Calendula Infused Oil
Just one of the many ways I enjoy my Calendula flowers!
With It’s bright orange (and sometimes yellow or peach), sunny blossoms, Calendula is not only a beautiful addition to any garden, but is also a potent antioxidant and is amazing for your skin! These bright blooms are part of the Asteraceae compositae family, and provide powerful healing properties to make it into a soothing calendula oil to use on its own or in healing salves. Calendula-infused oil has anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-inflammatory properties useful for reducing inflammation and promoting wound healing and common skin irritations.
Calendula is quite easy to grow, and keeps blooming all Summer long, deep into the Fall until the frost comes. I have it growing all over my property and throughout my gardens, as it is a wonderful companion plant, attracting beneficial insects and repelling pests. I walk through the gardens almost daily harvesting the beautiful blooms for drying, so that I can use them in teas and as an oil infusion. Once each bloom opens completely I pick it off of the stem and place it on a paper plate or towel to start drying. If you leave the bloom too long it will go to seed, which I always make sure to do with some early in the season, so the seeds can dry completely on the flower before I harvest them. This way I have continual seeds for successive plantings. I haven’t bought Calendula seeds in years!!
If you don’t have any Calendula growing yet, I recommend buying these already dried organic blooms!
If you would like to plant some this spring or summer here is the link to some wonderful seed varieties.
Carrier Oils
You can use many different oils when infusing with Calendula, but some of my favorites are coconut oil, and cold pressed olive or grape seed oil. Keep in mind that if you use coconut oil you will have a solid oil, and if you use Olive or Grape seed it will stay liquid. I use Calendula infused coconut oil directly on my face, hands, and lips as a moisturizer. I also use it for shaving in the shower, and it makes a fabulous massage oil!
What you will need to make an infused oil:
To Make:
For an infused oil, you want to make sure that the Calendula blooms are completely dried before putting them in the oil. This prevents the growth of bacteria that could potentially contaminate the oil and extends the shelf life.
There are a few methods for infusing oil with fresh herbs and botanicals. The Warm Method and the Cold Method. The cold method involves steeping the herbs in oil, while the warm method involves heating the herbs in oil. These methods work for any herb or flower infusion with oil.
Note: If you wish to use coconut oil as your carrier oil you must heat it first to liquify and then proceed with the Warm Method.
Cold method
- Fill a clean glass jar halfway with dried herbs
- Cover herbs with oil, filling the jar
- Seal jar and place it in a warm sunny window to allow the sun’s gentle heat to extract the beneficial components from the calendula petals.
- Shake gently every few days
- Steep for 4–6 weeks
- Strain oil through cheesecloth or fine-mesh strain.
- Seal the jar and store in pantry or cool dry place.
Warm method
- Fill clean glass jar halfway full with herbs.
- Cover with oil, filling jar
- Place the jars in a sauce pot or double boiler, with hot water reaching halfway up the jar
- Gently heat for 2–6 hours. The longer you steep it, the more infused the oil will be. Keep an eye on the water level and replace as needed.
- Strain oil through cheesecloth or mesh strainer.
- Seal jar and store in pantry or cool dry place
There are many other wonderful herbs that can be mixed in for your infusion like purple dead nettle, plantain, lavender, comfrey and so many more! Let your creativity take over as you come up with fun mixes and recipes!! Calendula is such a beautiful and rewarding flower to add to your garden, and its many uses are what keep it in my Top 10 Things I will always grow list!! I hope you try it!
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