The Wonders of Bug Juice
Filed under: Uncategorized — Giulianna Maria Lamanna @ 9:42 PM
At Raccoon Creek State Park’s PATH WAYS’s herbal medicines workshop, the instructors provide a recipe for natural, poison-free insect repellent. When Jason and I first attended the workshop back in 2006, we came back with two 4oz bottles of this “bug juice”: a combination of simple extra virgin olive oil and essential plant oils. Since then, we’ve used it on every hike and camping trip, and noticed a big difference in how many bugs bother us. We’ve also noticed that the people around us using bug sprays with DEET and other poisons generally end up getting devoured like they’re walking mosquito buffets while we remain untouched.
So how do you keep the bugs away? Simple: bugs, like all animals, are attracted to certain smells. They like things that smell like food, and our blood reeks of food to them–especially if we eat high-grain, high-sugar diets. The key is to cover yourself in smells that bugs dislike, so they’ll stay away from you. Conveniently, these tend to be smells that humans love: mint scents, citrus scents, woody scents… the type of thing you can find chemicals imitating in scented candles. So bug juice not only keeps the bugs away–it also works as perfume! And since its base is olive oil, it makes your skin soft too. It is truly the all-purpose beauty product of any outdoor gal.
Here’s the recipe PATH WAYS provided (I hope they don’t have a problem with me reprinting it here):
Measure 2 teaspoons of each infused oil into 4oz bottle: Citronella, cedar, eucalyptus, and wintergreen. Add olive oil to fill bottle. It should add up to approximately 2 ounces of olive oil. Shake and label.
The instructors chose to use these particular infused oils because they had the strongest scents, but any oil from an aromatic plant will do. Jason noted that out of the four plants listed, only one–wintergreen–was native to our bioregion. Some local plants we’re thinking of using for our own recipe include various mints (any kind of mint will work for this), sage, sassafrass, and lemonbalm. (Fun story: the first time we went to a PATH WAYS class at all, we forgot any kind of bug spray, natural or otherwise. But we found a patch of lemonbalm growing outside the cabin where the class was being held, and rubbed some of the leaves on our arms to get the oils on our skin. Amazingly enough, even that little showed instant results that lasted all day long.)
So that’s a fun, simple way to keep the bugs off, smell nice, and even take care of your skin. What’s not to love?
Hmmm, nice idea. However, essential oils are not herbs and I wouldn’t consider them inherenly poison free. Very small amounts internally of some EOs can kill you. They’re very strong chemical constituents that you don’t find in isolation in nature. They’re hard to make at home - you need specialist equipment and specialist knowledge. Come the collapse of civilisation we won’t be making them anymore, at least not those that rewild.
If you buy them, you need to make sure they haven’t been extracted with harsh chemicals. But even the more ‘naturally’ extracted ones are ecologically dubious. It takes a huge amount of land to monocrop a plant to get enough to make an EO from it.
Further, EOs in the way we use them now don’t have a tradition of use. There is increasing discussion about the health impacts of using EOs - they kill microbes, which is why they are effective antiseptics, but do we want to kill microbes so ubiquitously on our skin? Don’t get me started about EOs in ‘natural’ toothpaste, shampoo, cosmetics.
People with Multipe Chemical Sensitivities often react to EOs in the same way as other strong smells like synthetic perfumes or petrol fumes i.e. it makes them sick.
Also EOs end up in the environment via production and left overs and bottles. We don’t know what that does yet.
Sorry for the rant. I think that EOs should be treated as drugs and reserved for serious health conditions, and that alternative communities need to get educated that EOs are not herbs, and are not inherently benign.
~ ~ ~ ~
I know US herbalists who use yarrow tincture as an insect repellant. I think strong smelling herbs like pennyroyal would be worth a try too.
Comment by kate — 19 February 2008 @ 4:52 AM
for some insects (like mosquitos) rubbing oil or fat on your skin is enough all by itself.
i remember reading about a NA tribe down by the gulf that used alligator fat to cover their bodies as protection from the mosquitos.
