Homemade Talc

This isn't strictly talc since talc is finely ground soft rock with added perfume. A while ago I looked at the ingredient list on a carton of organic body powder. The main ingredient was rice starch and then there were a number of plant extracts. I decided to make my own based on rice flour together with sage and lavender, both of which are said to have antiseptic properties. The experiment wasn't a resounding success as the rice flour was wholemeal and resulted in a rather granular 'talc'.

This week I tried again using organic tapioca flour which is much finer and I am very pleased with the result.

So, the ingredients were tapioca flour, dried sage leaves and dried lavender flours. I dried the sage and lavender last summer by hanging them up in the garden shed and then stored them in the airing cupboard to make sure they stayed dry.

Using my coffee grinder I ground approximately equal amounts of sage and lavender until it reached a fine powder. It looks a very dark grey colour at this stage. To mix it with the tapioca flour I put it in a jam jar and added about half a jar of flour (you can get an idea of the proportions from the photo) and turned the jar until it was thoroughly mixed.

The resulting powder which has a great lavender smell can be used to refill an old talc container and you have organic talc for just a few pence.