A few months ago I ordered what I thought was cocoa butter lotion through the Portland Food Co-op. What I actually ordered, however, was solid cocoa butter. Smells delicous and nourishing for your skin, but the only way you can use it if you heat it up so it melts a bit.

Since I don’t have a microwave and didn’t want to make a hot water bath for cocoa butter every day, I decided to combine the butter with a few other ingredients to make a convenient, nourishing balm for my growing belly (so I guess this is my annoucement – I’m pregnant!).

My go-to book for making all types of lotions, creams, salves and other body care products is Earthly Bodies, Heavenly Hair by Dina Falconi. It has hundreds of recipes for men, women and children and they are all easy to understand. One of my favorites from this book is the blue chamomile face cream – I stand by this cream as the best face moisturizer I have ever used.

So I flipped through and found a recipe for belly balm. I simply swapped in the cocoa butter for the shea butter the recipe called for and ended up with 8 oz of a soft balm that is easy to apply, smells delicous and is nourishing for my skin.

Supplies:

• 2 oz jojoba oil (you could also try swee almond or grapeseed oil)
• 2 oz coconut oil
• 2 oz cocoa butter
• 1.5 -2 oz olive oil
• 1 oz beeswax

Directions:

Pour the liquid oils into a heat-proof Pyrex cup, using the oz measurements to guide you. Add the cocoa butter and coconut oil. Grate the beeswax in until the liquid rises 1 oz. When you are done, your combination of oils and solids should be at the 9 oz mark on the Pyrex (I ended up being a little closer to 10 oz, but the recipe turned out fine).

Place the Pyrex in a hot water bath and stir the mixture with a wooden chop stick (no metal) until the solids have completely melted.

Pour the hot liquid into clean, glass jars (make sure they are wide mouth so you will be able to easily scoop out the balm once it hardens a bit). Once the liquid is cooled, you can put the caps on the jars.

This batch should last me for several months. This is a great nourishing balm for all skin types and it feels GREAT on your skin! It’s not greasy and your skin absorbs it right away.