Comment by jhereg — 19 February 2008 @ 10:36 AM
Sgëno, Kate! I’d say that your cautions apply to all herbal remedies, not just essential oils. When you say something like, “essential oils are not herbs and I wouldn’t consider them inherenly poison free,” it sounds as if herbs don’t have poisons. And of course, they very often do! Our word for “drug” comes from the old Germanic drugga, meaning “to dry,” as in dried herbs. Anything that can heal you likewise has the power to kill you when taken improperly. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that herbs can’t hurt you. Yes, you can use them a lot more safely than a lot of our pharmaceuticals, but these plants have some powerful effects on the body not to be trifled with. In the class Giuli mentioned, we discussed the cleansing properties of one particular herb (which one escapes me at the moment), that has seen some legal restrictions now precisely because it worked so well. People would use it, and it would work, very well: it would cleanse their systems, and then, because they hadn’t cleansed their liver first, would overload their livers and send them into liver failure. Herbalism really means developing a relationship with these plants, and that relationship involves a lot more than just them healing what ails you. You have to recognize what they do, use them properly, not abuse them, and above all, respect them and what they can do. If you fail to do that, herbs prepared in any fashion can cause a lot of damage.
That said, you certainly don’t need an industrial infrastructure to produce essential oils; it really just comes down to a long-term infusion made in oil instead of water. Plenty of wild cultures used essential oils, and I see no reason why rewilded people wouldn’t do the same. As soon as we can get our hands on a video camera, we plan a series of Martha Stewart parodies for the Fabulous Forager that will go over some of the basic herbal preparations, including making essential oils.
See also, “Toxicity Myths and the Actual Risks of Essential Oils“
Comment by Jason Godesky — 19 February 2008 @ 12:31 PM
Thanks for the recipe, Giuli- I might try this. I remember I spent a summer working for the NYC Parks Dept, and our team leader told us about a local ‘weed,’ mugwort, that worked well as a mosquito repellent. Basically, just break the membrane and rub it on ourselves. In truth, I don’t recall it being very effective, but it excited me so much to think about the options the land offered for meeting our needs.
There are so plenty ways to understand this: complementary chemistry, as Jason’s written about, the problem is the solution as permaculture says, and land as paradise, as natives say. In any event, it’s exciting! Thansk so much for this work Giuli- it’s great to share these discoveries along with you!
Comment by Archangel — 21 February 2008 @ 10:29 PM
Pretty cool post (and blog). First time here. Your skills will be useful WTSHTF.
- Ranger Man
http://www.SHTFblog.com
Comment by Ranger Man — 24 February 2008 @ 9:06 AM
Maybe of more relevance to those in the deeper south but beauty berry (Callicarpa) is meant to work well. Must track some down soon for myself…
http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/jafcau/2005/53/i15/abs/jf0509308.html
Comment by void_genesis — 2 March 2008 @ 10:21 PM
One more thing to note when it comes to insects and repellants is that natural repellants often work best when used synergistically with other behavior changes. So using more subtle herbal insect repellants will serve us better if we are already eating a diet from our local bioregion and bathing in local water with no soaps and foreign purfumes. Then our smell is more like the background smell and a little herb goes a long way. Also don’t forget to combine this with more natural colored clothing (buckskin is awesome for hiding from insects, since it’s a natural brown color and smells like smoke, which insects tend not to like — which is also why hanging around the campfire gives us more natural insect repellant properties). Also matching behavior with the terrain and weather and time of day can go a long way toward keeping one out of trouble with mosquitos, etc (for instance mosquitos tend to do 90% of their feeding at dawn and dusk, are vulnerable to wind, humidity and air pressure fluctuations.
Comment by RedWolfReturns — 3 March 2008 @ 2:11 AM
ya’ll know any natural remedies that are useful against chiggers (red bugs)? Mosquitos I can handle. Chiggers are rough on the outdoor morale.
Comment by Ryan — 3 March 2008 @ 10:06 AM
Very true, RedWolfReturns. And might I add, I LOVE the way sitting around a campfire makes my skin smell. That smoky-sweet scent is another example of smells that we like and bugs hate.
Comment by Giulianna Maria Lamanna — 3 March 2008 @ 11:18 AM
From what I’ve read, Ryan, same measures should work as well against chiggers as mosquitos; like mosquitos, they also smell out blood, and because of that, react along similar lines to similar odors. I can’t attest to that, personally; haven’t really had much of a problem with chiggers as yet.
Comment by Jason Godesky — 3 March 2008 @ 11:23 PM
Yep, me too Giulianna. There’s just no subsitute. And there’s very little social anxiety over body odor when a community is eating a good common diet, living out in the fresh air all day, and sitting around a nice smoky-smelling fire all night. Throw in some lake/stream baths and saunas (for northern peoples) and life without soap and deoderant is a pleasant no-brainer.
