Preserving oils.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.herbs
Subject: Preserving Herbal Products
From: Tony.halmarax.demon.co.uk (Tony Halmarack)
Date: Sun, 03 Sep 1995 16:24:00 +0100

Recently I've been macerating comfrey leaves in vegetable oil to treat cracked skin on feet. This herb/oil seems to have a tendency to "go off" after a week or so. To overcome this I purchased some Gum Benzion to add to the oil as a preservative. I tried just grinding the gum to a powder and adding it to the oil but it seems to resist being dissolved by the oil. I since read that the gum needs to be dissolved in alcohol to make a tincture, before being added to the mixture.

Could anyone please tell me the ratio of Gum Benzoin/alcohol to produce a "standard" tincture?

Also what is the optimum quantity of this tincture per pint of oil for preservative purposes?

From: moreta.prostar.com (Moreta)

When you say the oil tends to go over are you talking about it going rancid or something else?

I have found that using Vitamin E is probably the best single item to add to a vegetable oil base to prevent it from going rancid. If you want to use benzoin try to find benzoin absolute resin, its already in liquid form. As far as the amount of benzoin to use, I would start with 5 drops per ounce. The vitamin E I tend to indulge with, so I personally add 1/4 tsp per 4 oz container of oil.

From: Graham Sorenson <graham.fragrant.demon.co.uk>

> I have found that using Vitamin E is probably the best single item to add to a vegetable oil base
I would say that wheatgerm oil is the standard used in the industry for assisting in keeping blends from becoming rancid. Also NEVER store blends in plastic bottle other than for immediate use.