ODE TO CALENDULA
excerpt from May/June '13 article TEH
Marci Tsohonis
excerpt from May/June '13 article TEH
Marci Tsohonis
Midsummer is only a few sunrises away. After a terminally gray winter and an
unpredictable spring, I am as eager as a honey bee to begin harvesting herbs
and flowers. In just a few weeks my
favorite herb flower, Calendula, will be hard to keep up with. I celebrate using the last of my stash of
dried Calendula to make Calendula Castile soap. I make this soap in honor of
the summer solstice every year. Castile soap has a reputation for being
“difficult” but I have never had a failed batch. It is a mild soap, gentle enough for use on
toddlers. The Calendula petals add a
beautiful, random play of color to cold process soap. Even the heat of the gel process will not
fade their color.
Calendula is considered a solar plant because the petals
open to face the sun when the sun is out, and close up slightly towards evening
or on cloudy days. Full-on, all day sun
is just what Calendula needs to thrive.
I am up with the birds every day during the growing season, dead heading
our Calendula plants. If you are growing
Calendula for the first time this year, know that every one of the prolific
open blooms must be picked at least every other day, or they will quickly go to
seed. However, you’ll find that Calendula
is well worth the trouble.
Calendula has been loved by herbalists through the
centuries as a remedy for wounds and skin conditions. It has anti-inflammatory properties and
resolves bruising beneath the skin.
Aerial parts of the plant, tinctured, are excellent first aid for
wounds, preventing infection and hastening healing. The dried petals, prepared with boiling water
as a tea (and cooled), are a first rate wound wash, and soothing to scalds.
Creams made with Calendula oil soften the skin, soothing
eczema and helping to keep the skin nourished and supple. Calendula makes a beautiful, soothing salve
for chapped hands, nicks or scrapes.
DRYING CALENDULA FLOWER
HEADS:
When I harvest Calendula flower heads, I leave a half
inch stem attached, making it easier to press the whole flower face down on a
screen for drying. As I flatten it, I
gently break off the remaining stem. If
the weather is warm, the flowers should be almost weightless, dry and crispy in
less than a week. Each petal will shrink
to half its width. You’ll be able to
tell when they are ready. Once they are
dry, hold the flower head and gently pull outward at the edges of the petals to
remove them from the head.
Calendula flowers dry beautifully on a rack or screen in
a warm, covered, shady area when given plenty of air circulation. I press them onto a screen in our garden
shed, and leave the windows ajar to promote air flow. A garage would work, or even a covered patio
that is out of the wind. I sometimes
notice bulk Calendula flowers for sale in natural food stores, stuffed in jars
every which way, in a brownish tangle.
They lack memory of the life force when handled that way. When carefully dried, they are a joyous
addition to a summer Potpourri.
NOTE! If you see
something resembling worm larvae in either the finished oil or soap, it is most likely just a Calendula seed! Simply lift it out with tweezers or a spoon.
It is easy to inadvertently pull a seed off the head when you are removing the
petals. I found several the first time I made the infused oil. The seeds are a somewhat curly, crescent moon
shape.
SOLAR INFUSED CALENDULA OIL:
This is my favorite method. Fill any size jar half full of dried
Calendula petals. Pour Olive oil over
the petals, filling jar to within 2 inches of the top of the jar. A little headspace is needed as the petals
will expand once they become saturated with the oil. (an overflow is quite messy) Stir the oil and
petals a few times. Cover the top of the
jar with a double layer square of cheesecloth and apply the screw band (or a
rubber band) over that. Place in a
sunny, south facing windowsill for at least 6 weeks. Stir contents daily.
HURRY-UP CALENDULA OIL:
Place dried Calendula petals and olive oil in a crock
pot. I suggest you use a Rheostat/Light
dimmer to regulate the heat setting on your crock pot. Alternately, take the temperature of the oil
frequently, turning the crock pot on or off, to ensure the oil temperature is
maintained between 100 and 110 degrees for several hours. The crock pot method works well, though the
oil will not be quite as resinous as it would be using the solar method with a
longer infusion period.
RESINOUS, FRESH CALENDULA
OIL:
I don’t use fresh infused Calendula oil in soap recipes,
generally, though there is no reason you couldn’t. It is more work to make the
oil, and the yield is not as good. But
this is a special oil. Alcohol frees
and dissolves the resin in Calendula, adding medicinal properties to the oil
that you would not be able to access with water or plain oil alone. I’m
including the recipe, while I’m up, because it makes a highly resinous, healing
oil, courtesy of the late Michael Moore.
He stated that most of the Alcohol evaporates during the cook. Some expert herbalists consider the scent
from the trace of Alcohol remaining in the oil to be unpleasant. Others swear by this method. You’ll need to make that call for yourself.
Want to try it yourself?
Fill a food processor with cut Calendula heads. Little bits of stem are fine to add as
well. Pour 1/8 to 1/4 cup of 100 proof
Grain Alcohol over them. Process
briefly, long enough to chop the Calendula and distribute the Alcohol. Allow to sit several hours. Transfer ingredients to a blender. Cover with Olive Oil. Blend on “Chop” until Calendula is finely
diced. Scrape contents into a crock
pot. Maintain temperature of oil &
herb mixture at a range of 100-110 for 8-12 hours. Strain thoroughly through
Cheesecloth or old t-shirt, squeezing every last drop of this incredible oil.
TO INTENSIFY OIL COLOR: Annatto Seed (Achiote Seed) is a
natural colorant that can give your soap a gorgeous yellow-orange color, just
like cheese or butter. For a light to medium yellow, heat Annatto Seed and
Olive Oil 1:4 in the crock pot or on low heat on the stove burner. Upping the ratio of seed to oil will deepen
the color. What appears to be a yellow
colored oil may turn to more of an orange color once the soap has been
processed in the mold, especially if you allow it to gel. For some reason, Annatto oil turns darker in
soap that has gelled than in soap that hasn’t.
If you don’t allow your soap to gel, keep the Annatto seed to oil ratio
on the light side. Too much Annatto will
bleed out into the lather as the soap is used.