Comment by RedWolfReturns — 4 March 2008 @ 2:03 PM
Kiaora Jason
“When you say something like, “essential oils are not herbs and I wouldn’t consider them inherenly poison free,” it sounds as if herbs don’t have poisons.”
That was a certain slackness on my part. I do know that some herbs have enough of certain constituents to be poisonous. Still, there is a difference between herbal medicines and essential oils in terms of toxicity. Think of the effect on the body of drinking 1/2 oz of lavender essential oil compared to 1/2 of lavender tincture. Or 1 drop of EO and 1 drop of tincture.
“Herbalism really means developing a relationship with these plants, and that relationship involves a lot more than just them healing what ails you. You have to recognize what they do, use them properly, not abuse them, and above all, respect them and what they can do. If you fail to do that, herbs prepared in any fashion can cause a lot of damage.”
Yes and no. I work with herbs alot, including direct relationship with the plants. There are some herbs that are relatively benign eg mint or parsley. It requires very little ‘expertise’ to use mint as a herbal medicine (and here I’m not talking about buying capsules in a store, but growing and picking from your garden). I’m sure you could eat enough mint to make yourself sick but that’s not herbal medicine. It takes considerable expertise to make a mint EO and know how to use it safely.
“That said, you certainly don’t need an industrial infrastructure to produce essential oils; it really just comes down to a long-term infusion made in oil instead of water. Plenty of wild cultures used essential oils, and I see no reason why rewilded people wouldn’t do the same.”
I think we need to do some defining here. What you are describing (I think) is what I would could an infused oil. You put some herb in a jar, cover with something like olive oil, and let sit for a period of time (eg 6 weeks). The oil extracts certain parts of the plant but it’s still a whole plant extract. Then you decant it and use the oil for salves or cosmetics etc. Infused oils are easy to make at home and are relatively safe (there are some concerns about botulism if you want to ingest them perhaps but I don’t eat mine).
That is quite different from an essential oil. Essential oils need a still and are difficult to make at home. The distillation extracts one class of constituent i.e. the volatile oils. You find volatile oils overtly in many plants (lavender, lemon balm, mint) but you don’t find them singly in nature in the concentration that you get with EOs.
You can make something called a hydrosol at home, which is similar but less intense I think, or you can make small amounts of EOs using a pot set up but there is a limit to how much you will get. Commercial EOs are often extracted using harsh solvents. Some EOs are synthetic. All commercial EOs are very intense and some can kill you in relatively small amounts (1/2 oz?). There is an infamous account of several women dying from ingesting pennyroyal EO (pennyroyal is an abortion herb. Appropriate dose of tea or tincture won’t kill you, but there is no safe dose of the EO if you are trying to abort a pregnancy). Obviously some EOs are safe to use internally in very small amounts. But the point I am making is that EOs as a class of medicine are very intense substances compared to most herbs used as medicine. And as such we need to be clear about the differences.
The fact that people with multiple chemical sensitivities react to EOs is significant. These people are canaries in the coal mine for things like synthetic perfume, petroleum products, cleaners etc, so why not EOs?
AFAIK the only cultures that have used EOs are civilised ones eg ancient Egypt has a history I think. But I don’t think EOs would have been used in the same ubiquitous way that we are using them now, and they wouldn’t have been using synthetics or solvent extraction (someone can correct me on that if I’m wrong). I doubt that rewilded or post-collapse communities will be making and using EOs once existing stocks from civilisation run out. It is much safer and more straight forward to use herbal medicine and other low tech modalities.
Here’s herbalist Susun Weed’s article that further clarifies infused oils and EOs:
http://www.susunweed.com/herbal_ezine/February05/healingwise.htm
Also her critique of EOs:
http://www.ashtreepublishing.com/bookshop/articles/essential-oils.php
Thanks for your link! It’s hard to get information on EOs, I’ll have a good read through.
Comment by kate — 4 March 2008 @ 11:02 PM
This is simpler than explained here. If you merely take carrot oil, which you can pick up at many Dollar General stores, and coat the exposed areas of your skin (including neck, ears, and waist, which are often forgotten about), it works just fine. The product is usually sold as a hair product, but it is highly effective here in South Carolina for when I work outside in my field.
Comment by Super Mike — 5 March 2008 @ 7:52 AM
Oh, sure. Heck, I got a pretty good effect just by grabbing some leaves of lemon balm, crushing them in my hand, and wiping them on my exposed limbs. Worked just fine. But bug juice worked longer, and generally better, so I consider the preparation well worth it.
