Spring is a wonderful time of year, especially after the cold, dark, and dreary weather of winter. I’m always so excited to see the first dandelions pop up, as that means that warmer weather is on its way and I can soon make homemade dandelion salve!
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Wildcrafting Weeds eBook
Before we get started with this dandelion salve recipe I want to let you know about my ebook!
Wildcrafting Weeds: 20 Easy to Forage Edible and Medicinal Plants (that might be growing in your backyard!) gives you foraging and identification tips along with full color photos and recipes for using your foraged weeds. Be sure to check it out!
Now for the dandelion salve recipe!
Dandelion Infused Oil
Foraging for dandelions isn’t difficult, as they are one of the most widespread and easy-to-identify “weeds” there is. There are so many wonderful things to do with dandelions, as every part of the herb is both edible and medicinal, even the root.
This salve is made using locally foraged dandelions and is the perfect spring project.
The first step in making dandelion salve is to make dandelion infused oil. After you collect your dandelion flowers, it’s best to dry them for a day or two to remove the excess moisture.
I like to do this on my homemade drying screens, but you could also lay them out on a clean towel.
Our neighbor’s yard was completely covered with dandelions, so we asked if we could pick some! If you do this, just make sure to ask first and confirm that they haven’t been sprayed with anything toxic.
After your dandelions have dried a bit, put them into a jar and cover them with oil.
The size of the jar depends on how much oil you want to make.
A pint jar should yield about a cup of oil after straining, which is the amount you will need for this recipe. I wanted more oil than that, and I had a ton of dandelions, so I used quart sized jars.
The kind of carrier oil that you use is up to you.
I prefer to use a blend of equal parts olive, coconut, and sweet almond as carrier oils when making my dandelion infused oil, as they are all nourishing for the skin in different ways. If you use coconut oil, it’s helpful to melt it first.
Let your dandelion oil sit in a dark place for a week or two, but not too much longer than that as it can spoil pretty quickly.
Strain out the flowers using a cheesecloth so that you can really squeeze all of the dandelion goodness out. You will end up with a lovely golden oil!
Dandelion Salve Recipe
Making this dandelion salve is easy once you have your dandelion infused oil made. First, you will need to warm the oil in a double boiler.
You can create a makeshift double boiler by putting a small bowl or a glass Pyrex measuring cup over a pot with about an inch of simmering water.
Put the dandelion oil and beeswax into the small bowl or glass measuring cup, and heat until the beeswax completely dissolves into the oil, stirring occasionally.
Add the shea butter and stir until it dissolves, then stir in the optional essential oils.
Carefully pour the mixture into small jars or tins and let sit until the salve sets up completely.
This recipe makes about 12 ounces of salve total, or six 2 ounce tins.
How to Use Dandelion Salve
Dandelion flowers have pain relieving and anti-inflammatory properties, so this salve is good for all kinds of aches and pains. It is particularly good for sore and tired muscles and joints.
Dandelion salve is also soothing and moisturizing for dry, cracked, and itchy skin. It would also work well as a lip balm for chapped lips.
I really love how this dandelion salve turned out! It smells wonderful and is perfect on my dry hands and feet. It’s really quite easy to make, too.
Dandelions are such an amazing plant, it’s too bad that they are so often thought of as a weed! What is your favorite way to use dandelions in the springtime?
Want more herbal salve recipes? Here are 10 for you to include in your natural skin care routine!
More uses for Foraged Dandelion
Did you know there are over 50 ways to enjoy this amazingly versatile backyard “weed”? Among them are:
- Dandelion Root Muffins
- Dandelion Tea
- Dandelion Jelly
- Dandelion Cupcakes
- Dandelion Lotion Bars
- Dandelion Mead
- Roasted Dandelion Root Coffee
- Dandelion Pesto
- Dandelion Kombucha
- Dandelion Soap
- Dandelion Vinegar
Dandelion Salve
Ingredients
Dandelion Herbal Oil
- 1 cup dandelion flowers wilted for a day or so
- 1 ½ cups carrier oil approximately; I like to use a blend of equal parts extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, and sweet almond oil.
