Carrier Oils For Aromatherapy

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• Golden Calendula Oil

• This is the product that results when you infuse fresh or dried Calendula flowers in oil, usually Olive Oil. The resulting product can be protected from oxidation with the addition of vitamin E and can be kept in the refrigerator Calendula flowers contain lots of carotene and vitamin A, which is essential in itself for healthy skin.
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  Vitamin A is oil soluble and will enter the base oil when the flowers are macerated. take the calendula flowers and place them in the top of a double boiler , add the olive oil and press the flowers into the oil with a potato masher. Allow the flowers to macerate in room temperature for 24hours, then turned on the heat and brought the water at the bottom of the double boiler to a boil. The flowers were allowed to heat slowly in the Olive oil for four hours.
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  I turned off the heat and let it cool. When cool I pressed the flowers and oil through a cheese cloth, letting the oil drip into the containers. Then I squeezed 4 vitamin E capsules into each bottle and refrigerated them. This is enough oil for a year of experimentation and application.
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  Golden Calendula Carrier Oil
  (A carrier oil for all fine Aromatherapy Products)
  1 quart (by volume) of Olive oil or any mixture of oils of your choice
  4-8 ounces (by weight) of fresh Calendula flowers (125-250 flowers)
  1 double boiler with water in the bottom
• Place the flowers and the oil in the top of the pot. Mash with a masher, pestle or back of spoon. macerate (tosoften and extract by steeping with heat) in the oil for 10 minutes to 24 hours (with only natural heat, that is, in a warm room). Then turn on the heat bringing the water in the bottom of the double boiler to a boil, and simmer until the oil and flowers are hot and have been gently heated for at least four hours. At this point your oil should have a delicious toasty fragrance.
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  If it ever begins to smell burnt or like burnt toast, you have applied too much heat and should get the flowers out of the oil immediately. But after 4 hours this delicious -smelling and gloriously golden oil will have been heated enough to have extracted all the beneficence from the flowers. Also were you to taste the oil, it would have a yummy flowery taste as well.
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  Let cool, until cool enough to handle, about an hour. Now strain through a gold-type or other fine filter or cheese cloth (whatever you have), into a 1 -quart container. You may squeeze the cloth if you want. if you squeeze it to extract every bit of oil, the oil becomes opaque with suspended flower matter. This delicate solid flower matter will eventually settle out.
• if you do not squeeze the cloth, the oil stays relatively clear and golden.
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  At this point you have 1 quart of Golden Calendula Carrier Oil. You may add the contents of one 400IU vitamin E capsule per ounce of oil 932 capsules per quart0, or you may just refrigerate it until your oil is needed. Remember that this is a living product and will not last indefinitely in any circumstance. Use up your oil and make up a new batch whenever you have Calendula flowers in season.
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  Reference: The Aromatherapy Book / Jeanne Rose