Horse Chestnut Salve

Recipe for Horse Chestnut Salve 

Add half of the horse chestnut bark into the top half of a double boiler saucepan and cover with sunflower oil.  Replace the lid firmly and place inside the other saucepan (which should be about half filled with water). Heat the external saucepan so that the water gently boils. Do not let the pan boil dry. Boil for 2 hours, then remove the inner pan and strain off the oil, squeezing the horse chestnut (to remove as much oil as possible).

Place the rest of the horse chestnut inside the inner pan and pour over the oil from the first infusion. Replace the lid firmly and heat the oil in the outer pan for a further two hours. Strain the oil into a heated, sterile glass bottle or jar and cap with a screw top lid. If using fresh as opposed to dried horse chestnut, let the infused oil sit for about three days to make sure any water content separates out. Decant oil. If water drops are left in the infused oil it will go off more quickly. Label the oil with the name and date that you made it.

To create the salve (which is easier to rub into the skin) grate some beeswax into the hot infused oil until it melts. Use about 1oz of beeswax to 8 fl oz of oil. Test the consistency by dropping a few drops of oil and dissolved wax into a cup of cold water. It will solidify instantly and you can tell if it is thick enough by rubbing it between your fingers. Pour into small jars and seal. The salve should thicken on cooling and will change from a dark green to a light green.