Jadryga Posted June 22, 2007 Share Posted June 22, 2007 I just tried infusing some chamomile in rice bran oil in the double boiler method, but somehow it smells like... some freshly baked bread-like pastry. Is it safe to assume I've burnt my herbs, and it's time to start again, or is this normal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blazerina Posted June 25, 2007 Share Posted June 25, 2007 Hi Jadryga! I can't answer to if you may have burned your herbs or not- sorry. I can only say that in my limited experience oil infusions don't generally seem to pick up much if any scent from dried botanicals. I'm not sure if that's what you were going for or not, or if you were just worried that you might have ruined the properties by overheating. I THINK it's possible to use fresh botanicals (with an increase in mold activity) and that would probably give you more scent, but it will never be much like an essential oil. Some herbs of course are stronger scented than others and in the infusion it's self you might get lucky to have some of that in the final infusion. But I still don't think it would last once added to most end products. I have never done straight Chamomile, but I've done that along with Calendula and it smelled lovely- BUT then I remembered that I had fragranced the oil just a tad when I first put it all together, lol. I even posted about what a nice fragrance it was and what should I call it, lol:embarasse I had added dried peppermint half way through and that did give it some extra herbal-y scent, as well as the Calendula is always a stronger scent... but i'm not sure about chamomile. Or RBO for that matter. It may have it's own scent or way of reacting to the herbs or being heated. Robin recently posted in another thread about RBO, you may have seen it. Can't think of the thread title right now, but If not, look around for it. She always has good info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cellydaniel Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 I just did a chamomile infusion lately but I mixed it with some calendula petals as well. The oil smells close to the dried chamomile. It took me about 4 or 5 hours using very low heat in a double boiler. I turn off the heat sometimes so the herbs won't get cook. After the process, the herbs were crunchy. But from what I read, that's normal.Maybe you can try infusing using a different process and compare the two results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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