This week, the Liv Ahwatukee Blog is featuring tips so that you can make your own essential oils without leaving your Phoenix, AZ apartment. Essential oils can help fight colds, soothe sore muscles, alleviate pain, improve digestion, and more. If you’ve got a crockpot and distilled water, then extracting essential oils from plants is a pretty simple process.
We’re taking the following instructions from DIY Natural, and while we invite you to read the entire article to learn more about essential oils and infused oils, we’re going to highlight just the parts about the process of making your own oil.
Ingredients & Supplies
1. A crock pot with a lid
2. Distilled water
3. 3-4 cups of chopped fresh plant material, filling the crockpot about half full. “It’s best to use fresh plant material rather than dried. Dried herbs will still yield some oil, but fresh will result in more volume. Harvest plant material in the morning after the dew has dried. Discard any dead, diseased, or bug infested herbs.”
Process
1. Place the plants in the crockpot, covering them with water. Make sure that the crockpot is less than three-fourths full. Then, put the lid on upside down.
2. Turn the crockpot on high. Once hot, turn it to low and simmer for three to four hours.
3. Turn the crockpot off. Once the plants have cooled, place the crockpot into the fridge and leave it overnight.
4. In the morning, you should notice a thin film of oil on the top. It should be hard. Be careful as you lift the essential oil, but work quickly so it doesn’t melt.
5. Place the oil into a bottle and seal it with a cap.
6. Store away from light and heat.
Of course, if you’d rather purchase essential oils rather than make your own, there’s always that option! Young Living is just one of many essential oil companies with a wide variety of great oils to choose from.