An herb-infused tallow balm is made by steeping dried herbs in melted tallow or a carrier oil, sometimes for weeks, then straining them out. The balm carries whatever the plant gave up to the fat, at a dose nobody measured. That's why our jars use CO2 extracts instead.
If you'd rather skip the steeping, calendula is in Honey Glow ($42 as of October 6, 2026) as a CO2 extract, beside oil-soluble manuka honey extract and cold-pressed oat oil. Chamomile's in Moonlight Calm ($69), as blue chamomile CO2 beside blue tansy at a studied dose.
How do you make an herb-infused tallow balm?
The calendula monograph from the European Medicines Agency, the EMA, lists a ratio worth borrowing: one part flower to ten parts fatty vegetable oil, olive oil for example. That's 10 g of dried flowers in 100 g of oil. Keep the heat low: a warm water bath for hours, or a warm cupboard for weeks. Then strain it through cloth.
The strained oil takes the carrier's place in our tallow balm recipe calculator, which sets a home batch at four parts tallow to one part carrier, with vitamin E at 1%. That's about 44 g of tallow to 11 g of oil in one 56 g jar, plus 0.56 g of vitamin E.
Use dried herbs only. A fresh leaf carries water into the oil, and a 2018 review of cosmetic preservation by Halla and colleagues calls water an ideal growth factor for microorganisms. A balm with no water needs no preservative system. If an infused oil smells off or grows fuzz, it's done, so start over with drier leaves.
Calendula and chamomile tallow balm: what the research says
Calendula is the common garden marigold, and the EMA's herbal committee has reviewed it closely. Its 2018 summary finds insufficient evidence from clinical trials. So Europe lists it as a traditional-use herb, backed by at least 30 years of safe use. The monograph rules it out for anyone allergic to the daisy family. Skin sensitization has been reported too. Honey Glow carries it as a CO2 extract, and our oat oil and calendula post has the rest.
An NIH fact sheet says chamomile is used on the skin for some conditions, though studies haven't produced enough reliable evidence to rate its clinical usefulness. Moonlight Calm carries blue chamomile CO2, and our blue chamomile post explains the color. People allergic to ragweed, chrysanthemums, marigolds or daisies are more likely to react to chamomile, and calendula shares that family. If ragweed or daisies set you off, ask an allergist before you open either jar. If you'd rather skip them all, Bare Silk Unscented carries none of these herbs and no essential oil at all.
Plantain tallow balm: does the old habit hold up?
Plantain here means Plantago major, the broad-leaf weed of lawns and paths, not the cooking banana. Samuelsen's 2000 review says its leaves have been used as a wound remedy for centuries, in almost all parts of the world. It names the leaf's compounds, among them polysaccharides and flavonoids. It also lists activities found in plant extracts, and says some of those effects may explain the folk use. A plant extract isn't a leaf steeped in fat. I couldn't find a trial of a plantain balm on intact skin, so the research is thin. Wounds belong to a clinician in any case. A balm of any kind goes on intact skin only, and if you steep plantain anyway, dry the leaves fully first.
Comfrey and arnica tallow balm: the two with hard limits
Comfrey root carries pyrrolizidine alkaloids, and the EMA's monograph says animal studies suggest they're toxic to the liver when taken by mouth. Its own word for the skin absorption data is rudimentary. So the monograph limits comfrey root creams to adults, for no more than 10 days of use. Those creams must never touch broken or irritated skin. Every comfrey product has to state its alkaloid content, which the monograph holds below 1 microgram a day for adults. A home infusion has no measured content at all.
In Europe, arnica flower is a traditional herbal medicine for bruises and sprains, and its monograph says it shouldn't be used on broken skin. It's ruled out for anyone allergic to the daisy family, and use under 12 hasn't been established. Every arnica preparation in that monograph is an alcohol tincture or extract, so a home oil infusion sits outside what it covers.
