Question:
I am an returned peace corp volunteer from the Gambia west africa. occasionally
I still send information to my friends in the gambia to help thier efforts.
Malaria is a major problem in the gambia, and as you may know, malaria is
spread through a mosquito born parasite. Catnip is an extremely powerful
mosquito repellent and grows wild throughout the gambia. There are beekeeping
projects, so beeswax is available. vegetable oils are also widely available
throughout the country. the problem is, thre is no practical way to locally
distill essential oils. I wondering ifyou have any ideas as to how to make a
catnip mosqito repellent lotion without pre-distilling the essential oil (i.e.
fine grinding of dried leaves, simmering leaves in the oil, or an oil based
maceration, or something else entirely)
Answer:
-you could just grind the catnip up a bit, and then simmer it in melted
bees wax, and then strain the herb out.
-Easy to make a salve with the available ingredients.
Let the herb wilt. Chop the herb. Fill a jar with it. Fill the jar
with oil. Set in a sunny windowsill for 2 weeks or more. Check
occasionally to make sure the oil is covering the herb and wipe any
water off the inside of the lid. Strain the herb from the oil.
Heat the oil with beeswax until the wax melts. Pour into your jars.
Another way to make the herbal infused oil.
Chop the herb and mix with oil. Heat over boiling water until it
reaches about 150*F stirring occasionally. Hold it at that temp for
1.5 hours or so. Strain out the herb and proceed to make the salve.
I've found that trying to measure the oil and wax is a recipe for
disappointment. The beeswax often works differently depending on
how it was processed or who knows why. ;> Different oils will
react differently. Usually I start with about 16 oz oil and a
little less than 1 oz beeswax. I like a soft salve, but it is
rarely hot where I live. If it is too stiff, you can melt it again
and add more oil, if too soft, add more wax. Quickly dipping a cold
knife blade into the hot salve mix will give you a good idea how
stiff the cooled salve will be.
Essential oils can be handy to use, but macerating the herb into oil
will transfer plenty of the healing properties to the oil. Perhaps
more properties than just using the eo.