Kate, we obviously have very different meanings we’ve worked from. What you call “infused oils,” I learned as how to make “essential oils.” But in that case, no need to worry; the “Bug Juice” Giuli describes here uses “infused oils,” rather than “essential oils,” if you distinguish them like that.
Comment by Jason Godesky — 5 March 2008 @ 12:30 PM
I’ve treated chiggers very effectively with marshmallow root and chickweed. Simmer a tablespoon of dried marshmallow in 1 1/2 cups water on very low heat until 1/3 of the water has simmered off. Then pour the hot liquid over 1 teaspoon of dried chickweed. Soak a cotton cloth in the tea, wrap around the affected legs, and wrap the cloth in plastic or some other impermeable substance. This is called a fomentation. Drink the remainder of tea, and wear the fomentation to bed. If using fresh herb, use twice as much. The itching should be much reduced by morning.
Comment by JR — 6 March 2008 @ 6:48 AM
Any ideas for fire ants? I’ve tried using citonella based bug spray on my feet to deter them, but it seemed to attract them instead.
Comment by Vicky — 6 March 2008 @ 8:43 AM
“Kate, we obviously have very different meanings we’ve worked from. What you call “infused oils,” I learned as how to make “essential oils.” But in that case, no need to worry; the “Bug Juice” Giuli describes here uses “infused oils,” rather than “essential oils,” if you distinguish them like that.”
Glad we got that sorted Jason
I would add that most people I know would consider an essential oil to be the concentrated extract not an infused oil, it’s not just my distinction. Did you make the infused oils? I’ve never seen citronella as an oil other than an EO.
I do think this needs to be clarified in the blog text. Alot of people reading that are going to think it’s a commercial EO and use the 2 tsps of each plant EO, which is a very high concentration (2 tsps is nearly a whole bottle, EOs are usually used by the drop not the teaspoon).
Comment by kate — 7 March 2008 @ 11:43 PM
The infusion makes the oil a very concentrated extract, with the infusion taking place over many days. I figured the term “essential oil” came from that, since the essential oils of the plant end up quite well extracted. What we made, we had to use very carefully, because the infusion made it very, very concentrated.
So, I don’t know if we really want to adopt your terminology. I’ve got plenty of books that tell me that I can make essential oil by infusing it in oil for several days. I’ve only heard you ever say that we shouldn’t call such a thing an essential oil. Could you provide me some references to follow up on? At the moment, I feel more inclined to go with all the books I have on my shelf here.
Comment by Jason Godesky — 8 March 2008 @ 12:15 AM
OK, now I’m just confused again. If you fill a jar with plant chopped plant material, and then fill the jar again with olive oil, let it sit for 6 weeks, then you will have a very safe oil that can be used lavishly and freely in many situations. That’s OK, now I’m just confused again. If you fill a jar with plant chopped plant material, and then fill the jar again with olive oil, let it sit for 6 weeks, then you will have a very safe oil that can be used lavishly and freely in many situations. That’s assuming that the plant material is a common herb like lavender or rosemary. Even eucalyptus oil made this way is relatively safe (although eucalyptus is quite a strong plant so I’d be more careful with it myself). The other plants you used I am not familiar with except as EOs.
The time does extract parts of the herb well into the oil, but it’s not concentrated in the way that EOs are (as I’ve already explained). Times when an infused oil would need be used with much more care would be if you used a plant that was toxic enough that it should be used in small amounts.
I’m still wondering if you are using EOs, because I’ve not come across anyone making an infused oil from citronella before (but I guess it does happen somewhere). Also your description of needing alot of care and that the oil was very concentrated all point to EOs not infused oils. Did you make the citronella oil, the cedar oil, the wintergreen oil, the eucalyptus oil yourselves? Or did you buy them in small expensive bottles?
“I don’t know if we really want to adopt your terminology.”
It’s not ‘my’ terminololgy, it’s the terms and concepts used by every herbalist I’ve ever heard say anything on the topic.
See the above links to Susun Weed.
Also wiki (for what that’s worth):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_oil
Making EOs:
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/faqs/medi-4-1-distilling.html
Henriette’s recipe for Rose Salve, which starts by making rose infused oil (she doesn’t use the term ‘infused’ she just calls it a herbal oil. But she does distinguish this from EOs). She uses a hot water bath or oven method rather than the 6 week cold infusion I menioned:
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/blog/rose-salve.html
Some other herbal oil recipes from Henriette:
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/blog/pd-herbal-oils-1.html
(btw Henriette uses the term ‘essential oil’ to refer to both the extracted oil and the oil still in the herb. I prefer to call the later a volatile oil so that it’s differentiated from the extracted EO).
