing more oil, as we speak... If you haven't made anything with beeswax before- it really is like magic. You stir it in to liquid and in a very few minutes, it is firm and creamy. Nature is so cool! Wax from the bees, flowers from the garden- what is not to love??

 

[Gypsi]

What I really want is to make oregano essential oil - works fantastic on cuts, infected scrapes & scratches whether the infection is bacterial or fungal. I have tons of oregano in my front flower bed, it took over.

I dried some this spring and packed it in olive oil for a couple of weeks, then strained it out, but it is not as good as an antiseptic as the essential oil. Does anyone know how to make these?

Gypsi

 

[Marianne]

I'd be interested in the oregano oil, too.

I have a batch of Balm of Gilead jarred up. It's just cottonwood tree buds and olive oil. You can read about it here: http://www.learningherbs.com/balm_of_gilead.html

Great place to get info for your kitchen pharmacy, too! I love that site, they have a free online herbalism course, too.

 

[dragonlaurel]

The oregano oil that you normally see for germ fighting is a type of Greek Oregano that grows in their mountains. That stuff is extremely strong, but they are usually picking the wild grown herb for it.

You could look up what kind of soil it grows in there (clay, sand, ph, rocky & what type of rock since the plant is adapted to it, light levels, and their basic weather patterns, and create similar conditions for your pot or patch of oregano.

Once the basic growing conditions are right- I would not baby it, because extremely strong oils are usually a plants defense when it is trying to defend itself- by smelling or tasting bad to bugs.

I know trying to copy the conditions sounds like hard work, but some people might find out they already have good conditions.
Those people might consider raising bigger amounts of it. It worked for grapes. For a long time people didn't think that wine grapes would do well in America. They found out later that NY, Cal, and the Ark/Mo. Ozarks were also very good for them and developed industries to take advantage of that.

 

[calendula]

What I really want is to make oregano essential oil - works fantastic on cuts, infected scrapes & scratches whether the infection is bacterial or fungal. I have tons of oregano in my front flower bed, it took over.

I dried some this spring and packed it in olive oil for a couple of weeks, then strained it out, but it is not as good as an antiseptic as the essential oil. Does anyone know how to make these?

Gypsi

From what I understand, it is fairly difficult to make your own essential oils at home since most of them are made by steam distillation. That is something I have always wanted to try myself, but I think you would need a lot of plant material to work with. I did find this article at http://aromatherapy.bellevuemassagetherapy.com/2009/08/how-to-make-essential-oils.html:

How to Make Essential Oils

Have you wondered about how to make essential oils?

Well, you can do it at home, but it's not really efficient or cost effective. It can take many pounds of plant material to make only a few drops of oil.

You basically need your own still or an extractor like the one shown in photo and available on Amazon.

Here are some instructions from Aromatherapy: A Complete Guide to the Healing Art that will yield some essential oil but is mostly useful for making hydrosol (scented water).

You need these supplies:
pressure cooker (stainless steel*)
vegetable steamer (stainless steel)
hose clamp
1-quart (or larger) glass jar
10 feet of 1/4-inch diameter copper** or food-grade vinyl plastic tubing
5-gallon bucket
dried or fresh herbs you want to distill
*Use stainless steel because aluminum may react with the essential oils.

**If you use copper tubing, tape off one end and fill the tube with fine sand to prevent it from kinking. Slowly wrap it around a small bucket or something else with a cylindrical shape so that the tubing spirals in a way that fits into a 5-gallon bucket.


Put the pressure cooker on a stove burner. Fill it half-way with water. Place a vegetable steamer inside the cooker, propping it up, if needed, so that the bottom is above the water line.

Place the herbs you want to distill on top of the steamer.

Put the lid on the pressure cooker, but instead of placing the regulator vent on top of the cooker, put a 10-foot length of food grade tubing over the outlet, using a hose clamp to make sure the fit is tight.

Drop the other end of the tubing over the edge of the counter.

Place a 5-gallon bucket on a chair, and coil the suspended end of the tube inside the bucket so that it wraps around at least four (4) times.

Put enough cold water and ice in the bucket to cover the coiled tubing.

Drop the end of the tube that is in the bucket over the edge toward the floor. Place a very clean small-mouth jar (at least 1-quart) on the floor, and insert the end of the tubing into it, positioning the tubing so it falls straight into the jar.

Turn the burner on medium-high.

The water will start to boil, creating steam inside the pressure cooker that rises through the herbs and captures and removes the essential oil, which flows out of the cooker through the tubing. When the steam inside the tubing reaches the cold water in the bucket, the steam condenses and converts back to water, literally dropping the essential oil.

Some oil will float on the surface of the water as it goes into the jar, but the product will be mostly hydrosol.

 

[calendula]

Made the calendula salve this morning! Thanks so much for the recipe! I had another batch of dried flower petals- so I am infusing more oil, as we speak... If you haven't made anything with beeswax before- it really is like magic. You stir it in to liquid and in a very few minutes, it is firm and creamy. Nature is so cool! Wax from the bees, flowers from the garden- what is not to love??

Lesa, that's awesome! Nature is cool.

 

[galanie]

Does anyone know what part of lemongrass is used to make oil/tincture/whatever? Sounds like a dumb question BUT...

The part used in culinary arts is the base, not the leaves. The long leaves do have the scent, but when I tried to infuse lemongrass leaves, I got basically nothing. The oil did smell slightly of lemon, but nothing like the smell I think I should have gotten. And I used plenty of the stuff so it wasn't that there wasn't enough of it. I just don't want to pull up half my plants to use the base unless that's what I need to do.

Thank you all for this thread! I've read how to do these things before but having it all in one thread in an easy to understand way is fantastic!

 

[Homemaker]

On one of the threads on here someone mentioned that if you have a minor cut you can use a pinch of the "mother" from vinegar. Sorry I guess that isn't exactly herbal? But, still good for a kitchen pharmacy.
I'm new to herbs. But, I did try some great teas for health.
Anise seeds infused to make a tea is great for gas
Cloves are good for stinky breath or toothache.
Borage is good for promoting breast milk
Aloe (which I am sure everyone knows about) But, I didn't get a plant until this year. And I wish I had got one sooner.

I think I am going to go make some Chamomile tea....so I can get some sleep.

 

[Gypsi]

Galanie,
An infusion just doesn't have the potency of an essential oil. As far as I know the leaves are used in the essential oil, which it turns out is essential to bee-charming.

Gypsi