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Rose and fennel seed oil

This is a rejuvenating oil blend to help us age beautifully.

The body loses its ability to convert dietary fats into gamma-linoleic-acid (GLA) with age and dietary oil blend containing significant levels of GLA may be helpful in age-related conditions resulting from GLA deficiency.

It can be useful for symptoms of menopause, and provides essential nutrition to recover from menstrual blood loss as well as helping to alleviate symptoms of pre-menstrual tension. Makes 200ml.

Ingredients

Base oil

• 40ml evening primrose oil
• 25ml borage oil
• 25ml hemp seed oil
• 10ml black seed oil

Flavouring

• 10g Dried thyme
• 5g Dried rose petals
• 5g Dried marigold flowers
• 5g  Crushed fennel seed
• 150ml sunflower oil

First prepare the flavouring by making a macerate with the dried herbs.

1 To do this weigh out all herbs and place them into the blender and pulse to crush some of the larger particles and bring the volume down. Put all the herbs and powders into a glass jar and cover with the sunflower oil.

2 Place the jar into the warm oven with temperature not above 40°C. You can use the residue of the heat after baking. Switch the oven off, wrap up the bottom of the glass jar into a cloth before placing it into the oven to stop the glass from cracking due to the exposure to hot metal shelf. Make sure the jar is open and leave until the oven is completely cold. This might have to be repeated once or twice for the best extraction. Close the jar lid and keep it in a warm place (airing cupboard) in between the visits to the oven. This can last a week or two, just don’t forget you have started it.

Next do the blending.

3 Place a muslin cloth in a colander over a bowl. Pour the macerated herbs into it and strain. Squeeze out at least 100ml of the flavoured oil out and  pour it into a sterlised  dark glass bottle and then add the base oils. Close the lid and shake to blend the oils. Label with the name of all ingredients and date it is made. Keep in a refrigerator and use within three weeks.

Take a tablespoon daily  – it can be drizzled on vegetables or salads if you prefer.

• Adapted from the book Neal’s Yard Remedies Healing Foods – Eat Your Way to a Healthier Life by Susan Curtis, Pat Thomas and Dragana Vilinac (Dorling Kindersley, £16.99) which features 175 healing foods and  130 delicious recipes have been specially designed to heal from within and are easy to incorporate into your everyday routine.