The oily macerate is a natural preparation that can be made at home by your own care. The process is extremely rewarding and reconnects us to the healing power of nature. For a moment, we become modern-day witches and wizards. Discover how to prepare yourself at home and why not with your children oily macerates with wild or garden medicinal plants.
The importance of the container and storage
Sterilize your glass containers properly. Smoked or tinted glass jars is best to avoid alteration of your home-made oily macerate. Indeed, sunlight can damage your preparation by making it ineffective.
How to recognize a preparation that has gone bad?
The smell does not deceive! A macerate that has turned will smell rancid or past oil. Avoid flushing it down the sink or toilet. Give it to the Earth, pour it in a corner of your garden...
The conservation is done in a dark and fresh place. A shed, a cellar, a closet will do perfectly. Avoid uninsulated attics, loft spaces and garages where temperatures can rise quickly. Once opened, the refrigerator will allow you to slow down the oxidation of your preparation.
Gathering or the art of communing with nature
If you decide to pick your own macerating plants, do it in the summer on a sunny day. The summer solstice is usually the traditionally preferred period but depending on the raw material needed, this can obviously be done according to the seasonality of the plant and its cycle (bud, flower, seeds, young shoots etc. ....).
There are a few rules to follow for ethical and responsible picking:
do not pull up the roots
Pick only what you need and always leave at least ¾ of the plot intact.
Prefer wild places, far from passages, human activity, crop fields or livestock.
After harvesting your fresh plants, be sure to dry them well. This is very important because the water contained in them could make your preparation turn. To check, press the flower between your fingers. If it crumbles, it's dry!
Otherwise, go straight to your herbalist for dried plants and leaves!
A harvest in consience for an oily macerate with magical virtues
Each plant has its own vibratory identity. Just like flower essences (Bach flower for the most famous ones), oil macerates have subtle virtues. As you pick, take time to thank the plant, to connect with its spirit, to feel in communion with the nature that surrounds you. Preparing your oily macerate from start to finish is akin to an alchemical act. We transform a raw material into a virtuous preparation.
Picking in the wilderness or even in your own garden is not like shopping at the supermarket. It is an act of connection, gratitude and appreciation. Everything is in nature.
Which vegetable oil for the maceration
Olive oil, almond oil, sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, hazelnut oil, sesame oil, etc... There are plenty of them!
But for your preparation, you need a vegetable oil that is stable at room temperature, i.e. that does not go rancid too quickly, that does not oxidize too quickly.
For this, rely on saturated or monounsaturated oils.
Saturated vegetable oils such as coconut oil or cocoa butter are extremely stable but solidify at room temperature. This makes cold maceration impossible....
Monounsaturated vegetable oils are therefore the best. Olive oil is the queen.
To create a balm, you can combine olive oil and coconut oil for example.
Vegetable oils to avoid for your homemade oily macerate:
canola oil
wheat germ oil
corn oil
sunflower oil
soybean oil
walnut oil.
If you absolutely want to use them, you will have to stabilize them with essential oils.
The oily macerate: the process
In your perfectly sterilized glass jar, place the plant well dried and cover it with virgin and organic olive oil of 1st cold pressure
Leave the jar open, cover it with a gauze held by a rubber band. The jar should not be sealed at all. It must breathe throughout the maceration process, allowing the moisture to evaporate.
The next day, check the oil level and top up if necessary. The plants must always be perfectly covered (if it floats, it's ok too)
Put the pot in a paper bag and place it in front of a window in full sun. The bag allows to protect the prepration from UV .
Stir the preparation from time to time
The maceration lasts at least 1 month.
Filter with a cloth (bulk bag, recycled cloth, tape....)
Bottle.
Some examples of oily macerate to prepare at home
Daisy: relieves dermatitis
dandelion flower : anti-aging care
St. John's wort : soothes burns and sunburns
dried carrot : prepares the skin for tanning and anti-oxidant care after sun
romatin: anti-acne
plantain : heals and calms itching and insect bites
calendula: calms inflammations, perfect for babies' skin (cradle cap and diaper rash)