Fields and Forest Project – Making a Simple Cold Cream
This recipe makes 250g cream. This will fill 5 x 50 ml size pots.
(A useful measurement to know is that 1 medicine sized teaspoon is about 5 ml.)
INGREDIENTS (Click for a list of suppliers)
1 25 ml Emulsifier Aromantic cold emulsifier
2 75 ml Vegetable oil Sunflower, Sweet almond, Apricot, etc. On own or mixed.
3 125 ml Gel / Thickener Xanthan gum gel or Gelatine powder
4 25 ml Flower water Rose water, lavender water, witch hazel, or spring water.
1/2 tsp Vitamin E oil Sometimes called Tocepherol or Wheatgerm oil
Drops Essential oils Add these to fragrance just a few drops at a time
DIRECTIONS
Step 1. Making the gel
First make your gel in advance. You can use xanthan gum, cellulose, gelatine or even pure aloe vera gel. Xanthan gum powder is used at about 1.5% of the volume of water – this is roughly 1 level (flat) teaspoon per 100 ml. For the recipe above, sprinkle 2 level teaspoons of xanthan gum powder onto 200 ml of warm boiled water. Sprinkle onto the water very slowly, whisking and mixing in all the time to avoid any lumps. Cover and put aside for later.
Step 2. Making the cream
1. Measure out the first 4 ingredients into separate jugs or jars.
2. Add Ingredient 1 – the emulsifier – into a mixing bowl.
3. Add Ingredient 2 – the vegetable oil(s) – and beat it into the emulsifier.
Use a metal or wooden spoon (not a whisk) to avoid air bubbles.
4. Add Ingredient 3 – the gel – and beat firmly into the mixture.
5. Add Ingredient 4 – the flower water – and beat firmly into the mixture.
6. Beat until you are happy with the texture and thickness. You might want to add double the water to make a thinner cream. Experiment until you are happy 🙂
7. Stir in your Vitamin E oil and your essential oil(s)
8. Spoon into a jar and put on the lid.
USES AND IDEAS
Keep in the fridge as there is no preservative in this cream. Otherwise it will go mouldy after a week.
If you add more water, your cream will turn into a lotion. Do this slowly so you don’t ‘break’ the mixture.
You can also make the gel using flower water instead of plain water if you want a stronger scent and flower action. See here for more instructions.
You can also infuse your oil with flower petals. Put flower petals in a clean jam jar, cover with oil. Leave on a sunny windowsill for 3-4 weeks. Strain and use. See here for more instructions.