Summer is the time to collect medicinal herbs. Usually they are dried for the winter or made into alcohol tinctures. But you can also infuse herbs in vegetable oil. Herbs infused with oil increase their flavor and healing properties and become more effective.

Various vegetable oils and essential oils can now be bought in pharmacies and stores. But you can prepare them at home, because then you will know for sure that your oil is 100% natural and does not contain additives in the form of mineral oils and chemical components that are added during industrial production. Take care of your health and good mood, which your oil infused with healthy herbs can give you!

Examples of herbal oils you can make yourself:

• As antipyretic products use oils of basil, peppermint, thyme, and sage.
• Jasmine, rose, iris oils – normalize blood pressure, relieve fatigue and tension, restore tone, and normalize the general condition of the body.
• Chamomile, lavender and lemon balm oils help a lot for allergies.
• Oils of pine, thyme, fennel are used as expectorant for cough and bronchitis.
• Cypress and yarrow oils can be used for varicose veins.
• Chamomile oil is used for rejuvenation.
• Rose oil is calming and relieves headaches.

How to make herbal oil?

Here is a recipe for St. John's wort oil, as an example:

Infuse 0.5 cups of fresh flowers and leaves of St. John's wort in 1 cup of heated olive oil for 3 weeks. Then squeeze and strain, store in a cool place.

St. John's wort oil is used for burns, non-healing wounds and ulcers, abscesses, purulent inflammation in the oral cavity. St. John's wort oil is also used for massage of the spine and lower back.

What to insist on?

• Fragrant herbs: rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano, fennel, tarragon, parsley, dill. It is better to use fresh herbs for infusion - in this case the aroma will be more intense and will appear much faster.
• Fragrant vegetables: garlic, shallots, hot peppers, paprika, celery, horseradish.
• Spices: cinnamon, cloves, star anise, allspice, cardamom, anise and others.
• Fruits and berries: raspberry, cherry, lemon, lime, orange.
• Flowers: linden, nasturtium.

You can use individual ingredients or combinations of them to suit your taste.

There are three ways to flavor vinegar and oil.

Method one

Best suited for aromatic herbs, flowers and whole spices.

Heat vinegar or oil over low heat. The vinegar should not boil. While heating, add aromatic ingredients, cool the mixture and pour it into glass storage containers. Alternatively, you can put the flavorings in bottles or jars and fill them with heated oil or vinegar. In the first case, the aroma will open a little faster.

If you want the most intense flavor and aroma, add additional fresh aromatics during the infusion process.

Method two

Ideal for vegetables, fruits and herbs.

Puree the fruits, vegetables or herbs you are going to use for infusion. Bring the puree to a boil and pour in vinegar or oil at room temperature. Stir and pour into a container for infusion. You can strain the finished mixture through cheesecloth for transparency or leave it as is.

Method three

Used for flavoring with ground spices.

Grind the spices in a mortar or grind in a coffee grinder. Pour into a jar or bottle, add oil or vinegar at room temperature and leave to infuse. This mixture can be used after the spices have settled to the bottom and the liquid becomes clear.

Mixtures prepared by any of the methods must be infused in the refrigerator from several hours to several days. The infusion time depends on the intensity of the aromatic ingredients and how intense the aroma you want to achieve.

How to store?

Homemade flavored oil or vinegar is best stored in a cool, dark place.

Infusions prepared using the first and third methods are stored for quite a long time - up to six months.

Oil and vinegar infused with the second method have a much shorter shelf life - they are best used within a few weeks after preparation.

Has been stored for a long time and has not spoiled, you need to familiarize yourself with the basic rules. Follow these guidelines to ensure that bacteria do not grow inside the bottle of your scented oil. If you don't follow the rules, you risk spoiling the product, getting poisoned, or contracting botulism.

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Basic rules for preparing flavored oils

1. Rinse all ingredients well and dry thoroughly. It is best to leave the herbs and spices to dry overnight. Bacteria do not grow in oil, but can grow in water left on the leaves and stems of herbs.
2. No matter what containers or bottles you use, wash, sanitize, and dry each one.
3. Once you make your flavored oil, store it in the refrigerator. The shelf life of this product is 30 days.
4. Do not use flavored oil for frying or deep-frying. Particles of herbs and spices will burn and give an unpleasant taste and smell to the dish.
5. Before using the oil, remove it from the refrigerator and let it sit for 20 minutes. Let it warm up to room temperature.
6. All recipes use extra virgin olive oil. It can be replaced with odorless sunflower oil.

1. Lemon oil

Ingredients

• 250 ml olive oil;
• zest of two lemons.

