MAKING MACERATIONS: A PRECIOUS WORK OF LOVE

Macerations, also called medicated oils, are delightful whether are used “as is” for massage or mixed with other ingredients in salves, moisturizing creams, lotions or vinaigrettes. They are extra simple to make.

You can use three different kinds of oils--olive oil, sesame oil and ghee--and two different methods--the “patience” method and the “I can’t wait” method. Regardless of the method, make sure your jar is sterilized.

Three oils

Olive oil is the oil that has the best ability to extract the healing properties of herbs, petals and spices. Although cold pressed olive oil has a distinctive smell, it may disappear depending on the type and quantity of herb put in it.

Sesame oil and ghee are recommended for the “I can’t wait” method described below. While Ayurveda considers sesame as a heating oil and ghee as a cooling oil, these properties will likely be neutralized with the herbs used and the preparation method. Since ghee is more expensive and takes longer to prepare, I use it when preparing macerations I will ingest and sesame oil for products used on the skin.

Two methods

The “patience” method consists of simply soaking your thoroughly dried ingredient in the oil. The rule of thumb is to fill your jar with the herb you want to use, then top it with oil and let it macerate in the dark for 6 to 8 weeks. This is why I call it the “patience” method. To give more potency to your oil, tap the bottom of the jar or shake it 7 times every day.

After 8 weeks, strain the plant matter and throw it in the compost pile. The oil is ready to use. Pour in a jar and label it with the herb name, oil, and current date.

The “I can’t wait”… method will give you a maceration much sooner, but requires many hours to prepare and a lot more attention. You may wish to spread the process over two days as there are two long simmering stages. The tea is made with a 1:16 herb/water ratio, then strain it. Simmer the tea down by 75%, eg. 1 litre down to 25 ml. You may need to filter the tea again with a finer strainer.

The next step consists in simmering the herbal tea in 4 times the quantity of oil, eg. 25ml tea and 1 liter of oil. The tea will float on the oil of course. For obvious safety reasons, make sure you don’t leave your maceration unattended. 

A crackling sound will be your cue that the maceration is ready. Filter it again if necessary and let it cool down without a lid. Label the jar with maceration name and current date.

Recipe

The recipe below is to be used in the breasts moisturizing cream recipe given in a previous blog. Since I have not been able to find fennel hydrosol, I decided to create a maceration with fennel and integrate the ashwanganda and shatavari. Also added astralagus as it supports the immune system.

Ingredients :

4 cups filtered water

¼ cup of medicinal herb or herb combination

1 cup of sesame or olive oil, or ghee

Method:

CAUTION : Never let oil unattended while cooking

1. Make a herbal tea and simmer (*don’t boil) until you have 1 cup left WITHOUT the herbal mud in the bottom (3 hours or more)

2. Strain the tea making sure there are no solids left

3. Pour the oil in a small pot, then pour the tea on top of the oil

4. *Simmer again  until all the tea evaporated. By then the oil will have absorbed the properties contained in the tea.

A ‘crackle’ sound when the last drops of the tea evaporate will let you know that your medicated oil is now ready

5.Fill your jar completely so that there is little to no air left.

6. Store in the dark. The reason? Because bacteria, air and light affect the quality and shorten the life of the product you took such care to prepare.

Enjoy the results!

*Boiling your herbs will kill their medicinal properties