Use this master salve recipe to quickly make a multitude of herbal salves for your family to solve a variety of health challenges.
I spent this afternoon crafting herbal salves for some Christmas wellness baskets for my adult children’s families. In just two hours I made 5 different salves and I wanted to quickly share my process so you would be able to do this for your family, too. If this is something you value.
Herbal salves are the basis for body butters, ointments, first aid salves, moisturizers, chest rubs, diaper cream, udder butter, paw wax, and cracked heel salves. Salves are a great way to get herbal benefits since the oils carry the herbal goodness through the skin into the body.
All herbal salves begin with herb infused carrier oils like olive oil, or sweet almond.
I make herb infused oils during the summer as my garden flowers are blooming. If you are new to herbs, and don’t have any herb infused oils yet, you can use chamomile tea bags and olive oil to make your first herb infused oil. Chamomile is skin loving like calendula, and is an easy to access herb. Just substitute the chamomile infused oil for both the St. Johns Wort infused oil and the calendula infused oil in the master recipe below. You’ll need a total of 1/4 cup of infused oil for each 2 ounces of salve you want to craft.
Check out this post on my blog for directions. Use 1/4 cup of dried flowers or 5 tea bags, to 1 cup of olive oil for your infusion. That will give you enough infused oil for 4 master recipes — 2 ounces of salve for each one.
Once you have your infused oil you’re ready for a salve making party. I used my master salve recipe and made a few customizations to get 5 different salves for these wellness baskets. But really there are an infinite number of salves you could make from the same master recipe. You can even use this master recipes to make paw wax for your pets.
New Mamma wellness basket
For my daughter, whose expecting her first baby I made nipple butter, belly butter, diaper rash cream and chest rub ointment.
Outdoorsman wellness basket
For my son, who is an avid snow boarder and massage therapist, I crafted chest rub, muscle rub, and hand butter.
Print
Master Salve Recipe
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 ounces
Description
Use this master salve recipe to craft an unlimited number of unique and therapeutic salves that meet the needs of your family.
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons beeswax pellets (8 grams)
- 2 tablespoons Calendula infused olive oil
- 2 tablespoons St. Johns Wort infused olive oil
- 30 drops essential oils
Instructions
Make a double boiler using a glass measuring cup.
Simmer the beeswax, and herb infused oils in the measuring cup, in a saucepan, over medium heat. Simmer gently just until the beeswax melts.
Remove from the heat. Add essential oils. Stir briefly to combine.
Pour into suitable containers for your end use. Once the salves are cool and solid, cap and label.
Notes
This master salve recipe can be doubled or tripled to make the amount of salve you need.
Be well wellness basket
For my son with the preschooler I crafted chest rub, muscle rub, and I’ll be adding a bottle of elderberry syrup and some honey throat lozenges for his wellness basket.
You can double or even triple this master salve recipe, keeping the proportions the same. You can use other infused oils for these salves such as plantain, comfrey, yarrow, or another herb infused oil. Be creative.
Nipple Butter/ Belly Butter
To the salve base add: 1 teaspoon beeswax, 2 tablespoon cocoa butter. For nipple butter only, cut essential oil to 15 drops and use a kidsafe essential oil or essential oil blend. I used 7 drops tea tree and 8 drops lavender.
Chest rub/muscle rub
To the salve base add 1/2 teaspoon menthol crystals, melt them into the oil as you are melting the beeswax.
Diaper rash cream
To the salve base add 1/2 teaspoon non-nano zinc oxide, reduce essential oils to 15 drops. Stir in a small amount of the warm salve base with the zinc oxide to dissolve before pouring it back into the salve base. Remelt if necessary, to fully blend.
These recipes make a 2 ounce jar or tin, but you can double or triple the recipe to make enough for your family. Today I made 8 ounces per recipe and had 4 to 5 jars per recipe, plenty for my family gift baskets and some for my own herbal apothecary.
I have a FREE gift for you
Grab my free ebook and learn to make DIY herbal healing salves at home now, with 14 easy to follow recipes that use the herbs and wild plants growing close to home. Salve making is one of the easiest skills to learn in DIY Herbalism.
Leave a Reply