I drink red chai tea every morning. I never really gave it's ingredients much thought until my 8 year old came home from cooking camp with a recipe for homemade chai. As we were crushing cardamom pods and counting clove buds to add to our pot I thought to myself, "hmmm, this would smell really good as an oil..."
And so struck by inspiration I ran to my supply cabinet and found a gallon of raw, virgin, organic coconut oil- the kind that smells like the tropics, like vacation, like your favorite fancy drinks (pina coladas), like, well, like my kind of heaven.

I added whole cloves, ginger, cinnamon, vanilla beans, nutmeg, cardamom, and black peppercorns!

It's been brewing on my stove now for almost 3 weeks. It smells like no other smell I know. I can't explain it, but it smells sweet. How can something smell sweet? I have no idea, but I'm having those fantasies again about soaking in a huge person sized tub of it!

I'll let you know when it's ready!

You've got to watch this.....
Thank you Annie Leonard and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics!

 

 I am generally a patient person. I will wait in long lines for something really good (like the fried chicken sandwich at Bakesale Bettys) with out complaint. But it was really really hard to wait a month for these herbal infused coconut oils to be ready! In the first week I dutifully shook them daily and opened each one to check for rancidity by smelling them. Happily, none of the oils went rancid and each one began to develop it’s own scent personality, it’s own “body of flavor” if you will. Within those first few wiffs I could tell that this one, the lavender/vanilla bean was something special. In fact, I couldn’t stop stealing little smells of it ever so often just because I loved it so much. I wondered what would happen when I put it on my skin…, would the smell change? Would I still like it? Would I still fantasize about jumping into a person sized tub of it and soaking for hours like it was some kind of exotic spa treatment? I would have to wait to find out. And I did. I dutifully checked off the weeks until it was time to strain the herbal sediment out and make them ready for use. I was surprised to find that I couldn’t strain all the vanilla bean particles out of the oil. Once the oil was jarred (available in 2 oz glass jars, and extremely limited edition- really, I’ve got like 10 of these gems…), I noticed a beautiful brown layer on the bottom of pure vanilla beans.

The moment of truth had arrived; did it smell as good as I thought it would? I dipped my fingers into my own jar and warmed it in my palms, spreading it evenly on both arms, elbows and hands. I brought my arms to my nose, inhaled deeply and closed my eyes. I stayed that way for a while, eyes closed, big gulpy breaths, letting the smell seep into my pores, seep into my mind…., so long in fact that my 8 year old entered the kitchen and said,

“Mom, what are you doing?”

“Smell this”, I replied shoving my arm under her nose.

“Ummmmm, this smells good, can I have some?” she replied. I hesitated a moment…, because suddenly, I felt very protective of “my” special oil and did not want to share at all. But being a role model and all, I let that go and watched her dip her little fingers in the pot, smear her own arm and walk away with her nose glued to the crook of her elbow just like me.

It smells amazing. It is warm, and happy, and sensual and yummy and clean smelling. It lingers on the skin ever so slightly and not to mention the coconut oil makes my skin feel amazingly silky and soft

I am glad that I waited the month for this amazing oil to brew. I hope that I don’t use it all before the next batch is done!