Summer collection
With July and August comes the perfect time to gather many medicinal herbs. In July, we can pick a calming lavender flower, a healing marigold or, for example, a romantic rose. In addition, it is necessary to put gooseberry or common gorse, leaves of blackberry bush, wild strawberry, blueberry, cranberry or fragrant rosemary, or also flax seeds.
August brings such fragrant helpers as common heather, canola, goldenrod whole, oleander (we collect the stalk), wild mallow (leaves), hops, aniseed, blackberry, common bean or, for example, sown oats (fruits).
Whether we collect and dry the herbs ourselves, or we prefer the already bought and dried version, in addition to the classic infusion in the form of tea, we can give maceration a chance for a change!
In addition to these seasonal herbs, you will also find other medicinal plants at Ekokoza, such as classic and universal chamomile, fragrant jasmine, anti-inflammatory oak bark, but also exotics such as Icelandic lichen, Irish moss or sandalwood.
Before we start the maceration, we must mention one very important thing: always read thoroughly about the effectiveness of each plant in herbariums, consult a herbalist or other expert. In short, don't leave anything to chance and don't experiment with the dosage just "out of the box", herbs are a very powerful medicine that can help a lot, but only with the right dosage.
Why macerate?
As already mentioned above, by maceration we get effective medicinal substances from the herb and we can then use them further in the form of various lubricants or alcohol tinctures.
In the case of oils, there is one more point: you must have noticed that many herbs are cold-pressed to preserve their medicinal properties, resulting in, for example, rosehip or olive oil, finally, even sunflower oil can be cold-pressed (for example, like our bio ecokozi ). But other herbs do not have enough oil in them to be able to be pressed with any result, so it is useful to macerate them in another oil and extract the medicinal substances from them in this way.
What to macerate in?
The first thing we all think of is oil and alcohol, but there are actually many more options!
Oil
As far as oils are concerned, the most basic is of course olive oil , but you can also macerate in classic sunflower oil , which, due to its favorable price, is perfectly suited for bulk maceration. We can also use the popular almond oil, but due to its higher price, it will be more suitable for the production of more rare herbal oils, for example for beautifying the skin.
During maceration in oil, especially herbal oils for external use are created, for example, we can make soothing chamomile or healing calendula oil. However, if we macerate rosemary, thyme, basil or other "kitchen" herbs in olive oil, a fragrant herbal oil can also be created, which can be rubbed on the body or added to a salad.
How to do it?
When macerating the herb in oil, put the required amount of dried herb into a clean and dry glass container, pour oil all the way to the top and close it tightly. Let the glass stand in a bright and sunny place, for example on a windowsill, so that the sun's rays fall on it. After about three weeks, strain the macerate through a cheesecloth to obtain pure herbal oil.
If we want to speed up the maceration, we can shove the herbs with the oil into a thick-walled saucepan and heat them on the stove at a very low temperature. If we put the herbs and oil on the stove for at least two or three hours, the oil macerate will also be effective, but the longer the better. So, if time allows, let the oil heat easily all afternoon, but pay attention to the temperature. The oil and herbs must not burn. After that, all you have to do is let the mixture cool down, strain it through cheesecloth and start using it.
Alcohol
Maceration in alcohol is a little higher level, because tinctures are created, which in most cases are intended for internal use and are among the strongest herbal medicines. Here , their dosage and the total concentration of the herb in the tincture are important above all else. It is already a bit of alchemy, and when making them, we should either have a good herbarium at hand (for example, Czech classics, the series by Zentrich and Janča, where we can find recipes with exact weight and dosage), or even a herbalist friend. Of course, there is also a lot to read on the Internet, but make sure that they are reliable sources! When making tinctures, also think about whether you want to use them internally or externally and choose alcohol accordingly - cosmetic or food grade.
On the other hand, some tinctures can also be used for external treatment, for example for disinfecting wounds and abrasions. Alcohol has disinfectant effects by itself, but if we improve it with an antibacterial herb, for example lavender, which will subsequently help with wound healing, the disinfection will be absolutely wonderful.
How to do it?
Again, prepare a clean and dry glass container, throw the herbs inside and cover everything with alcohol. It should be noted here that each herb needs a different strength of alcohol, so we choose the alcohol according to the macerated herb. Usually we are somewhere between 40 and 70 alcohols. We close the whole mixture thoroughly and store it in a dark place where the sun does not shine, for example in the pantry, and let everything macerate for about 3 weeks, then strain it.
Glycerine
If you frown and the word glycerin doesn't mean anything to you, look here and learn everything possible and impossible about it. But in short, it is an important ingredient in many cosmetic products, a colorless, odorless liquid. It is actually alcohol that is produced by derivation from animal products, petroleum or plants. Of course, we want plant-based ingredients in natural cosmetics, so at Ekokoza you will find vegetable glycerin, which can be used perfectly when macerating herbs. Thanks to it, the spoilage of the macerate is reduced. Glycerin macerates are used similarly to alcohol macerates or tinctures, but they are not as strong, so they can be safer in a certain sense. Nevertheless, it is not advisable to play around with their production and rely only on your own opinion and (in)experience.
How to do it?
When macerating dried herbs in glycerin, we must dilute the glycerin with distilled water, in a ratio of 1:1 or less. It is true that the more glycerin is in the total mixture, the better the active substances are extracted from the herb, but we must not forget the rule that glycerin should have a total proportion of ten to fifty percent in the macerate. We recommend that you always calculate everything thoroughly and choose the dosage accordingly.
We macerate in the same way as in alcohol, pour the herbs into the container, cover with a mixture of glycerin and distilled water, close and leave to macerate for approximately 3 weeks, then drain.
Butter
Now, of course, we are not talking about that yellowish cube waiting for you in the fridge, but about cosmetic butters, of course! We can also macerate herbs in them, the choice is wide. A safe bet is shea butter, we can also use, for example, mango butter, avocado butter, almond butter or cocoa butter and many others. Coconut oil as well as babassu oil do fall under oils, but since the preparation will look the same due to the consistency of this product, we classify them here.
We can use these herbal butters, for example, to massage sore backs or strained muscles, as healing ointments for wounds and abrasions - lavender, for example, relieves muscle pain, but also promotes healing and is also very good for painful and inflammatory acne, calendula can be applied to abrasions and chamomile to soothe eczematous skin.
But don't just stick to butters as such! Add them to other more complex recipes for creams, milks, balms and the like, where instead of "ordinary" butters, we will add these first-class butters enhanced with the effects of herbs.
How to do it?
Put the dried herbs back into the prepared, clean and dry glass and put a few spoons of the chosen butter on top. We then heat it up in a water bath and it is important that all the herbs are "covered" in butter. If the herbs stick out on top, add a little more butter and let it heat up. Then we remove the glass from the bath, close it and place it on the windowsill in a place where the macerate will have as much sunlight as possible. We let it rest there for about a week, and during it we heat the mixture at least twice in a water bath so that the herb releases as many medicinal substances as possible.
Option without waiting
If you read the article, but evaluated it in such a way that you don't want to fart with it, then look here. Here you can find ready-made macerates, all you have to do is choose. :)
How are you? Do you macerate or buy cash? And what is your proven macerate?