A short discussion on using infused oils instead of EOs in chest rubs:
http://herbwifery.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=270
Mountain Rose’s page on herbal oils
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/oils/herbal.html
and essential oils:
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/aroma/ess.html
and their page on EO hazards (the disposal info is interesting):
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/learn/essential_oils_handle_with_care.html
Herbalist Jim McDonald’s instructions on making infused herbal oils:
http://www.herbcraft.org/preparations.html
An infused st john’s wort oil:
http://www.herbalmedicine.co.nz/?page=products&cat=3
A UK based company selling infused oils:
http://www.woodlandherbs.co.uk/acatalog/infused_oil.html
I don’t have my books with me, but I know that the US based wise woman and folk medicine herbalist all distinguish between a herbal infused oil and an EO. Likewise my NZ books, and books from elsewhere in the world. I don’t have books on aromatherapy however.
Just in case this is going to boil down to semantics, my impression is that the term ‘infused oil’ has come about to make the distinction from EOs clear. Most herbalists traditionally would have known a herbal oil as an infusion of whole herbs in oil or fat, not a strong extraction of the volatile oils only.
Anyway, having said all that
I’ve just had a look at the original post, and it is clear that Giulianna is talking about EOs not infused oils. I think I’ve been getting confused with your posts Jason because you talk about getting EOs from infusing plants in oil which is simply not possible (although you can get some of the volatile oils along with other constituents, but that is very different from what Giulianna is describing).
So I stand by my original post - EOs are not herbal medicines, they are much more concentrated and toxic, and they’re not used by indigenous cultures. Nor will they be practically used by post-civilisation cultures, and I think their use in rewilding is very limited.assuming that the plant material is a common herb like lavender or rosemary. Even eucalyptus oil made this way is relatively safe (although eucalyptus is quite a strong plant so I’d be more careful with it myself). The other plants you used I am not familiar with except as EOs.
The time does extract parts of the herb well into the oil, but it’s not concentrated in the way that EOs are (as I’ve already explained). Times when an infused oil would need be used with much more care would be if you used a plant that was toxic enough that it should be used in small amounts.
I’m still wondering if you are using EOs, because I’ve not come across anyone making an infused oil from citronella before (but I guess it does happen somewhere). Also your description of needing alot of care and that the oil was very concentrated all point to EOs not infused oils. Did you make the citronella oil, the cedar oil, the wintergreen oil, the eucalyptus oil yourselves? Or did you buy them in small expensive bottles?
“I don’t know if we really want to adopt your terminology.”
It’s not ‘my’ terminololgy, it’s the terms and concepts used by every herbalist I’ve ever heard say anything on the topic.
See the above links to Susun Weed.
Also wiki (for what that’s worth):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_oil
Making EOs:
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/faqs/medi-4-1-distilling.html
Henriette’s recipe for Rose Salve, which starts by making rose infused oil (she doesn’t use the term ‘infused’ she just calls it a herbal oil. But she does distinguish this from EOs). She uses a hot water bath or oven method rather than the 6 week cold infusion I menioned:
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/blog/rose-salve.html
Some other herbal oil recipes from Henriette:
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/blog/pd-herbal-oils-1.html
(btw Henriette uses the term ‘essential oil’ to refer to both the extracted oil and the oil still in the herb. I prefer to call the later a volatile oil so that it’s differentiated from the extracted EO).
A short discussion on using infused oils instead of EOs in chest rubs:
http://herbwifery.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=270
Mountain Rose’s page on herbal oils
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/oils/herbal.html
and essential oils:
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/aroma/ess.html
and their page on EO hazards (the disposal info is interesting):
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/learn/essential_oils_handle_with_care.html
Herbalist Jim McDonald’s instructions on making infused herbal oils:
http://www.herbcraft.org/preparations.html
An infused st john’s wort oil:
http://www.herbalmedicine.co.nz/?page=products&cat=3
A UK based company selling infused oils:
http://www.woodlandherbs.co.uk/acatalog/infused_oil.html
I don’t have my books with me, but I know that the US based wise woman and folk medicine herbalist all distinguish between a herbal infused oil and an EO. Likewise my NZ books, and books from elsewhere in the world. I don’t have books on aromatherapy however.
