Make Your Own Lemon Oil
It’s not difficult to make your own Lemon Oil. These simple recipes use the cold process method. Because this method does not use heat the enzymes and micronutrients are better preserved, but the Lemon oil you make will not be as strong as the distilled Lemon essential oil that you might purchase.
Recipe #1
Ingredients
- 1 lemon
- Cold-pressed olive oil
Directions
Grate the outside of the lemon over a bowl. Fill a small glass bottle halfway with the grated lemon zest. Fill the rest of the bottle with olive oil. Set the bottle on a windowsill or somewhere else that gets a lot of sun.
Leave it there for a few days, but shake the bottle a few times per day. Store lemon oil in an airtight container at room temperature.
Recipe #2
Ingredients
- Lemons
- Coconut Oil
Directions
Wash and dry lemons. Using a vegetable peeler, cut thin slivers of the yellow skin in long ribbons. (Or if you have a zester, use that!) Make sure not to peel off the bitter white pith, just the outside will do. Pack peels tightly in a jar, then pour in just enough coconut oil to cover.
Place in a sunny window for 1-2 weeks, shaking every day. Strain peels and pour oil into a jar. Store in a dark cabinet or the fridge.
Recipe #3
I prefer an olive oil infusion for salads, but because it’s so vulnerable to oxidation via sunlight I let mine “steep” longer in a dark cabinet to attains its distinct flavor. Like the cold process coconut oil version, this method preserves enzymes and micronutrients.
Ingredients
- Lemons
- Olive Oil
Directions
Wash and dry lemons. Using a vegetable peeler, cut thin slivers of the yellow skin in long ribbons. (Or if you have a zester, use that!) Make sure not to peel off the bitter white pith, just the outside will do. Pack peels snugly in a jar, then pour in just enough olive oil to cover. Seal tightly and place in a dark cabinet for 1-2 months, shaking every few days.
Strain peels and pour oil into a jar. Store in a dark cabinet or the fridge.
Sources:
Leave a Reply