Coffee Glycerite

Here is a peek at a batch of coffee glycerite - inspired by a lovely client. I have been making several batches and trying out some different infusion methods to see how much I can maximize the result.

Since a lot of the components of coffee are oil soluble, infusing the beans into a water-soluble ingredient such as glycerine can be more or less successful. I am zeroing in on a few additional steps/methods and expect to be able to share the information in a coming project.

Meantime, I can reveal that this smells absolutely divine and makes me want to bake and eat ice cream all at the same time.

You Can Too

Want to make your own glycerites and use them in a series of self-preserving cleansers? There’s a bundle offer in the shop that has you covered! Click the picture below for more information

Self Preserving BUNDLE

How to Make a Self Preserving Cranberry Glycerite

The other day, we looked at cranberries and what they have to offer. Today, we're going to get busy with them and make a self-preserving cranberry glycerite.

Pictured above is the beginning of the glycerite on the left, and a splash of the end product on the right (I sneaky put 2 pictures together to show you everything in one picture)

My fab formulating friend Marie of Humblebee & Me I are both in the holiday spirit with cranberries this year, so we decided to get together and discuss cranberries, glycerites and formulating.

If you want to see and hear us chatting about how to make this cranberry glycerite, pop over to Humblebee & Me’s YouTube channel right here.

Meantime, here's the how-to I did for Marie to make and use in a few of her cranberry-themed formulations.

This batch size is for 200 gr / 7 oz in total and is calculated for fresh or frozen cranberries. (Please note that raw materials vary in water content, so if you want to substitute the cranberries with another fruit/vegetable/herb, choose a raw material that has a similar water content)

Expect some product loss during straining - especially if you don't have any special straining equipment.

Cranberry Glycerite Ingredients

• 44 g / 1.6 oz Fresh (or frozen) cranberries

• 156 g / 5.4 oz Glycerine (Cosmetic or pharmaceutical grade)

Method

1. Clean and sanitise your workspace, tools and equipment, and wear protective gloves. (I wrote a guide on Good Manufacturing Practice for Artisans if you are unsure of how to go about this)

2. Inspect the cranberries carefully. Discard any berries that are damaged or less than perfect.

3. If using fresh cranberries, rinse in distilled/demineralised water and allow to dry on a clean towel

4. Chop or crush the cranberries

5. Weigh cranberries and add to a sanitised jar

6. Add glycerine to the specified weight

7. Cap the jar and allow to stand at room temperature away from sunlight.

8. Agitate the jar daily.

9. After 5-10 days, strain (see photo below)

10. Label and date the bottles. Store them cool and dark (a refrigerator is ideal).

2-Step Glycerite Straining Tip

Here’s a photo of the straining process of this batch where I used a single layer of cheesecloth/muslin and allowed gravity to do its work all by itself for the first step.

When it stopped dripping through the cloth (after about half an hour), the liquid was decanted to a sanitised bottle.

I then gathered up the edges of the cloth (with gloves on!) and squeezed out as much liquid as I could. The liquid was bottled in a separate sanitised bottle and labelled.

Why 2 steps?

For some products (think skin tonic, gel or other clear cosmetics), it can be an advantage to be able to add a clear ingredient. For products where opacity may not matter as much (think lotions, creams, emulsified serums) , it’s fine to use the ‘squeezed’ glycerite.

Above is a peek at what an ‘unsqueezed’ vs a ‘‘squeezed’ glycerite looks like. The glycerite on the right was allowed to drip through the straining cloth at its own speed and is clear. I placed a sprig of lavender behind the bottles to demonstrate the difference in opacity. (These 2 bottles are not from this batch but from another batch using fresh cherries).

That popping red color is a bit of eye candy if you ask me.

Want to see what Marie used her glycerite in? Learn how to make her frosted cranberry face cream right here.

Glycerite Shelf Life

Stored cool and dark, your glycerite can last up to 2 years, but if you want to use it in a cosmetic, I recommend using it (well) within 6 months of making.

Are You New to Glycerites?

