What is a Salve?
What is an herbal salve you ask? Other than a heavenly balm for skin and soul? At its most basic, a salve is a mixture of oil and beeswax. It could be any type of (natural) oil. We choose to use a high-quality, organic olive oil, but you could use avocado, coconut, almond, etc.
At Conscious Earth, we infuse herbs into our oils to gain the beneficial properties of certain plants,. Meaning, we pour our oil over a selection of herbs, seal it tightly, shake it often, and store it in a cool, dark place for 1+ months. Sometimes we infuse our herbs with heat in the crockpot or with the power of the sun. This allows the medicinal constituents of the plant matter to infuse into the oil.
Other ingredients you could add include: shea butter, Vitamin E oil, essential oils, and pretty much anything else oily or waxy. You want to avoid water and anything else containing water-like moisture (like rose water, for example). Remember, oil and water don’t mix. If water gets into your salve, you run the risk of growing mold.
The process is fairly simple. Combine all of your ingredients and melt them down. We do this the folk way by filling a pot of water and setting it on the stove to simmer. While the water is warming, place a mason jar ring in the bottom and a quart jar with all the ingredients on top of the ring (so that the jar isn’t directly on the hot pot). Be mindful not to get water in your jar! The smaller the beeswax pieces, the faster it will melt. If you have a double boiler, you can use that instead; just make sure not to heat your ingredients too hot or too fast.
After all the ingredients have melted and been mixed together, pour them into containers while it is still hot, let it cool and voila! You have a salve! There will be some leftovers in your melting container that can be scraped off and used as a delightful, soothing salve on burns, cuts, dry skin, and more.
Start out with a four-to-one ratio of oil to wax and then make adjustments. Too hard? Use more oil. Too soft? Use more wax. It may take some time to get to the proportions that you like best.
To test your ratios while you’re making the salve, you can put a metal spoon in the freezer, then dip it into your hot mix. This will harden the mixture quickly and you can get an idea of how it will spread when it sets.
Have fun, experiment, and get creative with your ingredients!
Zum Wohl (Good Health)!