Preparation

Heat the oil over low heat. It shouldn't boil. Place the lemon zest in the pan and leave to heat for 20 minutes. Then turn off the heat. When the oil has cooled, pour into a bottle. It is not necessary to strain.

Usage

You can season salads and add to fish or poultry dishes.

2. Hot spice oil

Ingredients

• 250 ml olive oil;
• 2 tablespoons dry pepper flakes.

Preparation

Crush (with your hands or a spoon) the whole chiles. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the chili flakes to the pan and heat for another 5 minutes. When the oil has cooled, pour into a bottle. It is not necessary to strain.

Usage

Can be added to Asian dishes, pizza, meat dishes, and baked vegetables.

3. Basil oil

Ingredients

• 250 ml olive oil;
• 30–50 g of fresh green leaves.

Preparation

Place basil leaves in a blender, add oil, puree. Heat the mixture in a frying pan for 45 seconds. Pour the hot oil through a fine sieve into a container to remove any basil leaf particles. The oil should cool down. You will see a dark sediment at the bottom of the container. It consists of water and tiny remains of basil. When pouring oil into a bottle, try to ensure that the sediment remains in the container.

Usage

You can season Italian dishes.

4. Rosemary oil

Ingredients

• 250 ml olive oil;
• 3–6 sprigs of rosemary.

Preparation

Place rosemary in a frying pan and add oil. Heat for 5 minutes. When the oil has cooled, remove the rosemary sprigs and place them in a container (bottle). After this, pour the oil there.

Usage

Can be added to meat and fish dishes.

5. Garlic oil

Ingredients

• 250 ml olive oil;
• 1 large head of garlic;
• juice of half a lemon.

Preparation

Peel the garlic cloves, place in a bowl and cover with lemon juice. Stir and leave for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Arrange the cloves in a single layer in a baking dish. Don't throw out the lemon juice: it will come in handy later.

Pour all the olive oil over the garlic. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool. Using a spoon, transfer the cloves from the pan to a container. You can toss them with the remaining lemon juice and pure butter, refrigerate them, and then use the mixture in another dish. Pour the olive oil from the baking dish into a bottle.

Usage

A universal oil that is useful for any dish.

All recipes can be implemented in other ways. You don’t have to heat it up, but simply mix the oil and spices in a dark glass bottle. Then this oil should be infused for 12–14 days. But this cooking method is not suitable for garlic oil because it may spoil or become hazardous to health.

6. Flavored butter for fresh bread

This oil is delicious on its own and can be an indispensable part of breakfast. The combination of spices goes perfectly with fresh bread. That's why it's so nice to dip a slice of baguette into this flavored butter.

Ingredients

• 500 ml olive oil;
• 1 tablespoon dried basil;
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley;
• 1 teaspoon thyme;
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano;
• 1 teaspoon black pepper;
• ½ teaspoon dried, chopped rosemary.

Preparation

Heat the spices in a frying pan to intensify the flavor. Pour the heated spices into a bottle and fill with oil. This oil can be served immediately.

Usage

Serve the butter in small gravy boats with fresh bread for breakfast or as an appetizer with wine (along with a baguette). Before serving, you can add salt and finely chopped garlic. Goes well with grated hard cheese, olives and dried meat.

I bought olive oil with basil at a discount in a store in a spray bottle with a dispenser for easy adding to dishes. If it weren’t for the cheap price (3 times less than usual), I wouldn’t have taken it, because it’s very easy to make oil filling with it. I'll tell you how to make aromatic olive oil with basil - the simplest and most enriched recipe additional components.

How to make aromatic olive oil with basil: a simple recipe

You will need: Extra Virgin Olive Oil (first pressing) and a bunch of basil. To make it work, it is enough to keep the proportions: for 50 g of basil, ½ liter of base.

1. Basil is chopped coarsely or divided into sprigs and placed in a bottle;
2. olive oil is slightly heated and poured into a container with herbs;
3. the bottle is sealed and put away for 2 weeks in the pantry (or in the refrigerator, wrapped in paper to protect it from light).

After the end of the two-week period, basil oil is filtered if desired and used for dressing pasta and salads.

Enriched recipe to make basil flavored olive oil

For clarity, I have selected video material on how to make aromatic olive oil with basil - a recipe with garlic and peppercorns.

The cooking process is the same, but to enhance the taste, garlic, black peppercorns, capsicum and/or tomatoes are added in free proportions. This combination is delicious, looks aesthetically pleasing in the kitchen, and if you decorate the bottle, it will turn out to be original and healthy.