We make no comfrey or arnica jar. A tallow balm isn't bruise or sprain care: it's cosmetic care, not a treatment, and your provider's plan comes first.
Infusion or CO2 extract: why our jars use extracts
An infusion does two things well: it's cheap, and it lets you use a plant you grew. What it can't tell you is how much of any compound made the trip. Supercritical CO2 extraction works another way. A 2020 review by Uwineza and Waśkiewicz explains that shifting the pressure and temperature adjusts the CO2's solvent power and selectivity. Its low critical temperature, 31.1 °C, limits heat damage, and the CO2 goes back to a gas afterward, so the extract is free of solvent residue.
It's a concentrate we can weigh, so the dose in each jar is one the research set. For calendula, the jar is Honey Glow. For chamomile, it's Moonlight Calm, the jar we reach for with redness-prone skin and the evening wind-down.
The jar for this job is Honey Glow ($42). Subscribe to two jars and a third rides free, and every subscription takes 25% off the first delivery.
Questions we hear
How do you infuse herbs into tallow balm?
Steep dried herbs in a liquid oil over low heat, or somewhere warm for a few weeks, then strain them out. Europe's calendula monograph lists one part flower to ten parts oil. That oil's your carrier, at four parts tallow to one part oil, and a recipe calculator does the grams.
Can you use fresh herbs in tallow balm?
Dried herbs are the better choice for a balm with no water in it. A fresh leaf brings water into the oil, and a 2018 review of cosmetic preservation calls water an ideal growth factor for microorganisms. A balm without water doesn't need a preservative system, and fresh leaves change that.
Is comfrey safe in a tallow balm?
Europe's medicines agency limits comfrey root creams to adults, for no more than 10 days. They're not to go on broken or irritated skin. The root carries pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which animal studies suggest are toxic to the liver when taken by mouth. A home infusion can't measure them, so comfrey stays out of our jars.
Can you put arnica in a tallow balm?
Europe's medicines agency says arnica flower preparations shouldn't go on broken skin, and it rules them out for anyone allergic to the daisy family. Use under 12 hasn't been established. Every preparation its monograph covers is an alcohol tincture or extract, so a home oil infusion sits outside it. We don't make an arnica jar.
Go deeper
Start with the beef tallow for skin guide: it's the long read on the fat itself. Our home batch how-to gives a recipe by weight. Tallow for sensitive skin covers the patch test, and inside Honey Glow opens the calendula jar. What to add to a tallow balm covers the other additions: beeswax, arrowroot, vitamin E and honey.
Sources
- European Medicines Agency (2014). Community herbal monograph on Arnica montana L., flos, adopted May 6, 2014. EMA/HMPC/198793/2012.
- Uwineza PA and Waśkiewicz A (2020). Recent advances in supercritical fluid extraction of natural bioactive compounds from natural plant materials. Molecules 25(17):3847.
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (2024). Chamomile. Fact sheet, last updated November 2024, at nccih.nih.gov.
- Samuelsen AB (2000). The traditional uses, chemical constituents and biological activities of Plantago major L. A review. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, volume 71, pages 1 to 21.
- European Medicines Agency (2018). Calendula flower: summary for the public, June 5, 2018. EMA/267467/2018.
- Halla N, Fernandes IP, Heleno SA, Costa P, Boucherit-Otmani Z and colleagues (2018). Cosmetics preservation: a review on present strategies. Molecules 23(7):1571.
- European Medicines Agency (2018). European Union herbal monograph on Calendula officinalis L., flos, revision 1. EMA/HMPC/437450/2017.
- European Medicines Agency (2015). European Union herbal monograph on Symphytum officinale L., radix, corrected January 31, 2024. EMA/HMPC/572846/2009 Corr1.
Brian is the founder of Craft Tallow, a small-batch tallow skincare line shipped from Cottonwood Heights, Utah, built on 100% grass-fed suet. Questions? Reply to any email from us; it lands with him.