Win Some, Lose Some

Sometimes homemade doesn't always work out perfectly.  Take, for example, a recent foray into crafting essential oil.  As summer waned into fall I still had an overflowing herb bed.  What to do with all of that basil?  After drying more than I could possibly use, I thought about making essential oil for use as fragrance in a future soapmaking endeavor.  So, I have lots of fresh basil and I have sunflower oil and I have YouTube - what more do I need?

Step 1:

Gather basil leaves and wash under cool water.  Put a handful of your basil into a clean glass jar. Crush them to release the flavor of the essential oils.  

Step 2:

Pour sunflower oil (400 ml) into the jar until the leaves or flowers are completely covered. Put a well-fitting top on the jar and let it stand in a warm (but not sunny) place.

Step 3:

After a week, strain off the herbs and then repeat the process of infusion with a fresh handful of your herbs (but using the same oil).  Do this as many times as necessary until you have a jar of strongly flavored aromatic oil.

Everything was going quite well until Step 3.  Instead of waiting one week, I waited three weeks - figuring that the oil would just be stronger and better.  The time came; I was ready to take nice big whiff of the lovely and calming oil I planned to use in my soap.  The fact that the lid blew off the jar lid with force when I loosened it should have been my first clue that something was amiss.  The minor lid explosion also resulted in a liberal spraying of oil all over me, the counters, the floors etc.  About one second after the spray, it hits me. The stench of death.  Death in a jar and it's all over me.  

Needless to say, I ignored some critical parts of the directions in oil making.  When making essential oil, all vegetation must be completely submerged or it will go rancid.  I had left a few bits of basil at the top not totally immersed.  And rancid is the nice word for what was now coating me and a three foot radius of me.  Learn from my mistake and follow the directions!

So, essential oil fail.  There is a life lesson here, I'm sure.  Perseverance, diligence, something.  And of course, READ and FOLLOW the directions!  Next time I'm in town I will buy real basil oil.  While I'm there I might just pick up a few bars of soap.