Just in case this is going to boil down to semantics, my impression is that the term ‘infused oil’ has come about to make the distinction from EOs clear. Most herbalists traditionally would have known a herbal oil as an infusion of whole herbs in oil or fat, not a strong extraction of the volatile oils only.
Anyway, having said all that
I’ve had a look at the original post, and it is clear that Giulianna is talking about EOs not infused oils. I think I’ve been getting confused with your posts Jason because you talk about getting EOs from infusing plants in oil which is simply not possible (although you can get some of the volatile oils along with other constituents, but that is very different from what Giulianna is describing).
So I stand by my original post - EOs are not herbal medicines, they are much more concentrated and toxic, and they’re not used by indigenous cultures. Nor will they be practically used by post-civilisation cultures, and I think their use in rewilding is very limited.
Comment by kate — 11 March 2008 @ 6:41 AM
“I’ve got plenty of books that tell me that I can make essential oil by infusing it in oil for several days.”
Ok, just because the previous post was so long:
Yes, you can put EOs into a carrier oil. That is a completely different thing than making an infused herbal oil where you steep the whole plant in oil. EOs, even in carrier oils, are problematic for all the reasons I’ve outlined and I can’t see how they fit rewilding paradigms.
Sorry it took me so long to understand what you were saying, I thought you were saying you can make the base EO by infusing plants in oil (which you can’t). I don’t know what the term is for EOs in carrier oil, but I’ll ask some people who work with EOs.
Comment by kate — 11 March 2008 @ 6:46 AM
Errr … I did say that. Not a carrier oil, like you describe: we put the whole leaf, root slice, etc. in olive oil, either under a low heat for a few hours, or no heat for several days. That would result in an extremely concentrated (and thus potentially dangerous) oil that the books we read called the essential oil, since that long infusion process drew the oils out of the herb. The bug juice described here uses oils made in this way, and as far as I know, “essential oil” means that.
Comment by Jason Godesky — 11 March 2008 @ 7:14 AM
Well I don’t know citronella or cedar so I guess they could make a ‘dangerous’ oil (doubt it though). I know that wintergreen is a strong herb and that as an EO is incredibly strong. Eucalyptus made as an infused oil is not ‘dangerous’ afaik (not made the oil, but worked with the herb in water).
The process you described does not generally make dangerous oils. I have been making such oils for many years, and I’m part of communities of herbalists that make such oils for many years. Herbalists have been making such oils for eons.
I don’t know why my long post didn’t appear, but I’ll repost the the last draft version I have off my desktop. It contains links to respected herbalists who are talking about making infused oils. There’s also a wiki link on what an EO is, and some links differentiating between EOs and infused herbals oils.
My main problem now is that the original post uses the terms ‘essential oil’ in its recipe:
“Measure 2 teaspoons of each essential oil into 4oz bottle: Citronella, cedar, eucalyptus, and wintergreen. Add olive oil to fill bottle. It should add up to approximately 2 ounces of olive oil. Shake and label.”
Most people will read that and go and buy bottles of EOs from a health store. There is no description of the infused oil method that you’ve just described in your comment. Don’t take my word for it. Go to a health store and ask for a bottle of citronella essential oil and see what they give you.
The recipe is incredibly strong if using EOs.
If using infused oils, it’s not that strong. In fact I don’t know why you’d bother diluting it in olive oil (unless those herbs are particularly potent herbs). If I was making an infused oil to deter insects I’d use a full strength oil of something like yarrow or as you are suggesting Lemon Balm.
Citronella is a well known insect repellant because of its ubiquitous use in EO form in things like insect repellants, outside candles etc.
I’ll ask some herby people to stop by and comment on the relative strength of the herbs you used as an infused oil.
Comment by kate — 11 March 2008 @ 3:28 PM
My post from last night that didn’t appear:
OK, now I’m just confused again. If you fill a jar with plant chopped plant material, and then fill the jar again with olive oil, let it sit for 6 weeks, then you will have a very safe oil that can be used lavishly and freely in many situations. That’s assuming that the plant material is a common herb like lavender or rosemary. Even eucalyptus oil made this way is relatively safe (although eucalyptus is quite a strong plant so I’d be more careful with it myself). The other plants you used I am not familiar with except as EOs.
The time does extract parts of the herb well into the oil, but it’s not concentrated in the way that EOs are (as I’ve already explained). Times when an infused oil would need be used with much more care would be if you used a plant that was toxic enough that it should be used in small amounts.
