Herbal Infused Butters/Oils

[May]

I have been experimenting with whipped body butter recipes and I have really loved them. However, I would like to try infusing them with certain herbs to increase their beneficial properties. What are your favorite herbs to infuse in your lotion/butter recipes and why?

Can I infuse herbs in shea butter, tallow, or cocoa butter? Would this been done in a slow cooker and for how long?

If anyone has a favorite recipe, please share!!
Thanks for everything!

 

[snappyllama]

Are you using any liquid oils in your whipped butter? I suspect you'd have better luck infusing it into olive oil or something similar.

 

[snappyllama]

Here's a soaping 101 where she infused calendula into OO... you could use that same process for other applications, but I think* the butters might misbehave on you - just a hunch.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjcX8LG6bD8[/ame]

 

[May]

Thank you for the information and video. I will stick to the oils as I do use them in my body butters.

 

[sabistarr]

I infuse herbs and resins into liquid oils. You can mix them up, but this is what I have going on right now:

Rose buds - jojoba
Vanilla pods - sunflower / jojoba mix
Frankincense, sandalwood, myrrh - fractionated coconut
Dragons Blood - f. coconut
Calendula, Plantain, Lavender, - together into coconut and olive

I use the infused oils for all sorts of products - healing salves, perfume bases, etc. I don't yet make body butters!

To infuse - add dry ingredients to glass jar (chop, mince, crush as needed), cover with oils (measure and note so you can do it again) - either in a pot of boiling water or in crock pot for 30 mins - 1 hour. This helps get it going... Store in dark, cool place for 30 days shaking every day. Strain (I use coffee filters) and use.

 

[May]

Thank you. I just started infusing some vanilla beans in jojoba oil. The frankincense, sandalwood, and myrrh sound really interesting. I think I'll try that next.

 

[lillybella]

I infuse herbs and resins into liquid oils. You can mix them up, but this is what I have going on right now:

Rose buds - jojoba
Vanilla pods - sunflower / jojoba mix
Frankincense, sandalwood, myrrh - fractionated coconut
Dragons Blood - f. coconut
Calendula, Plantain, Lavender, - together into coconut and olive

I use the infused oils for all sorts of products - healing salves, perfume bases, etc. I don't yet make body butters!

To infuse - add dry ingredients to glass jar (chop, mince, crush as needed), cover with oils (measure and note so you can do it again) - either in a pot of boiling water or in crock pot for 30 mins - 1 hour. This helps get it going... Store in dark, cool place for 30 days shaking every day. Strain (I use coffee filters) and use.

Where do you get the Frankincense resin? In another Forum there was talk about adding Frankincense Essential Oil to a facial cream to improve the skin. I am doing that now & my skin has never looked this good!

 

[sabistarr]

scents of earth.com has great resins and barks - they sell them for making incense.

 

[sabistarr]

Oh yes, frankincense EO is excellent for skin, blend with sweet almond or olive oil - good for anti-aging. Can remove scars. Tonic & rejuvenating. Balances oily conditions...

Also good for respiratory system (expectorant, antiseptic, anti fungal), genito-urinary system (cystitis), immune system and nervous system!

Can you tell its one of my favorites?

 

[girlishcharm2004]

For infusing, you could use a heat-sealing tea bag. Then you don't have to strain afterwards. I would think that it would be less messy especially if you're infusing something that's ground to a powder.

 

[sabistarr]

it does need to be strained, but a coffee filter works very well!

 

[lillybella]

These are GREAT ideas. Thank you

Why would they still need to be strained if a heat sealing tea bag was used?

 

[lillybella]

Earth.com wouldn't come up.

Mountain Rose Herbs also has frankincense resin.