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After years of hearing about the amazing benefits of dandelions, I decided to finally make something with the abundant little weeds growing in our grass. We don’t use fertilizer or anything on our lawn, so I knew they were perfectly safe to use.
Before picking them though, I did a little research and decided dandelion salve would be my first experiment. Mainly because the articles I read all claimed it was great for dry, cracked, gardener’s hands and I struggled with that pretty badly last year.
I found making this salve was really easy. The hardest part was waiting for the dandelions to infuse all their amazingness into some olive oil. A process that took about three weeks.
After I picked the dandelions, just the heads, no stems or roots, I rinsed them in the sink then let them dry for 24 hours. I didn’t want there to be too much moisture mixed in with the oil and flowers in case mold started to form.
Once they were dried out a bit, I stuffed them into a pint jar. I probably had a few too many dandelions in there, but I really wanted to make sure my salve would have a good amount of dandelion essence in it. After stuffing the jar full, I poured in pure olive oil, put a lid on the jar and set it on a widow sill in my office where I would see it often and not forget about it.
Three weeks later I strained the oil from the flowers. It had become very thick and this took a while. I also pressed on the flowers in the sieve I used to get as much oil out as I could.
Once that was finished, I measured my oil to see how much I had. The recipe I was using called for a specific amount of oil and I had more than that, so I scaled the recipe up in order to use all of the oil I had.
The last step was melting beeswax pellets, adding in the dandelion infused oil and stirring to combine, then pouring it into containers and waiting for them to harden, which took under an hour sitting on the workbench in my office – I was impressed.
I didn’t use any fancy tins for this salve. I just used these little food saver containers, which work perfectly. And the top screws on which is a bonus!
I filled two of these little containers about 3/4 inch from the top, which is about 7 ounces total, the containers hold 4 oz each.
Since I made the salve, I’ve had some time to use it and test it out. And I can say, I do love it for the dry hands and I even use it on my feet occasionally. It is pretty oily though, and takes some time to soak it, which is great if you’re watching a movie and don’t have to move for a while. But it’s not great for on the go, like lotion is because of how long it takes to soak in.
Overall though, I will keep using this salve and will probably do more research to see what I can do to make it less greasy before I make it again.
Below is the recipe I followed – without scaling it up.
3.5 oz of dandelion infused olive oil - I use pure olive oil, not extra virgin - something like this.
0.5 oz beeswax pellets
1. Add the oil and beeswax pastilles into a heat proof container.
2. Set it gently into a pan containing several inches of water (just like we used when we infused our dandelion oil.)
3. Gently bring the temperature up to medium-lowish heat and let the container stay in the makeshift double boiler until the wax is melted.
4. Remove from heat and carefully pour into tins or jars then let sit until firm.
Thanks to www.thenerdyfarmwife.com/dandelion-salve-recipe/ for the recipe!
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