This post goes into a bit of detail about glycerine/glycerol and its many properties and uses. You’ll also find links to more glycerite-making how-to’s.

The e-book below can show you how to compose and make your own glycerine extracts using almost any kind of raw material. Included are calculation charts for glycerites with preservative and for self preserving glycerites. There are also 6 formulations included that feature handcrafted glycerites. Click the picture to read more.

The Art of Making Glycerites for Cosmetics

LisaLise Newsletter

Sign up for the LisaLise Newsletter to stay in the loop about ingredients and processes. You’ll also get formulating tips & tricks, free formulas and how-to’s and loads of natural cosmetic inspiration.

Cranberry Glycerite Sneak Peek

When Marie of Humblebee & Me asked me if I would help her make her very first glycerite, there wasn’t a moments hesitation on my part.

Pictured above: the beginning of a glycerite that we are going to be making here in a moment.

But in the meantime, I wanted to share this link to Marie’s video where we chat about glycerites and I give her a few tips and tricks for a successful result.

Click here for a sneak preview of the self-preserving cranberry glycerite we’ll be making here on the blog.

The Art of Making Glycerites for Cosmetics

Fresh Food Glycerites for Cosmetics

A simple question from a reader started my work with fresh food glycerites several years ago. "Why can’t we formulate with fresh food?" (read the article here)

Although it is technically possible to preserve and use some fresh foods in cosmetics (links below), it is generally neither viable nor practical.

Enter glycerites!

Glycerites are extracts made using glycerine as the main solvent.

Herbal Glycerites Have History, Fresh Food Glycerites Not so Much

Traditionally, glycerites have been made by adding fresh (or dried) plant material to glycerine, letting the mixture infuse for a period of time, then straining the contents and bottling the liquid.

Herbs of all types have been used to produce medicinal glycerites for numerous years: lavender, lemon balm, rose, calendula - the list goes on. While many medicinal herbs are also excellent ingredients for skincare and cosmetics, medicinal glycerites are made with consumption in mind - not topical application.

When I started making fresh food glycerites, my interest was solely for topical use.

So I started researching, but there didn't seem to be any history or documentation on making glycerine extracts with fresh food (let alone for topical use) that I was able to find.

I ended up having to carve out my own path to figure out what worked and what didn't.

It has been a fascinating journey and I am (still) hopelessly addicted to making and using glycerites in cosmetics. It has become such an integrated part of my formulating, I am no longer able to visit any fruit or vegetable section of a supermarket (or any market) without considering a glycerine extract.

My trials, testing, and experiences resulted in a book that was published in 2018: The Art of Making Glycerites for Cosmetics. (see more below)

Glycerine's Power

Fresh food glycerites bring a plethora of additional possibilities to cosmetics. Not only are they powerful and effective, but they are also quite versatile ingredients.

Producing stable, stunning glycerine extracts for cosmetics using fresh fruits and vegetables is fun and easier than you might imagine.

There's an additional advantage to using glycerine as a solvent: it has a unique ability to not only capture, but retain the scent (and often colour) of foods (and herbs) – even those with delicate and otherwise hard-to capture fragrances.

Once you've experienced that extra dimension of natural freshness from a handcrafted strawberry or cucumber glycerite in your skin tonic, cleanser or lotion, I'm betting you'll be hooked too.

Another bonus: it's not even the priciest 'addiction' you could have.

A Glycerine Myth – Busted

In skincare, glycerine functions as a humectant – drawing moisture to the skin. Glycerine is traditionally added at around 5 - 10% of a formula - depending on the product.

It is a myth that glycerine can draw moisture FROM the skin and cause dryness if used at higher percentages.

Glycerine isn’t drying to the skin.

In a humid environment, glycerine will ‘draw’ moisture from the air. But much of the time, glycerin ‘takes’ moisture from the deeper layers of your skin and redistributes it to the surface layers. (REF)

Glycerine functions by ‘spreading around’ the moisture that is there.

