Guest guest Posted December 28, 2005 Report Share Posted December 28, 2005 Wonderful information, Rhavda, and thanks so much for posting. I have a few questions: How much of the herb do you put into a quart jar? 3/4 full or thereabouts? Do you mix the alcohol and oil, shake and pour over the herbs, than cap and store? If not, how do you mix the alcohol and oil? Would a refrigerator be a good place (i.e. " cool and dark " ) to store the oil/herb infusions? When you are ready to pour off the oil, do you pour out what you need, re-cap the jar and set it back on the shelf? Do you ever replace the poured off oil into an infused jar with fresh oil and then cap it and put it back on the shelf? When you have poured off all the oil possible from a jar do you strain/press/squeeze the remaining herbs to remove the maximum amount of oil? Do you just throw out the oily herbs once you have removed the maximum amount of oils from the jar? What are your favorite oils to use for infusing? I know....I'm a pest with all my questions....sorry....please answer anyway. Mitsy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2005 Report Share Posted December 28, 2005 Dear Mitsy, I will answer your questions as follows: Original Message: ----------------- seagrape1954 seagrape Wed, 28 Dec 2005 14:30:56 -0000 Re: preserving oil infusions/?4Rhavda Wonderful information, Rhavda, and thanks so much for posting. I have a few questions: How much of the herb do you put into a quart jar? 3/4 full or thereabouts? I stuff my jar nearly full with the herb and then pour hot oil over it. Do you mix the alcohol and oil, shake and pour over the herbs, than cap and store? If not, how do you mix the alcohol and oil? No, I do not mix the alcohol with the oil. I put my oil in first and let the mixtures set until it has cooled down, then I add a small amount of alcohol on top of the oil and cap it. Please label your jars with the date and method that you use so that you can repeat your process if you like the results. Would a refrigerator be a good place (i.e. " cool and dark " ) to store the oil/herb infusions? No, I like to put them away in a closet, under a bed, or anywhere where they will be cool. I don't like to use a refrigerator because I just don't have room and my husband would kill me. He already wants to kill me whenever he can't find a place to store some of his things. I have jars everywhere setting, maturing, and just plain out of sight until I am ready for them. A hint here is to put your jars in a heavy cardboard box and be sure that you put cardboard underneath the box because sometimes your boxes can leak and you don't want to get your carpet oily. That happened to me until I learned differently. Rule of thumb for me is that I will put my jars anywhere where the temperature is not subject to extreme changes. I live in the North Texas area (Arlington) and we get killer summers. Several years ago our ac when out and I was told that I would have to wait for a couple of days to get it fixed. I was upset big time so I started calling friends and asking to borrow ice chests. Our garage was soon full of over a hundred ice chests filled with infused oils. We were all laughing about how no one would believe us if we told them what we were using them for. The ac got fixed and then the reloading began but it was worth it because it was my bumper crop year for rose oil. By the way, remember that each harvest year will bring a different yeild of oil when you open it after infusing. One year I got the most beautiful light green rose oil with a delightful, very light rose smell but this has not repeated itself since then. Now I am only getting a beautiful light, golden yellow oil. Weather conditions have a lot to do with the amount of oil in each plant. When you are ready to pour off the oil, do you pour out what you need, re-cap the jar and set it back on the shelf? Yes, that is exactly what I do and the oil just keeps on getting stronger. I, also, date the bottle that I poured it into with the date made and the date poured so that I have an idea of the oil's strength. I only pour off what I need and that is usually about an ounce at a time unless I am making a very large batch for wholesale. Do you ever replace the poured off oil into an infused jar with fresh oil and then cap it and put it back on the shelf? No, because that would contaminate your remaining oil in the jar. When you have poured off all the oil possible from a jar do you strain/press/squeeze the remaining herbs to remove the maximum amount of oil? Depending upon whether or not I can get that herb again I look at my date made and make a decision about whether or not to make a second infusion. If it is less than two years and I have poured off all of my oil and have no way of getting more herb, then I will make a second infusion from this jar leaving the herb in it and labeling the jar very plainly that this is a second infusion with the date infused on it and then when I use this oil in the future I know that it is going to have to have double the amount used because this oil is no where near the strenght of the first batch made. If I am going to do away with the herb, I strain and press the herb until I get all of the oil out of it. I'm not going to waste any part of the infusion. Do you just throw out the oily herbs once you have removed the maximum amount of oils from the jar? Probably I will throw the oily herb out onto my compost pile because you definitely won't be able to do anything with it once I've finished with it. Be sure and sterilize your jar once your finished with it for your next herb infusion. I have to be careful around here that my dh doesn't steal my pints and quarts to make jam for us in the summer. In that group of jars, he found one that had not gotten sterilized and he complained so that is why I am telling this story so that you will remember to have your jars ready to go for " anyone " who will need them. He once used all of my stored jars and I had