Homemade Salve - Yes You Can!

I make salve all of the time. It's a great thing to have around the house for ailments such as: mild burns, bug bites etc.

I have been saying for a very long time, that I should someday share some of my recipes. Many I have searched online, but just tweak them a bit to make them my own.

Here is a very basic recipe, of which you can tweak on your own, once you become more comfortable with making it.

-Basic Peppermint Salve-
makes approx 250 ml

* 1 Cup shaved beeswax ( I by it in a puck and shave it off as needed. You can use pellets if you prefer.

* 1/4 - 1/2 cup of favorite oil. I prefer extra virgin olive oil. You can use, grape seed oil, sunflower oil etc as long as it can handle being heated. I also have a bad habit of eye balling my measurements, you may need to tweak the amounts according to your preference.

* I also prefer to fuse my oil with fresh or dried herbs. For example, I harvested a bunch of peppermint and hung it to dry. I removed all of the leaves and stored in a seal proof container. I use the leaves in my peppermint salves. All you do is, place a handful ( or desired amount) of herbs into an oven proof dish, add oil enough to cover the herbs and cook on a low setting for 3hrs. Once cooled off, drain the herbs by using a cheesecloth and use the peppermint oil in your salve recipe. You can do this with many types of herbs.

* You can add a couple of gel Vit E capsules if you are worried about shelf life, although salves last for a very long time in the open air, as the components take longer to break down without things like water being added. Either way, keeping in in the fridge is ok too, it keeps the salve tougher and acts like a cooling cream. Also, the Vit E is a great skin softener.

* Last but not least, add a generous (10-14) drops of your desired essential oil. I sometimes mix them depending on the purpose of the salve.

"Pain Relief: Peppermint oil can be used externally for providing relief from pain. It is believed that the presence of calcium antagonism in peppermint oil aids in removing pain. It is cooling in nature and therefore helps reduce fever." Peppermint has many more healing benefits.
Peppermint blends well with various other essential oils including eucalyptus, rosemary, lemon, marjoram, etc.

Research your oils and their purpose before mixing different kinds together for an effective salve, or you can ask me and I will be more than happy to help :)

Once you have all of the needed ingredients.....

Use an old pot on a stove top to melt the wax. Wax will burn and is flammable so be careful! You only need it to melt down on a medium heat setting. Once the wax is melted, add in the virgin olive oil. Take the mixture off of the heat and add in Vit E and oils as preferred. mix together with a wooden spoon and slowly pour it into a 250 ml sterilized, glass jar. Allow to cool with the lid off. When completely cool, it is safe to use or refrigerate.

Good Luck! I hope this works for you! If not, I can still whip you up a couple of batches ;)

Much Love,

Sig.