Pink Lip Salve, 1825-1856

I took today's receipt from The Dictionary of Practical Receipts (1853), though I found it verbatim in other sources. So far, the earliest (and most detailed) version appears in Mackenzie's Five Thousand Receipts (1825)--a book which goes though multiple editions through at least 1856. Intriguingly, the 1866 expansion to Ten Thousand Receipts omits the rose or pink lip salve, while retaining the white lip salve.

Lip Salve (Pink)-- Put 8 oz of good olive oil into a wide mouthed bottle, and 2 oz of the bloomy parts of alkanet root; stop the bottle, and set it in the heat of the sun till it be of a fine crimson color; strain the oil clear into a pipkin with 3 oz each of fine white wax and fresh well cleaned mutton or lamb suet; melt the whole by a slow fire, and when taken off add 40 drops of oil of rhodium or lavender; and pour it into small pots. 

--The Dictionary of Practical Receipts (1853)

Working at 1/4 scale: 2 oz of olive oil, 0.5 oz alkanet (1/2 cup), 3/4 oz white wax, 3/4 oz lamb suet, with 10 drops of lavender oil. The oil of rhodium imparts a rose scent, which is very popular with lip salve recipes, but I'm interested in trying something different this time (also I don't have any).

I started two weeks ago by soaking the alkanet in olive oil. I've noticed that oil tends to take the alkanet color faster than alcohols, giving rosy pinks after mere minutes, but was I curious about how dark of a tint is possible with this recipe. And maybe forgot about it.  I chopped the suet fine, picked out all the 'bits', and set it to soak in cold water for a week. Every other day, I changed the water. This was a trick I picked up making the 18th century pomade. Both the mutton suet and the tallow stink, so I'm glad the first recipe I tried with any sheep fat advised washing it first.

Alkanet in olive oil, white beeswax pellets with suet pieces.

I strained the alkanet out of the oil, then set it with the white wax and suet in a water bath on the stove over moderate heat. Once melted, I removed it from the water bath, let the mixture cool slightly, then added the 10 drops of lavender, stirred it a bit more, and poured the salve into four small (1/2oz - 1oz) tins to cool.

Pink it is. This is the darkest salve I've managed so far.

The finished salve is fairly solid (as I've some to expect with mutton suet/fat receipts), but has a nice deep raspberry color. I'm not noticing a strong lavender scent about it, but it doesn't smell like mutton fat, which is the important part. It also seems to be fulfilling its job as a lip salve.