Cocoa Butter + Honey All Purpose Balm
by Kelsey Crawford. Published April, 27, 2020.
This is a wonderful, easy to make base salve recipe. A few added variations to ingredients keep it handy throughout the seasons. Include a little raw honey (vegan substitutes listed) and you'll have a luxurious, moisturizing lip balm. Add a few drops of eucalyptus & peppermint essential oils, and you'll make a soothing vapor chest rub. With extra vitamin e oil and vegetable glycerin, you can create a healing remedy for calloused summer gardeners hands.
Tools you will need:
Sharp knife
2oz balm tins - sanitized
Ingredients For Base:
3 tablespoons cocoa butter
3 tablespoons beeswax - try candelilla or bayberry wax as a vegan alternative
1/4 cup of apricot oil
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon raw honey - try aloe vera gel/juice as a vegan alternative
1/4 teaspoon vitamin e oil
1 tablespoon vegetable glycerin
Directions
In a double boiler, on a medium-low heat, melt together cocoa butter and beeswax. The amounts called for in this recipe are small enough that if you only have large pieces of cocoa butter/beeswax (as I often do because I buy from a local bulk supplier or at the farmers market) you should be able to easily shave off the amount needed for this recipe with a sharp knife. Another option would be prepackaged which offer smaller pellet sizes. Once evenly melted, add in apricot & coconut oil, continue to melt until all is fully liquid.
In a side dish, dilute vegetable glycerin, honey, and vitamin e oil together. If making a vapor rub or adding in any additional essential oils, include them in this step. For example, when making a eucalyptus & peppermint vapor rub (I like to make it a bit stronger) I add a full dropper of each essential oil (about 15-20 drops each).
Turn heat off on double boiler, then pour in vegetable glycerin mix (you can transfer the liquid best by using a silicon spatula). Remove bowl/top off of the double boiler, pour mixture into a Pyrex glass measuring cup. I like to keep the pyrex warm (keeping liquid melted) so one option is to place the pyrex in the pot of hot water to warm it up, or two-simply use the pyrex instead of the bowl to melt everything in.
Line up tins on a cookie sheet or something similar (to catch any spillage) and slowly pour liquid into each tin, filling up just below the top of the tin line. Let stand to cool for about 10 minutes then cap and seal.
Prep/cook Time: about 20 to 30 minutes
Makes: about 12-14, 2oz balm tins
Resources
https://www.bonappetit.com/story/double-boiler
https://www.pyrexhome.com/product/2-cup-measuring-cup
https://www.mountainroseherbs.com/catalog/containers/tins
https://www.aromatics.com/blogs/wellness/vegetable-glycerin-a-closer-look
BIO:
Kelsey Crawford is a certified wholistic nutritionist (CN), herbalist, level III Usui Reiki practitioner, food writer & photographer, and visual artist. She founded Go Forth Culture in 2013, and has been providing nutrition counseling and workshops in her community for over six years. She began her educational journey into wholistic wellness by becoming the youngest graduate of the Juut (Aveda) Institute's Ayurvedic based self-care curriculum, in 1992 at the age of 13. Throughout her teens, Kelsey worked as an intern on her aunts ranch in Southern Oregon, studying native plants and learning the basics of biodynamic farming. After spending nearly 20 years in the culinary industry, and as a touring musician, Kelsey then returned to school and earned her nutrition certification from the Wellspring School for Healing Arts, in their extensive wholistic nutrition program.
She has continued her education in herbal formulations through NUNM (National University of Natural Medicine), as well as caring for cancer, women's wellness, and medicinal herbs in culinary application, through the Wellspring School for Healing Arts. Kelsey was first introduced to universal energy work in 2008 by her mother-in-law, a Level lll Reiki Master. She recently completed her formal Reiki training and received her certification in the new year, however her informal education in energy work has been ongoing for over a decade. Her passion for highlighting joy, culture, and imagination in nutrition, is informed by her philosophy that creative expression comes in all forms as a fundamental element of wholistic health.
You can find out more about Kelsey at: http://www.goforthculture.com