Dandelion Salve
- 1 cup dandelion infused oil
- 1 ounce beeswax
- 1 ounce refined shea butter
- 12-24 drops essential oils of your choice lavender and sweet orange work well (optional)
Instructions
Dandelion Infused Oil
- Put the wilted dandelion flowers into a pint sized jar and cover them with the carrier oil of your choice. If you use coconut oil, it's helpful to melt it first.
- Let your dandelion oil sit in a dark place for a week or two, but not too much longer than that as it can spoil pretty quickly.
- Strain out the flowers using a fine mesh sieve and a cheesecloth so that you can really squeeze all of the dandelion goodness out.
Dandelion Salve
- Create a makeshift double boiler by putting a small bowl or a glass Pyrex measuring cup over a pot with about an inch of simmering water.
- Put the dandelion oil and beeswax into the small bowl or Pyrex, and heat until the beeswax completely dissolves into the oil, stirring occasionally.
- Add the shea butter and stir until it completely dissolves.
- Stir in the essential oils.
- Carefully pour the mixture into small jars or tins and let sit until the salve sets up completely.
Notes
I love adding plenty of dandelion greens to my wild greens that I eat.
Hello. How long do these salves/store? If I make them in spring can I use them as Christmas presents? And how do you store for that long?
I’m also wondering about shelf life….?
As long as the dandelion oil is used in a timely manner, the salve will keep for a year or more!
Dandelion jelly. Yum. Tastes like honey.
Great information…I want to make salve too….I live in sc near the coast so I just put on long pants lol…..it’s been seventy-eighty degrees…..out whole growing season is confused…..we have wisteria,wild honeysuckle and our Bradford pear trees and Tulp trees blooming….its been just crazy…also have lots of dandelions popping up .can I harvest them now
Hi I was wondering if there was a way to not add beeswax and change it to something else samewith coconut oil/butter in any slaves, my mother who would be using them along with me are allergic to both any suggestions?
the beeswax stiffens things up, any oil will work, I use sunflower
You can get olive wax that works in the same way as beeswax.
You can substitute the beeswax with either candelilla or carnauba wax, but they are harder waxes so I don’t think you need to use as much (I’ve never used them myself so I can’t give you an accurate guideline). For the coconut oil, just substitute any other oil you prefer!
Is the spring time the only time to pick dandelions for this kind of salve, or is it possible to do in july also? And also… what is the difference between a true dandelion and a false dandelion?
For the Shea butter and bees wax, is the I ce by weight or volume?
Hi Jennifer, it’s by weight!
I too am wondering if a cold rinse of dandelion heads would be ok? Our lawn is so sandy, they feel gritty. Also, and lots of ants! I put one batch in oil this morning after drying a few hours in dehydrator.
I don’t do a rinse, but you could try it as long as you pat them completely dry afterwards.
Do you use fractionated CO? How do you keep it liquid while infusing to make oil? Or do the other oils prevent it from solidifying at room temperature?
I don’t use fractionated coconut oil. I warm it first to melt it, and when it’s combined with the other oils it doesn’t solidify much.
Do you rinse the dandelions before drying?
I don’t because I use from a yard that I know is not sprayed.
I like to pick and eat the dandelion greens raw in a salad, or sautéed with other veggies. I also like to turn the flowers into fritters by dipping them into a pancake batter, then frying them up, and eating them with maple syrup (made by my neighbour from the trees around us!). Thanks for the salve “recipe”, I’ll be trying it soon!
What about the small ants that are in the flowers when picked? Will they just die off, and I shouldn’t worry about them? Or do I need to rinse the flowers before drying with a garden hose?
