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Calendula salve.

Botanical name: 
Preparations: 

Yep, xmas is coming.

30 rose salves, 30 calendula (Calendula officinalis) salves, and 30 gardener's salves, that's the order I got earlier this week. I was almost out of calendula salves, and it's a good thing I did all those rose salves a couple days ago, no?

Photo: Calendula officinalis 25. Pic: Here's some of the calendula I used.

Photo: Waterbath 1. Pic: This is the three-chopsticks-and-a-bowl waterbath setup.
The idea being that the chopsticks stop the sides of the bowl from touching the sides of the kettle; it's necessary in this particular setup as the bowl doesn't have handles.

Making a calendula salve is very simple: Pour 1000 ml oil (this is cold-pressed organic safflower oil) into the bowl, pour water into the bottom bit, add as much dried calendula flower as will fit into the oil (the chopstick I'm stirring with should stand, at least at first), leave on medium heat (4 out of 6, on my stove) for 1.5 hours, let cool for a while, and strain through a cheesecloth.

Add 1 part beeswax (by weight) to 8 parts herbal oil (by volume); that's 100 g beeswax to 800 ml oil, which makes about 30 x 30 ml salve jars.

I wrung about 900 ml oil out of this particular oil'n'herb mess, once it had been on the stove for long enough, so that's a couple more calendula salves. I'll have to make more, of course, for the various xmas markets. I also made garden salve (meadowsweet and calendula - one batch, about 34 salve jars), and I'll have to make the warming salve. And more rose salve.


Related entries: Calendula salve - Calendula flowers - Yellow flowers: Calendula

Comments

Hello Henriette
Do you use whole dried calendula flower or the petals only? I have some calendula just coming into flower (start of summer here in Australia) and would like to try making your salve. Thanks.
Tracy

For salves, I dry the flowers whole and use them whole.
For teas, I dry the flowers whole, rub a couple handsful, shake them, and pick the petals off the top of the bowl.

You can make a fresh flower salve, but it's easier to dry them first; they have to be completely dry, too, or you'll get mold.

Could you describe, or put up a pic, of a waterbath? And what UK herb house did you get your salve jars from? You make salve-making sound straightforward if you follow simple rules.

You'll find that there is a photo of a waterbath in the post.
I got my salve jars from the Herbal Apothecary ... they're not online, though. (This is an UK outfit for practitioners).

I'm wondering if you sell your rose salve, or know where I could find some? My daughter is hooked on Smith's Rosebud Salve, but I don't like the petroleum base. Thanks.

Why not ask locally, at your farmer's market or similar? Or make your own - it's easy enough, and I've outlined the makings of various salves (including rose) in the salves series on this blog.