Get ready for the fact that you can use basil oil only after all the ingredients have given it their aroma, i.e. after 2-3 weeks of infusion. If you don’t have time, grind the ingredients in a blender and get a Russian version of the Italian Pesto sauce. Use it immediately and store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Extra Virgin oil has a rich aroma and greenish color. It is healthier than its pale yellow counterparts due to the higher percentage of vitamins and other elements.

Bottles and their future contents must be thoroughly washed and dried. To do this, use a hairdryer and blotting paper.

How to make aromatic olive oil with basil

Summer is the time for flowering and harvesting of herbs; they can be preserved in dry form, or you can prepare individual, home-made infused oils. In fact, you can make these wonderful oils any time of the year from dried herbs.

Infused (infused) oils - These are oil tinctures based on medicinal plants. During the infusion process, the cells containing the aromatic substance are destroyed and the plant goes into solution.

There are several ways, choose which one you like best:

Infused (infusion) oil from dried herbs .

• An easy way to make infused oil from dried herbs.

The dry parts of the plants are placed in a dark glass bottle, filling it approximately halfway, and filled to the top with warm vegetable oil of your choice.

It is a good practice to add 10% oil to the mixture for greater stability of the product. Close the bottle tightly with the lid to prevent air from getting inside and the oil from going rancid.

The oils are infused, if possible, in a warm place (you can periodically place it in the sun in the summer or soak it near a radiator) from two to three weeks to several months.

Shake the bottle periodically. Spent plant parts can be removed and replaced with fresh batches until the base oil reaches the required strength. Once the time has passed, filter the plant material and pour the resulting infusion into bottles.

• Cold method making infused oil from dried herbs .

1. Grind the dry plants as finely as possible.
2. Place the powder in a tightly sealed container and add carrier oil ( , etc.) The amount of oil should be sufficient to completely cover the plants.
3. Let the plants settle, then add more oil until the layer of oil above the plant mixture is about 0.6 cm thick. Some light plants will float at first. In this case, the bottom layer of oil should be approximately 0.6 cm.
4. Many dried plants absorb this 0.6 cm of oil. Check your mixture after 24 hours. If this happens, add more oil to cover the dry plants.
5. Close the container tightly.
6. Place it in a paper bag or box to protect from light, and place it in the sun for 7 or 10 days (or in a warm place) to infuse.
7. Every day, every two hours (or at least several times a day), shake or stir the mixture.
8. When the process is finished, strain the mixture, separating the oil from the plants, then squeeze out the remaining mass.
9. Let the infusion sit indoors for several days, then decant (carefully pour off without stirring up the sediment) the oil and filter the sediment.
10. Pour the oil into tightly sealed glass bottles, label and store in a cool, dark place.

making infused oil from dried herbs .

1. Grind the dry plants to a powder.
2. Add base oil in the following proportion: per one weight part of powder - 5 parts of oil (or other suitable ratio depending on the properties of the powder). In fact, for this method the quantitative ratio is not very important, since the properties of the resulting product do not depend on it.
3. Place in a water bath (you can use a yogurt maker, an electric meat fryer, or any other device that allows you to control the temperature around 36-38 C). Some people place the oil in the oven using a light bulb to control the heat, but this method is not advisable. Sometimes, instead of calmly simmering the oil mixture in the oven, spontaneous combustion of the oil occurs due to accidentally turning the oven heating knob to a higher temperature.
4. Mix the mixture well, place it in a thermostat (water bath) heated to 36-38 C and close the oil-herbal mixture with a lid.
5. This simmering process using low heat is called digestion. Ideally, you can continue the heating process for 10 days and nights at a temperature of approximately 36-38 C, stirring the mixture every two hours. Use a thermometer to monitor the temperature.
6. When the infusion process is complete, strain the mixture, separating the oil from the plant, then squeeze out the remaining mass. Do not filter warm or hot oil.
7. Let the oil sit for several days, then decant (carefully drain without raising the sediment) and filter.
8. Pour the oil into tightly sealed glass bottles, label and store in a cool, dark place.

Infused (infusion) oil from fresh plants.

• Cold method making infused oil from fresh plants

Since infusions of fresh herbs are in many cases better than their counterparts obtained from dried herbs, lotions, ointments and other types of medicines used externally and made from oils infused with fresh plants are preferable to preparations made using dried herbs. You can use oil as a base. But for cosmetic creams it is better to choose a less fatty oil, for example or.

Remember, infused oil from petals or flowers should not be heated.
1. Fill a sealable container with alternating layers of cotton wool and flowers. The thickness of each layer should not exceed 0.6 cm.
2. The layers should be light and loose, they should not be pressed down.
3. Fill the container with your chosen base oil.
4. Close and screw the lid tightly.
5. Leave the vessel in a cool, dark place for 1 month.
6. Remove the contents of the vessel, trying to maintain the alternation of layers of cotton wool and colors as much as possible.
7. Place them under a press, then squeeze out the oil slowly and firmly. Remove plants and cotton wool.
8. Filter the oil infusion, if necessary, remove impurities and dust.
9. Store the oil in a glass bottle.

