How to Make Calm Salve

Ingredients:

4.8 oz beeswax pastilles (little round or oval balls of beeswax): I get mine at Walmart and you can order them online as well. You’ll need at least 5 packets (they are 2 oz each).

1 cup lavender (1 pound dry to be oil infused for 4 weeks)

• 1 pound: $24.00 https://mountainroseherbs.com/lavandin-flowers

1 cup lemon balm (1 pound dry to be oil infused for 4 weeks)

• 1 pound: $24.00, https://mountainroseherbs.com/lemon-balm

2 quarts olive oil (You can buy this at any grocery store. You can use any oil you choose but this is the cheapest and many herbalists use it)

 

Tools:

A double boiler or 2 saucepans (or you can put water in a larger pan and situate a smaller pan inside the larger one and bring the water to hot (but not boiling).

2 quart bottles (Ball or Mason) that are heat safe and they will be used to infuse your two herbs in each one.

Some type of jar or container (glass or plastic) that can handle roughly 170F oil that has been mixed with melted beeswax in the double boiler.

• Mountain Rose Herb (https://mountainroseherbs.com/) has all kinds of jars/bottles to choose from (https://mountainroseherbs.com/white-plastic-jars). I use 1 oz white plastic jars (you buy them by the dozen). They are $14.00 for a dozen. If you make the basic recipe of 1/2 cup lemon balm infused oil with 1/2 cup lavender infused oil, along with 2.2 ounces of beeswax (melted first, in double boiler), it will yield out 8-10 one ounce jars, depending upon how full you fill them. These containers are double sided, which is good because you’re pouring very hot infused oil and beeswax into it.

I’m hoping this will inspire everyone to make their own salve to have on hand for themselves, their family and friends. It’s not that hard to do, but does require a bit of gathering the right tools, and also, getting the two herbs, lemon balm and lavender, from a reputable herb supply company.

INFUSING OIL WITH A DRY HERB

Take your Ball/Mason quart jar and put the dry herb to about 1/3rd full. Pour in olive oil to the ‘shoulder’ of the quart jar. That is a 32 oz jar. If you have a kitchen digital weighing scale, then you would add 1/3 or 10-11 ounces of dry herb into it.

Be sure to LABEL it: name of herb, date you made it, and date when it comes out to be strained and used for your salve.

Take a stir stick (I use bamboo stick, but anything will do) and stir up the herb and oil until well mixed. Cap it and put it either in a pantry, dark or semi-dark closet, or shelf where no main light or sunlight can get to it.

Shake daily for 30 days so herb is well mixed with oil once more (herb will usually settle to the bottom of the Ball/Mason jar). Do not put in refrigerator or outside. You want a constant 65-75F range of temperature for it.

STRAINING YOUR NEWLY MADE HERB OIL:

You can use a strainer, but you want one that has very small openings…not large ones. I would suggest putting a coffee filter that will fit in the strainer. That way, it catches all of the herb and it doesn’t go into your infused oil.

I always use a new, clean jar for the strained/infused herb oil. Any type of jar will do, since the oil is room temperature.

Be sure to label new jar with same information. Set in same place as before.

MAKING YOUR CALM SALVE

Gather your tools: spoon or stir stick, double boiler or 2 saucepans, a Pyrex 2 or 3 cup measuring cup with a pour spout (or if you have a plastic measuring cup that is heat certified PP5 (which means it can handle up to 200F heat in it and not melt)), apron for you (optional), ointment jars (open them and put lids aside. Line them up (put paper towel beneath them so any spills or drips don’t go on the surface of your kitchen counter). Set the lids far away from where you’re working.

Put beeswax pastilles, 2.4 oz, into the double boiler. (NOTE: You’ll need 1.2 oz for each cup of infused oil put into the saucepan or double boiler). Beeswax does not melt quickly, so be patient. If you have a laser thermometer, it has to reach about 150F before it starts to melt. Keep your water at that temperature (I like mine between 150-170F). If you hit 200F or above, you can destroy the herb’s chemistry/nutrition, so don’t get close to this upper limit.

From your herb oil infused bottle, pour 1 cup of each into a measuring cup (2 cups total) and set aside. As soon as the beeswax melts, pour the infused herb oil into the double boiler. Don’t be surprised if the beeswax gets chunky again. It’s at 150-170F and your oil is room temperature. Stir gently until the beeswax is melted and you are stirring all three together.

Take a second clean Pyrex measuring cup. Take care when lifting the pan inside the larger pan or double boiler. Remember, it has hot water dripping off it. Have some paper towels on hand to wipe the water off before you pour your 170F hot liquid into that measuring cup. Set the emptied boiler aside (I wipe the area where the oil was poured out of it).

Go to your ointment jars and pour up to about ¼” from the top.

Let your filled jars set and cool. As they cool the surface hardens to a degree and it changes color, so don’t be worried. I let my jars sit for a minimum of one hour if 1 or 2 oz jars. Larger ones like 6-8 oz, three hours. Then I cap them and label them:

CALM SALVE

Lavender, Lemon Balm, Olive Oil,

Rub on hands, bottom of feet or

 in center of forehead before bedtime.

DATE MADE: 11.2.2020

 

Then, you can give to your family and friends!