Making Infused Oil With Juniper Berries - Part 2

Not long ago (ok, ages ago) I started to infuse some sweet almond oil with fresh organic juniper berries. After the obligatory 4-6 weeks of turning the bottles every day (and doing the occasional nose test to  ensure all was progressing in a proper manner), I pulled out my equipment to strain the oil, and then realized there was no cheesecloth.

The Cheesecloth Quest

One would think a dairy country like Denmark would be bursting with cheesecloth, wouldn't one? Apparantly not. After visits to several fabric stores, hobby stores, kitchen supplies stores – even supermarkets and cheese shops – I started phoning around to spare myself travel time.

Skip forward 2 weeks.

Welcome To Cheesecloth City - All Cheesecloth All the Time!

Yay! Finally a store that carried cheesecloth! My excitement over seeing an actual bolt of cheesecloth caused me to buy several meters of the stuff. (I can positively say there is no way am I going to run out of cheesecloth any time in the near future). After washing it (with soapnuts), I could finally get back to the juniper-infused oil.

Here's how it went:

Equipment list

- Oil that has been infusing for 4-6 weeks (You can do this with any number of dried herbs or spices)
- A funnel
- A beaker
- Latex gloves (incredibly desirable)
- Cheesecloth

Place the funnel over the jar/beaker and line it with cheesecloth. Strain the infused oil.

Give it ample time to drip through.

For this next part, it's a real good idea to put the gloves on. Collect the edges of the cheesecloth and squeeze to get the final amount of oil out.

Pour the strained oil into a clean container.

Label and date the container.

I'll bet you're wondering why I have 2 bottles here. I infused 2 different sweet almond oils and will be sharing what I used them for real soon!

PS: I was quite amazed that the oil wasn't all that 'juniper-scented' as I strained it. Next batch, I am going to try crushing the berries before straining to see if it makes a difference.

See the first post on infusing oil with juniper berries here