An infusion is the result of steeping herbal material in a solvent. The solvent may be hot or cold, but not boiling. A cup of tea is an infusion, where the herbal material is a tea blend, and the solvent is hot water. For my lavender infused oil I used dried lavender flowers as the herbal material, and heated a light olive oil as the solvent.
I wanted to infuse an oil with lavender as the basis for some salves. (Lavender Salve.) I chose to make a hot infusion because it’s a quicker process. It normally takes at least a couple of weeks to make a cold infusion.
Here’s how to make the infused oil:
Put
750 ml Light Olive Oil
100 g Dried Lavender Flowers.
into a double boiler. I used a steel bowl over a pan of simmering water.
I left the oil and lavender over the simmering water for about 20 minutes, and then turned off the heat. Then I left the mixture to cool for a little under an hour, and then strained off the lavender flowers and bottled the oil. Of the original 750 ml of oil, only about 450 ml remained. The rest was absorbed by the lavender flowers and remained after I’d squeezed out as much as I could.
I’ve used some of the oil in salves as planned. I bottled the remainder in small bottles. The scented oil can be used as a skin conditioner on hands, elbows and feet. It’s also good as a massage oil, with the herbal and aromatherapy benefits of lavender. The ingredients are all food-grade, so the oil can be used in cooking or salad dressings too.