I’m still wondering if you are using EOs, because I’ve not come across anyone making an infused oil from citronella before (but I guess it does happen somewhere). Also your description of needing alot of care and that the oil was very concentrated all point to EOs not infused oils. Did you make the citronella oil, the cedar oil, the wintergreen oil, the eucalyptus oil yourselves? Or did you buy them in small expensive bottles?
“I don’t know if we really want to adopt your terminology.”
It’s not ‘my’ terminololgy, it’s the terms and concepts used by every herbalist I’ve ever heard say anything on the topic.
See the above links to Susun Weed.
Also wiki (for what that’s worth):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_oil
Making EOs:
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/faqs/medi-4-1-distilling.html
Henriette’s recipe for Rose Salve, which starts by making rose infused oil (she doesn’t use the term ‘infused’ she just calls it a herbal oil. But she does distinguish this from EOs). She uses a hot water bath or oven method rather than the 6 week cold infusion I menioned:
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/blog/rose-salve.html
Some other herbal oil recipes from Henriette:
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/blog/pd-herbal-oils-1.html
(btw Henriette uses the term ‘essential oil’ to refer to both the extracted oil and the oil still in the herb. I prefer to call the later a volatile oil so that it’s differentiated from the extracted EO).
A short discussion on using infused oils instead of EOs in chest rubs:
http://herbwifery.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=270
Mountain Rose’s page on herbal oils
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/oils/herbal.html
and essential oils:
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/aroma/ess.html
and their page on EO hazards (the disposal info is interesting):
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/learn/essential_oils_handle_with_care.html
Herbalist Jim McDonald’s instructions on making infused herbal oils:
http://www.herbcraft.org/preparations.html
An infused st john’s wort oil:
http://www.herbalmedicine.co.nz/?page=products&cat=3
A UK based company selling infused oils:
http://www.woodlandherbs.co.uk/acatalog/infused_oil.html
I don’t have my books with me, but I know that the US based wise woman and folk medicine herbalist all distinguish between a herbal infused oil and an EO. Likewise my NZ books, and books from elsewhere in the world. I don’t have books on aromatherapy however.
Just in case this is going to boil down to semantics, my impression is that the term ‘infused oil’ has come about to make the distinction from EOs clear. Most herbalists traditionally would have known a herbal oil as an infusion of whole herbs in oil or fat, not a strong extraction of the volatile oils only.
Comment by kate — 11 March 2008 @ 3:33 PM
I don’t know why some of my posts aren’t appearing so I’ll just try and repost the links:
“I don’t know if we really want to adopt your terminology.”
It’s not ‘my’ terminololgy, it’s the terms and concepts used by every herbalist I’ve ever heard say anything on the topic.
See the above links to Susun Weed.
Also wiki (for what that’s worth):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_oil
Making EOs:
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/faqs/medi-4-1-distilling.html
Henriette’s recipe for Rose Salve, which starts by making rose infused oil (she doesn’t use the term ‘infused’ she just calls it a herbal oil. But she does distinguish this from EOs). She uses a hot water bath or oven method rather than the 6 week cold infusion I menioned:
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/blog/rose-salve.html
Some other herbal oil recipes from Henriette:
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/blog/pd-herbal-oils-1.html
(btw Henriette uses the term ‘essential oil’ to refer to both the extracted oil and the oil still in the herb. I prefer to call the later a volatile oil so that it’s differentiated from the extracted EO).
A short discussion on using infused oils instead of EOs in chest rubs:
http://herbwifery.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=270
Mountain Rose’s page on herbal oils
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/oils/herbal.html
and essential oils:
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/aroma/ess.html
and their page on EO hazards (the disposal info is interesting):
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/learn/essential_oils_handle_with_care.html
Comment by kate — 11 March 2008 @ 3:41 PM
I asked at the Susun Weed forum. You can see the thread here:
http://www.susunweed.com/weedforum/viewtopic.php?p=144180
Comment by kate — 11 March 2008 @ 3:50 PM
I just wanted to second kate’s termonology. Every account I have ever studied describes EO’s just as kate did and infused oils as a base oil that has been steeped with plant parts for some time. I don’t intend to be argumentative but thought you may want to know that the general populace would describe these things this way as well. I also read the post and assumed you meant strait EO’s and thought that it seemed like an aweful lot. Just thought I’d pass on my understanding of these words.
Comment by KateT — 11 March 2008 @ 4:36 PM
Yo Jason that recipe is scary. Please look up the definition of Essential oil (EO) (see link). You are giving responsible aromatherapists a hard time by posting recipes like this. Please take down this recipe or add the appropriate information regarding infused oils in a way which disambiguates from EO.
