Monday, 10 June 2013

dandelion creme ointment

This is what you make when your 7-yr-old son brings you a handful of dandelions and says, "Surely there's SOMETHING we can make with these!" We did a little research and lo and behold, we came up with a salve for eczema as well as cracked heals. 

You start with making dandelion diffused oil. We used canola oil in one batch and olive oil in the other with great results both times. Here's how you do it:

Get that same 7-yr-old boy to help you gather a gallon of dandelion blossoms. With a scissors, cut off the base of the petals so they fall apart into another container. Once you have a nice pile of petals, spread them out on a paper-towel to dry out overnight. You don't want all that water in your oil.
Next, fill a quart jar 3/4 full of dandelion petals and fill to the neck with either olive or canola oil. Place jar in double boiler and keep just below a simmer for several hours. (The amount of time isn't really all that particular; we did 4 hours with good results.) Strain oil off and press excess oil out of petals with a sieve. Throw out the petals.

Melt together in microwave: 
7 oz oil
3 oz beeswax pellets or fine shavings
Add:
essential oils of your choice and amount of scent your prefer.
Pour into small jars and let set an hour or two. It's ready to use!

3 comments:

Book Gypsy said...

Oh fun! I am quite interested in natural products... With all the dandelions around I sure would like to put them to use.

quintuplicatemom said...

Could I borrow your 7-year-old?

Grace said...

Yes! absolutely! He's a refreshing little bit o' sunshine to have around! We've been having a lot of fun seeing what all we can make with whatever he brings in. Today it was canola. Hmmmm. Can you help us out with THIS?!