to " buy " new jars rather than have them donated by friends. So, if your dh decides to borrow your jars you want them clean for him. What are your favorite oils to use for infusing? Depends upon what I am infusing and what kind of shelf life that I want. I don't like the short term base carrier oils because they go rancid too quickly. I like to use base carriers like, canola, safflower, vegetable, sesame (a good grade), and coconut oils because they do not go rancid quickly and they are cost effective. I couldn't afford to stay in business if I didn't think about my bottom line cost, especially when you are making over 200 quarts of infused oils per year. By the way the cheapest place to buy coconut oil that I have found is WalMart at $2.32 for 2 pounds. They're vegetable oils are also reasonable. I mention the shelf life because there are herbs that need to set a minimum of 3 years before opening and sometimes 5 years so I want a shelf life that is long and does not go bad. I don't start counting my shelf life on my infusion until I start using the poured off portion. I count the date from the poured off infusion as my starting point and that oil from the poured date can be good up to 3 to 5 years depending upon how you store it. After about 3 years you start getting a resinous oil and at that point I consider it not useable except in an emergency or on animals. I let several bottles go for several years at different amounts in each bottle to see how long it would take for them to go bad and for a canola/coconut mix it took about 3 years while for a jar of coconut/juniper berry oil setting in my bathroom on purpose to see how temperature changes would effect it, the jar took about 8 years plus. My husband after the first 5 years gave up trying to throw it away when I wasn't there to extract it from the trash can. Needless to say, I have a wonderful husband who puts up with my many experiments by just shaking his head and walking away. ;-D I hope that this helps you. Email me privately if you have more questions. Rhavda I know....I'm a pest with all my questions....sorry....please answer anyway. Mitsy -- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2005 Report Share Posted December 28, 2005 > By the way, remember that each harvest year will bring a different > yeild of oil when you open it after infusing. One year I got the most > beautiful light green rose oil with a delightful, very light rose smell but > this has not repeated itself since then. Now I am only getting a beautiful > light, golden yellow oil. Weather conditions have a lot to do with the > amount of oil in each plant. Rhavda... Bless you and thank you for all this valuable information! Two questions... do you dry your rose petals before you infuse them? And.... how do weather conditions affect the blooms... would regular watering be best for them? Thanks! Neysa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2005 Report Share Posted December 28, 2005 Dear Neysa, Weather conditions that are either too dry or too wet will effect the yield of the roses. For the past two years my rose yield has been down. In 2000 I got a bumper crop of over 70 quarts with a nice subtle smell and beautiful color. In 2004, we had too much rain and I only got about 25 quarts while in 2005 due to the drought and other conditions I only got about 25 pints. However, I am blessed being that I have my backlog of rose oil to see me through until next year. I water my roses as normal during the rose season unless there is too much water, then I let them dry out as much as possible while during this dry spell I try to water them enough to keep them happy/moist enough to grow. However, roses are funny they like to still be talked to and sung to no matter what the weather is. They love for you to spend a minimum of an hour a day just fussing ove them and they respond with the most beautiful of roses. No, I do not dry them because when they are dry the oil is no longer there. I try to infuse my roses within 12 hours of their being picked. Normally within about 6 hours but if I have other business to do, then 12 hours will work. I want the highest yield of rose oil that I can get. The books say that the roses are picked in the morning and in the oil by the afternoon and I to that theory even though I am infusing them and not distilling them. The same applies to Melissa/lemon balm and to violet leaves and other fragile flowers or herbs imo. Each person develops their own way of infusing over a period of years. I use what works best for me and gives me the best infused oil that I can make. I make a bruise formula that works great only from rose, helichrysum, melissa, and oak moss. I made it for my mother who was on blood thinners and it worked overnight to get rid of her bruises, so I will always praise the virtues of helichrysum oil whether it be infused or an essential oil. I hope that this information helps. If you need more information, please contact me either here or privately. Thanks. Rhavda Emison Scents of Success (www.scentsofsuccess.com) Texas Grown - American Made Rose Oil Products Original Message: ----------------- Neysa Dormish neysa Wed, 28 Dec 2005 14:13:01 -0500 Re: Re: preserving oil infusions/?4Rhavda > By the way, remember that each harvest year will bring a different > yeild of oil when you open it after infusing. One year I got the most > beautiful light green rose oil with a delightful, very light rose smell but > this has not repeated itself since then. Now I am only getting a beautiful > light, golden yellow oil. Weather conditions have a lot to do with the > amount of oil in each plant. Rhavda... Bless you and thank you for all this valuable information! Two questions... do you dry your rose petals before you infuse them? And.... how do weather conditions affect the blooms... would regular watering be best for them? Thanks! Neysa -- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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