I love dandelions! I use them to make jelly and hand lotion bars. I am going to try your salve recipe and I recently saw a recipe for dandelion bread.
How big are your containers how many oz do they hold
I just ordered all the stuff from etsy along with 5gm tubes of empty chapstick tubes and small round containers, can you use this as a lipbalm and where else is it safe for use? I ordered the small containers and lipbalm holder to make it easily portable
You can use it as a lip balm, but I would double the amount of beeswax for that purpose, especially if you will be putting it into tubes.
Hi! This year I decided to stop our lawn service that sprayed our yard with chemicals. Do you think the dandelions that grow this year would be toxic as the last application would have been less than a year ago? Or should I wait another year before I harvest any? LOVE this recipe and will find a way to try it! Thank you!
Hi Danielle, I would wait another year. Those chemicals are still in the ground, and dandelions are perennial so their taproots probably still have some of the chemicals in them. Great that you stopped that service, though!
Can I substitute Beeswax with Emulsifying Wax?
I would investigate emulsifying wax better. Its not a natural alternative.
Is there an alternative to beeswax for this please?
You can try using either carnauba wax or candelilla wax, but from what I understand they are harder waxes than beeswax so you don’t need to use as much. I’ve never used them, so I can’t really give you an exact amount, though.
Where we do you buy your beeswax ?
I get it from Mountain Rose Herbs.
I’m wondering if I could substitute the coconut oil and still have a successful result?
Yes, any carrier oils will work just fine :)
What was the quantity of flowers you used in your recipe? I couldn’t find where you mentioned that part. Looks like you only said to cover them with oil. When you cover them, how far above the flowers did you go? Thanks.
What would the salve be used for?
Does it matter what species of dandelion I use? here in Washington state it is the middle of summer we now have several what they call false dandelions can those work or should they be the new fresh spring dandelions? Thank you
True dandelions are what you want for this salve. False dandelions do still have some benefit to them, but not nearly as much as true.
same recipe for canabutter?? actually if I use cana w/coconut oil. Love the salve,
working pretty good for my waking hours!!!
Can the dandelions be used if they have already lost the yellow flower & have the puffy flower on the end? The roots & greenery are very healthy. Thanks for all the info!
I don’t think that I would use them in this application.
Please tell me what is the application for this salve?
Is there an alternative to shea butter I could use? I’d love to make this for use in our ceramics studio!
Yes, you can use cocoa butter or mango butter. Or you can even just omit it all together, but I find that it really makes it have a richer and creamier feel.
Can I dry the dandelions in my dehydrator?
Yes, you could try that. I do know that sometimes they will turn into puffballs when dried, but I’ve never tried drying them in a dehydrator, so I’m not sure how they would turn out.
Dandelion blossoms are best dried by air
Yes you can, I Always have without any issues. In fact they will never rot bc they get completely dry.
How long does a tin of this salve last before it spoils? Can you freeze the oil mixture for use later on in the year?
It should last a good long while, months if not even a year, as long as your oil didn’t go rancid before making the salve. Freezing the strained dandelion oil might work, but I can’t say for sure as I’ve never tried it.
How do you keep your Shea butter from crystalizing?
This is why I add it at the very end, after all the beeswax has melted. I have never had a problem with it crystalizing using this method.
When I dry my dandelion flowers they always turn to puffballs overnight. How do you get yours to stay yellow?
I know this can be a problem, which is why I say to only dry them for a night or two, instead of drying them completely. I picked them when they were totally yellow, with no signs of puffs, then dried them on a drying screen for two nights. None of them turned to puffballs.
The trick is to ONLY pick dandelions that have a bullseye in the middle. https://jpibiodynamics.org/preparation-info/dandelions-picking-drying/
YES!! Leeanne!!! Way to reference some bd growing!!!! NICE!!!! My heart went a’ pitty-pat seeing all those dandies drying. How does one sacrifice any dandelions at all when there’s preps to be made! hahaha