About 20% of water present in the body is accumulated in the skin, with about 60–70% of that accumulated in the dermis, so if you have very dry skin to begin with then it’s not advised to use glycerine neat (which isn't very pleasant anyway because it’s quite tacky and doesn't feel at all nice when used neat).

Even though glycerine is generally added at lower percentages (5-10%) of most formulas, I've also experimented with that a bit and have discovered a world of new possibilities. Glycerites can successfully be used at rather high percentages in numerous different types of products. This book is full of formulas rich in glycerites.

Here's a link to a free formula for a face cream I developed with a fresh raspberry glycerite that contains a whopping 30% without feeling the least bit tacky.

If you decide to make it, I'd love to hear your feedback!

Glycerine's Preserving Power

Usage rate is everything when it comes to glycerine – because it has another really cool and useful ability: it can function as a preservative or aid to a preservative.

Since glycerine can function as a preservative all by itself, one would think it completely unnecessary to add a preservative to a glycerite.

And one would be absolutely correct.

There's a little hitch.

One needs to get the percentages of raw material to water to glycerine right to be sure one is making an adequately preserved extract.

I wrote an article that goes into more detail about this here: LINK

It's important to remember that glycerites can be made with everything from powder to dried herbs to fresh flower petals to juicy oranges, so the added water content is going to differ depending on the raw material used.

This needs to be factored in to ensure a successful outcome. Water content is where extra attention is necessary because water means life (which unfortunately for us formulators includes an invitation to bacterial growth).

Glycerites with Preservative

It is also possible to make glycerites where preservative is included. The amounts of the different ingredients differs from a self-preserving glycerite.

My book goes into detail about making self-preserving glycerites as well as making glycerites with preservatives with calculation guidelines for the different raw materials as well as example batches.

But I have also written numerous blog posts with freebie how-to’s over the years. At the bottom of this post you’ll find links to both glycerites with preservative as well as self-preserving glycerites.

Which Fresh Foods Can We Use for Glycerites?

Here's where it gets fun – your imagination is pretty much the only limit. Fruits and vegetables of all types are suitable! Apples, peaches, strawberries, gooseberries, blueberries, pineapple, carrots, cucumber, pumpkin, almost anything goes!

Keep in mind that glycerine will not tend to extract oil-soluble constituents, but will extract water and glycerine soluble constituents.

For maximum potency, use fresh fruits and veggies that are rich in polysaccharides, polyphenols (flavonoids, tannic acids, ellagitannin).

Here are a few Fresh Food Glycerite Making Tips

• Never let unchartered waters deter you from making glycerites – there’s a world of undiscovered delights to be had!

• Choose foods that are at the peak of their freshness (or ones that you just love the scent or color of)

• Choose foods rich in water-soluble actives (many fresh food are!)

• Be meticulous about GMP and cleanliness – both in preparation of the food, your tools, containers, and your workspace

• Choose food with an untreated surface

• Peel any fruits or vegetables that may have a treated surface

• Measure everything by weight

• Measure accurately

• Use sanitised containers

• Straining a glycerite can be an exercise in patience if you don’t have special equipment. Prepare a place where your glycerite can strain without risk of dust or any other unwanted bits and pieces gaining access

• Keep copious notes on every batch you make

• Label everything with a date, ingredients, and everything else that can help you recreate (or be able to pinpoint why you don’t want to recreate) this particular batch

Top Tip

• Save a small portion of every glycerite in a separate container for observation (remember to label and date the container). Store optimally (cool and dark). Keep the sample past your own ‘use by’ date. This is by far one of the most educational things you can do for yourself and can easily be applied to everything you make.

Using Handcrafted Glycerites in Professional Cosmetics

As years have gone by, I’ve been asked many times if it is safe to use artisan glycerites (and other) handcrafted extracts in cosmetics made for sale.

Yes.

If you follow GMP (good manufacturing practice) from start to finish, you are good to go.

One important part of GMP is documenting everything about your handcrafted extract in the correct manner so you can provide documentation of how your extract is made. Your safety assessor will need this information when you are ready to sell your products.