• Hot simmer method making infused oil from fresh plants

1. Wither fresh plants for 12 hours (but do not dry them) or use fresh plants.
2. Finely chop or grind fresh or wilted plants into a soft mass. Place this mixture in a steam bath, yogurt maker or other thermostatically controlled device that will maintain a constant temperature of about 36-38°C.
3. Add enough fixed oil of your choice (or sweet almond oil is recommended) to form a thick mixture.
4. Mix well and smell the mixture (do an olfactory analysis of the quality of the aroma) and remember the smell.
5. Place the mixture in a thermostat heated to 36-38° C, and close the oil-herbal mixture with a lid. Sometimes I leave it uncovered for the first two days to allow the moisture to evaporate. Ideally, you can simmer the oil mixture for 10 days and nights at a temperature of approximately 36-38 ° C, stirring and sniffing it every two hours. Use a thermometer to monitor the temperature.
6. If fresh plants in oil begin to ferment (change their smell), this should serve as an alarm signal for you. Increase the temperature to 50-55°C, and then immediately lower it to 36-38°C and continue the infusion procedure. (Sharp heat usually reduces fermentation activity.)
7. Now we have a problem to deal with. The juices of fresh plants released water into the infusion. The presence of water in fatty oil favors the fermentation process, causing the oil to deteriorate faster, becoming rancid. To avoid this, all water should be removed before long-term storage.
8. So, your oil infusion should sit in a clean glass container for 4 or 5 days. The vessel must not be shaken during the settling process.
9. After decanting, it is recommended to carry out the settling procedure again. The oil should be allowed to stand for a few more days, after which the water collected at the bottom should be removed.
10. Pour the water-free oil into tightly sealed glass bottles, label and store in a cool, dark place.

Extract from fresh plants.

The method of obtaining is also described above. You can use any of the methods you like. Don't forget to grind the raw materials you use.
If the recipe specifies several types of vegetable oil, they must be mixed first.

*Tip - if the infused oil becomes cloudy.

If the finished product is successful cloudy, this means water has got into it, and in this form it cannot be stored for long.

You can use it directly or remove the water with table salt.

Pour the oil into a cup and add table salt to it at the rate of one teaspoon of salt per 100 ml of oil.

Let sit for ten minutes and then filter the oil. Repeat the process if necessary. The salt will absorb the water and the oil will clear up. After this, it can be stored for a long time.

Hello, dear friends.

Today I will again begin to reveal for you some kitchen secrets, because they are what make housewives’ kitchen dishes extraordinary. We all remember or write down wisdom from our mother or grandmother, read or seen. Today's post will tell you how to infuse olive oil with garlic. If you're a lover of Italian pasta, a drizzle over your pasta is a great addition to the dish. Or you can try it simply as a snack with large pieces of rye bread.

How to infuse olive oil with garlic

Nowadays, a modern kitchen contains a lot of equipment: from an electric meat grinder to a multicooker, but we still go to the store to buy something tasty. So we buy various salad dressings and sauces. But let's try to make a fantastic salad dressing oil at home.

Wash and dry the bottle completely.

3. Wash the prepared herbs carefully, dry thoroughly and start putting them in a bottle with olive oil. Spices can be lightly toasted and crushed in a mortar and pestle. This applies to peppercorns and garlic.

Please note! Not crushed into pulp, but slightly crushed.

4. Seal the bottle and let it sit in a cool, dark place for 1-2 weeks before using it. Before use oil P Strain into a separate container from solids. You can re-infuse the oils with the remaining spices.

Garlic flavored vegetable oil

If you don’t like a long cooking process, I suggest you prepare vegetable oil flavored with garlic.

For both recipes, you can use either olive oil or regular refined oil. The difference is one thing - olive oil is very beneficial for the body.

To prepare you will need: 1 glass of olive oil and 6-8 peeled cloves of garlic.

Preparation:

1. Place the garlic and olive oil in a small saucepan and bring everything to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook until garlic is lightly browned, about 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool.
4. Remove the garlic from the oil with a slotted spoon.
5. Pour the oil into a jar, a pretty decorative bottle, or an airtight container. The main thing is that the dishes are thoroughly washed and dried before use. Store the finished butter in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Here is a simple recipe for making olive oil infused with garlic.

Have a great harvesting season. Until next time.