Easily make dandelion infused oil at home!
It may sound hard but learning how to make dandelion oil is a cinch when you follow these easy steps below.
Gather your dandelions.
First thing first, go and gather your dandelions! These grow in abundance in your yard, your neighbors’ yards, city parks, playgrounds, roadsides, etc.
Be sure you correctly identify the dandelion plant if you don’t know what it is. Google or ask a friend!
Very important: Please make sure your dandelions have not been sprayed with any herbicides or weed killers. You do not want to be rubbing dandelion oil or salve on your skin which contain these harmful toxins.
I also like to pick my dandelions from an area that pets have not been. Poop or urine on my pretty flowers? No thanks!
Place your fingers gently under the petals at the base of the sepal and pull up. You can also choose to use some garden snippers or a scissors but I find that using my hands work just fine!
Harvesting the dandelions is fun but can also be a lot of work depending on how much infused dandelion oil you are making. Enlist the help of your kiddos and friends!
1 cup of fresh dandelion blooms will wither down to approximately 2 ounces of dandelion oil!
Once you have gathered enough it’s time to learn how to dry the dandelion flowers!
Dry your dandelion flowers.
You have several options when it comes to drying your dandelion flowers. You can dry them in the sun, in a dehydrator, or in the oven.
I prefer not to use direct heat in order the preserve the medicinal properties of the plant as best as I can. Hence I use the sundried method or a dehydrator. This is the dehydrator I currently use. It is great dehydrator for beginners until you get the hang of what you are doing and can invest in a larger more expensive one!
How to dry your dandelions in the sun.
I used the trays of my dehydrator and placed them in direct sun. However, I learned that they wilt considerably so it is better to place a paper towel, cheesecloth, etc. or some kind of barrier so that they don’t fall through the cracks.
You can also wilt the dandelions on some screen trays or make your own with some screen material from the farmstore. The important thing is to have airflow for your dandelion flowers as they dry.
Also setting them out in the sun is great because you will soon realize that lots of little critters live in the flowers. I prefer to have them crawl off unharmed AND outside rather than in!
How to dehydrate your dandelions.
If you decide to use your dehydrator, dehydrate the dandelion flowers on the lowest heat setting, mine was 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Start off at 2 hours and then check them. It can take quite a while to dry depending on the humidity in your area and how much moisture are in the plants.
You will immediately know if you over dried them because they will burst in balls of white fluff! Don’t worry you can still use them!
How to condition your dandelions.
Now most people that I know don’t complete this extra step. However I had a friend who made dandelion infused oil, thought her dandelions were dry and turns out they weren’t! Her oil formed mold on the top and she had to throw it out!
What a huge waste of time and resources! I would rather take a little extra time and make sure my dandelions are dry, wouldn’t you?
To condition your dandelions simply place the dried flowers in a sealed jar. Shake them every day or so and check for moisture beads on the inside of the jar’s lid. If any is present your dandelions are not dried and you need to redry them.
Do this for a week. If no moisture is present during this time you should be good!!! Now for the fun part making dandelion oil!
How to make dandelion oil.
Place your dandelions in a jar that is appropriate for the amount you have dried. This means you want to have the jar mostly filled! However, I have also seen recommendations on filling the jar at least half full. I prefer a stronger infused dandelion oil so i fill mine at least 3/4th full.
Next select your oil of choice! If this is your first time infusing herbs with an oil I would recommend starting with extra virgin olive oil. Other oils of choice include grapeseed oil, coconut, and sweet almond oil.
You can blend the different oils for your infusion. With coconut oil you will want to melt it first! The reason I recommend EVOO for dandelion oil is because it doesn’t get rancid as easily as some of the others!
Pour the oil into the jar all the way up to the top of the container. Be sure all the dandelions are covered.
Where to store your dandelion infused oil.
Now this is the part where I do it a little different than others. Some recipes recommend covering with covering and placing in a sunny location for 2 weeks minimum.
However heat tends to affect the medicinal properties of the dandelion plant. So this is what I do. I cover my dandelion oil jar with the lid it comes with and put in a warm dark cupboard.
You want the temperature to stay above 70*F. I didn’t want to play the guessing game so I bought these temperature strips for brewing.
Another alternative method is using a seed warming mat and have that at 70*F. Let your dandelion oil infused for 2 weeks then strain with a cheesecloth!
Gently squeeze the flowers to get every precious bit of oil out!
Congratulations you have learned how to make dandelion oil!
What are the benefits of dandelion oil
Use this oil over painful or inflamed joints such as arthritis or massage into sore and tired muscles after a long day!
The dandelion’s natural antioxidants, essential fatty acids, and phytonutrients helps reduces inflammation.
Have itchy or dry skin? Dandelion oil not only soothes the skin but also helps to restore moisture. You can also use it to treat eczema and psoriasis.
Dandelion is an amazing plant with much more medicinal properties than which can be obtained from making dandelion oil!
Plus you can also eat the entire plant! Check out this great dandelion cookbook to get you started!
Final Thoughts
As you can see learning how to make dandelion oil is pretty easy once you get the hang of it and the benefits are tremendous!
Have you ever made dandelion oil or would you like to try it? Let me know in the comments below!!!
Thanks for stopping by!
Sincerely,
Mrs. G
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