Not sure how to go about this?

Vivienne Campbell of the Herbal Hub has been doing this for decades and can teach you how. Read more about her course 'Using Herbs in Professional Natural Cosmetics' right here.

Note: The regulations on handcrafted extracts differ in different areas of the globe, so be sure and check regulations in your area. Ecomundo is worth a visit as they specialise in global regulatory compliance

How To Know the Precise Chemical Makeup of a Handcrafted Extract

There is only one way to know the answer to this question, and that is by doing the same thing manufacturers of extracts do with each batch: testing and batch analysis.

Manufacturers of herbal extracts for cosmetics provide a CoA (Certificate of Analysis) with each batch.

Natural materials are (obviously) not lab-created, so the chemical makeup of any extract (glycerite, hydrosol, maceration, essential oil, etc) will inevitably vary from batch to batch. Any large company making botanical extracts has the same challenges as an artisan company does when it comes to batch variation.

Do Tell

Have you ever made a fresh food glycerite? What were your experiences? Please share in a comment below.

ABOUT THIS ARTICLE: Originally written (in 2016) as a guest post for Formula Botanica, this article has been revised and updated in November 2021.

Want to check out my book about making glycerites for cosmetics? Click the picture below.

The Art of Making Glycerites for Cosmetics

LisaLise Freebie Fresh Food Glycerite How to’s

GLYCERITES WITH PRESERVATIVE

How to Make Cucumber Glycerite part 1

How to Make Cucumber Glycerite part 2

How to Make Blackberry Glycerite

How to Make Lemon Glycerite

How to Make Strawberry Glycerite

How to Make Blueberry Glycerite

SELF PRESERVING GLYCERITES

How to Make Self Preserving Lemongrass Glycerite

How to Make Self Preserving Turmeric Glycerite

REFERENCES

The role of glycerol in allergen extracts Jay E. Slater, MD Laboratory of Immunobiochemistry FDA/CBER/OVRR/DBPAP. (link)

John Kabara, Donald S Orth, Preservative free and self preserving cosmetics and drugs, Principle and Practice, 1996, p45-69

Cech, Richo, Making Plant Medicine, 2000

Gladstar, Rosemary, Medicinal Herbs: A beginners Guide, Lemon Balm Glycerite, p160

Gladstar, Rosemary, Family Herbal: Guide to living life with energy, health and vitality, 2001

Green, James, The Herbal Medicine Maker’s Handbook – A Home Manual, p 185-192

Wynn, Susan, Fougere, Barbara, Veterinary Herbal Medicine, p225

Fetro, Charles W, Avila, Juan R, The Complete Guide to Herbal Medicine, p8

Preservative for Biological Specimens, US Patent, 1978 (link)

Soap and Detergent Association, Glycerine, on overview, 1990 (link)

Glycerol Extraction for Polyphenols (link)

Honey and Fruit Vitamin Rich Cleanser

This color of this cleanser reminds me of a lipstick color I like to wear and haven’t made in a while. I created this vitamin-rich honey cleanser using the template in the natural cleansers book (pictured below).

The fruits are all vitamin rich and have been added either as powders or as handcrafted glycerites. Included is amla, cherry, hibiscus, and orange.

These are super easy to make and there are endless ways of putting ingredients together to constantly renew the concept.

Do Tell

Do you make your own honey cleansers? What are your favorite ingredients?

Self Preserving BUNDLE

€92.50

How to Make a Self Preserving Turmeric Glycerite

Not long ago, my formulating and blogging buddy Marie Rayma of Humblebee & me made a bright yellow foamy wash that was fabulously yellow because of the star ingredient: a turmeric glycerin extract (also known as a glycerite).

While we were chatting about her bubbly creation, the idea popped up for me to do a post on how to make a turmeric glycerite - partly because not everyone can source this extract, and partly because I love spreading glycerite making joy.

So let’s get busy!

This is a small batch of self preserving glycerite. If you follow the conditions and instructions carefully, you’ll have a turmeric glycerine extract that can last up to 2 years.

