Pine resin oil and balm

First catch your rabbit by sprinkling salt on its tail, gathering it from a tree or from the interwebs.

Oil will dissolve the sticky and resinous gum, making a strongly pine-scented maceration which can then be blended with other ingredients as usual to make various creams and potions.

Macerated pine pitch (pine resin, pine gum) oil

To make my pine maceration, I chose grapeseed oil as a reasonably neutral, nut-free oil that I could buy at the supermarket without spending a fortune. It's light and easily absorbed, and therefore in common use in cosmetics or on the skin. Also full of anti-oxidants. I put about twice as much oil as pitch - I guess I could have weighed it, but I didn't think exact proportions would make much difference in this instance.

Pine balm

Pine balm is great for treating small insults to the skin, such as splinters, cuts, rashes, chafing, pimples, or minor burns. It also has some mild insect repellent properties and is useful for dry skin, as a light duty barrier cream, and for preventing chafing. If it will be used on broken skin, mucous membranes, or in or near the mouth, ensure you use a food-safe species of pine (piñon, not ponderosa, for example.)

For a stronger scented balm, use all pine pitch oil. For a milder one, cut it with unmacerated oil. I added vitamin E oil to make it extra long-lived. Beeswax helps it hold its shape as a balm rather than an oil or cream. So would cocoa butter or shea butter, but I prefer to use unrefined oils and I don't like the smell of those unrefined. Coconut oil melts as you put it on your skin, which makes the balm harder to handle.

This recipe needs weighing and not just measuring if you want to get the texture right first time. Conversely, it may need experimentation to find exactly the texture you want for your climate. The below is 1 part wax to 6 parts oil. This made a paste that held its shape well when the temperature was in the 70s to 80s Fahrenheit /20s Celsius. When you first touch the surface with your finger you might think it's too firm, but persist, poke your finger right in, and it should be about right.

Melting beeswax:
I had the oven on low and used a metal bowl. You could use a double-boiler instead, or possibly a crock pot on high with a water bath. Don't melt wax directly over a flame unless you are fully braced for a spontaneous candle effect (a wax fire).

Ingredients

30 g beeswax
15 g vitamin E oil
165 g pine pitch oil

Method

In a heatproof container, carefully melt the beeswax until just liquid. Add the oil little by little, stirring well. It should stay very liquid - if it does not, you may need to reheat it a bit. Keep the temperature as low as you can to conserve the quality of the oil and the pine aromatics.

Pour into containers and let set undisturbed. The setting time will depend on the room temperature and the size of the containers, but it should be firm in less than an hour unless the room is very hot.

Makes 200 ml.