The upper safety level for Wintergreen EO is 0.7% in ointment. There are free toxicology research articles about wintergreen online. You have published 6.0% of Wintergreen EO in this recipe.
The total EO concentration in this recipe is 25%! Aromatherapists generally speaking do not go over 5% total EO for an ointments. This is not very safe to go 5 times higher than the upper safety level for EO.
Comment by Anaugnymouse — 11 March 2008 @ 4:42 PM
OK, I changed it to say “infused oils.” But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use these things with caution! If you want to call them “infused oils” rather than “essential oils,” fine, but they still greatly concentrate an herb’s effects, so they need to be treated with extreme caution. Any of these herbs can become dangerous if used improperly or in sufficiently high doses, the latter becoming very easy when dealing with extremely concentrated forms like infused or essential oils.
A personal anecdote to illustrate: I love wood sorrel. Had some for breakfast. Found out they act as a diuretic. Spent the morning in the bathroom, because I ignored the most important rule of herbalism: to treat these plants as people, and keep in mind what they can do.
Infused oils concentrate the effects many hundreds of times more than the herbs themselves, so very small errors can have the same impact as, say, ingesting a few pounds of the herb. I’ve spilled a few drops of wintergreen “infused oil” on my skin and it felt almost like burning. So please, never assume that because it grows “naturally” that herbs can’t hurt you, particularly when dealing with extremely concentrated forms, as the commenters above call “infused oils.”
Comment by Jason Godesky — 11 March 2008 @ 7:58 PM
Just rescued your comments from the spam filter, Kate. To be fair, I can’t really blame Akismet for the mistake. I don’t mean to dismiss the content, but the link-sentence-link-sentence format looks just like spam.
Comment by Jason Godesky — 11 March 2008 @ 8:01 PM
Have you ever actually done that? You get an extremely concentrated form of the herb, so a few drops could have the same impact as a few pounds of fresh leaves. If a single leaf will make you a little queazy, a few drops of such an infused oil will kill you. I would hardly call that “very safe.”
At the class, the instructor brought them. I made some infused oil of wintergreen before that, and accidentally got a few drops on my hand. I didn’t think I’d still have my hand after that, but it turned out all right, just felt like it would burn off for a while.
I don’t know how much I trust Susun Weed–that link seems to mix in a lot of hokey New Agey stuff that really makes me uncomfortable. Our material mostly comes from students of Dr. Christopher. Most of our books currently sit in boxes, though, so I can’t really go get them and quote stuff.
Huh, I can see the value of the distinction (infusion differs from distillation, after all), but if it popped up recently to make a distinction, maybe it hasn’t popped up everywhere? It sounds like you keep pretty closely to the “wise woman” circles, which we rather assiduously avoid for the most part because of our deep skepticism of anything smacking too much of New Age stuff, so perhaps this comes down to little more than two branching traditions in modern American herbalism?
Comment by Jason Godesky — 11 March 2008 @ 8:11 PM
I have to agree with Kate here… and as a practicing herbalist who also works with aromatherapists, many other herbalists and other people familiar with the alternative health industry in the US, I’d have to say that the accepted definition of essential oil is a distilled extract of the volatile oil constituents of an herb, it is NOT the whole plant infused in a carrier oil, it is an extracted constituent. This is normal terminology among herbalists from Michael Moore to Michael Tierra, Howie Brounstein, Sharol Tilgner, David Hoffmann (his book Medical Herbalism is a primary textbook in Western Herbalism), James Green, Paul Bergner and many more. It is a common and very important distinction.
Infused oils are not actually extremely concentrated as opposed to distilled oils, however, some plants are strong enough to elicit a strong reaction in whatever form they are prepared. There’s a big difference between Wintergreen and Calendula and Aconite and the levels of toxicity therein. But there’s also a big difference between Wintergreen essential oil and Wintergreen infused oil…. One is an extracted constituent of the plant the other is a product of the whole plant (or at least the bits soluble in oil).
Just take a look at any good modern Western herbal (Michael Moore springs to mind, or even Rosemary Gladstar) or herbal website, and you’ll see what Kate is talking about.
Comment by Kiva Rose — 11 March 2008 @ 9:13 PM
I think we have to concede this one. It seems our local paper ran a story about the very class we went to, which elicited a letter to the editor with the same correction.
Comment by Jason Godesky — 11 March 2008 @ 10:54 PM
check mine out……
keep up the good work man…….
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