Conditions

1. Use quality raw materials.

The glycerin should be cosmetics (or pharmaceutical) grade. In North America this is labelled USP (United States Pharmacopeia), In Europe, it is PH.EUR 99%.

The turmeric should be fresh and in prime condition. I recommend organic.

2. Follow Good Manufacturing Practice all the way through. (I’ll be giving you tips on this post to help you along the way).

Working with fresh turmeric can color everything - even the knife.

Here’s the Formula

This batch will make about 85 ml of glycerite. Even though the combined ingredients make up 118 g, there is some loss (about 30% with this type of glycerite) when straining.

LisaLise’s Self Preserving Fresh Turmeric Glycerite

Ingredient	Grams	Ounces
Fresh Organic Turmeric	28.0	1.0
Glycerin	90.0	3.17

These have just been washed and are now drying.

1. Wear latex or nitrile gloves throughout this process

2. Pour distilled water into a bowl and wash and gently scrub the turmeric with a semi-soft vegetable brush in the water. Remove and pat dry on an old clean towel or paper towel (the turmeric might stain)

3. Using a clean/sanitized grater, grate the turmeric. I used a ‘smallish’ side on my grater - the size generally used for grating ginger or garlic when cooking.

4. Weigh up 28 g / 1 oz and place turmeric in a clean (sanitized) glass jar (TIP: Be VERY accurate when you weigh your ingredients)

5. Place the jar with turmeric on a scale, set the scale to 0, and add 90 g glycerine.

6. Cap the jar (with a clean/sanitized lid) and place it at room temperature away from direct light (I generally cover mine with a small clean towel)

7. Allow the turmeric to infuse for 5 days. Agitate the jar gently every day. (TIP: Agitating the jar daily helps the infusion process)

Work on a tray that is easy to clean when grating. The bigger leftover bits are added to the jar too

Give the mixture a quick stir with a clean/sanitized stirring rod or spoon before placing the lid on.

Straining

When it’s time to strain, wear gloves and work on a large tray to catch any drips. (TIP: Have a plastic bag at hand so you can easily discard things that need to be discarded as you are working). (EXTRA TIP: this liquid stains anything it touches, so don’t wear your favorite white blouse while you are working).

Here’s the muslin cloth I used to strain the liquid.

1. Place a clean (sanitized) funnel in a glass container (choose something that won’t stain and that you can easily pour from).

2. Line the funnel with 2-3 layers of clean cotton muslin or tightly woven cloth

3. Pour the contents of the jar into the funnel and allow to strain through the cloth

4. Gather up the sides of the cloth and squeeze to extract as much liquid as possible.

5. Discard the turmeric

6. Transfer the glycerite to a clean/sanitized bottle. Label and date the bottle

Here’s how yellow the water and dish brush became at cleanup after grating. TIP: If you don’t want a permanently yellow bristled dish brush, use a brush with dark bristles.

Storage and Use

Store your glycerite cool and dark (a refrigerator is ideal)

Although a glycerite can last up to 2 years (or even longer), I generally recommend using a handcrafted glycerite well within this time. Ideally, use within 6 months of making. Using a glycerite that may be past its prime can affect the shelf life of the cosmetic it is added to.

Why is No Preservative Necessary?

Under certain conditions, glycerine has the ability to function as a preservative. This formula is created to meet those conditions.

For this reason, none of the ingredients can be substituted. Also, for optimal results and shelf life, don’t change anything in the described method. Does that sound a little bossy? Well, maybe it is, but only to help you get great results after all the hard work you just put into making your own glycerine extract.

If you want to learn more about glycerine’s preserving powers, please read this post.

Enjoy!

Want to make more glycerites with all kinds of different materials? This book can help.

The Art of Making Glycerites for Cosmetics

€51.00

LisaLise Newsletter

Sign up for the LisaLise Newsletter to stay in the loop about ingredients and processes. You’ll also get formulating tips & tricks, free formulas and how-to’s and loads of natural cosmetic inspiration.