Your Homemade Peppermint Oil Remedy

Your Homemade Peppermint Oil Remedy

By Joseph Parish

Years ago, an acquaintance of ours had a little boy who had severe Psoriasis. He was infected from the top of his head to his toes. For those unfamiliar with this condition psoriasis is a chronic skin condition which is identified by red and often times scaly patches of skin. This little boy’s skin condition was so severe that the mother had to remove him from the local school because he had become the brunt of the other children's cruel jokes.

Knowing that I frequently dabbled in natural remedies the mother approached me and asked if there was anything that could be done about it. Since the doctors had stated that the child will have to endure the condition for the remainder of his life the distressed mother was on the verge of giving up. My recommended treatment was rather simple. It merely involved saturating the child with a peppermint oil extract. The instructions for creating this mixture were as follows.

Mix one drop of Peppermint oil together with five drops of vegetable oil. Shake the solution well and apply to the infected area. Be sure to keep the area moist at all times. Continue this treatment until the infected areas are cleared and follow that with one additional week of treatment. Stopping the therapy before it is complete may be grounds for the psoriasis to return. If the treatment is followed to conclusion the illness should not return. The complete process will take about six months.

For those who find it difficult to locate this oil, I have included instructions for making it. This oil is also an excellent remedy for a headache. Just put a dab or two on your temple and shortly after the headache should go away. This peppermint oil can also be used in your favorite cooking recipes as well.

We must first realize that all peppermint preparations start life from the plant's leaves and flowering tops. These plant products contain a volatile oil from which the active component is known as menthol. There are several forms from which peppermint may take. These include teas which are prepared from the peppermint plant's dry leaves. We also have the peppermint tincture which is an alcohol-based solution which contains 10 percent peppermint oil to 1 percent peppermint leaf extraction. A tincture is usually prepared by adding 1 part of the peppermint oil to 9 parts of alcohol. Creams and ointments usually contain anywhere from one to sixteen percent menthol.

The best time to begin your oil extraction from your peppermint plant is prior to it beginning to flower. Generally, extracts can be made from the entire visible plant, however, most people will use only the leaves for extracting the important oils.

Approach your mint plant and cut off a small selection of stalks. After harvesting your peppermint stalks, remove the mint leaves from them and carefully pack them into a measuring cup in order to determine how much of the peppermint you have. For example, suppose you harvest about 1/2 cup of peppermint. This is the perfect amount for making a pint container of oil.

Under cool water rinse off the mint leaves, squeezing the excess water from them with your hands. Remove any discolored or damaged leaves at this time. While you are doing this, you should be bruising the leaves prior to placing them in a clean glass pint jar. Some people will place the leaves into a Ziploc bag and lightly tap them with a mallet to release the oils and then placing the leaves and released oil into the alcohol. By bruising the leaves in this way, you aid them in releasing the valuable oil after being placed in the vodka.

Speaking of vodka, we will now add enough vodka to cover the peppermint leaves, making certain that the leaves are all submerge. Place the lid on the jar and permit it to properly seep for approximately one month. Shake the jar on a daily basis. Keep it in a cool, dark location as it ages. After a month, taste your extract and see if it has the desired intensity and flavor. If it meets your requirements than strain the liquid from the leaves and use it as you would the commercially purchased version. In the event that it is not strong enough allow it additional time to seep to your perfection.

There is an optional final phase that you can do if you so desire. Freeze the mixture, keeping in mind that the oil will freeze and separate from the vodka. The lower portion of the separation will be oil while the upper part will be the vodka. Siphon off the vodka and remove your oil at this time and place it into a dark glass jar. Keep it refrigerated. That is all there is to making your own peppermint oil extract.

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