You can place a broken-off leaf in the refrigerator to cool it down, then rub it over a burning for healing, skin dryness, create a facial mask, sooth a cold sore, make homemade soap, or add to a smoothie. Aloe plants can be very handy to have around. Break off a mature aloe leaf and rub the gel from the inside over your sunburn or cut open the leaf and place it gel side down on your burn and reapply every few hours or as needed to keep your skin moisturized. The area where you broke the leaf will callous over and the plant will be just fine. Don’t use aloe on open skin or wounds that are below the surface of your skin. If you have a major burn, see a doctor. Do not apply aloe gel to skin that is bleeding, blistered, or otherwise severe-ly damaged. Wait until you need the gel to harvest it. If you are harvesting a large amount, you may need to cut the leaf in half (lengthwise) in order to get all of the gel out. If you have any leftover gel, you can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. There are three main methods used to increase the shelf life of your freshly harvested gel – freezing the gel, mixing the gel with honey, and mixing the gel with vitamin C: a freeze the gel in an ice cube tray rather than one large block means that you can just take out individual pieces whenever you need them. Using a silicone tray works best as you can turn the tray inside out. Small plastic containers also work fine if you do not have an ice cube tray. Once your tray is filled, the gel is ready to be frozen. Make sure the tray is flat in the freezer to avoid any of the gel seeping out. Leaving the cubes overnight will give them plenty of time to freeze. The cubes need to be totally frozen to be preserved so make sure you give them enough time in the freezer before removing. Store the cubes of aloe vera gel in your freezer for up to a year. Keeping them in a bag will enable you to have easy access when you decide to use them. b the container needs to be large enough to mix the honey in but feel free to use smaller containers if it is more convenient for your storage set up. The container should also have a lid to keep contaminants out. Mix honey in with the gel at a 1:1 ratio. Honey has such a low water content versus a high natural sugar content that it helps preserve the gel for a much longer time than the gel would have naturally. This process is similar to the way fruit is often stored in syrup or as a preserve. Using a high-quality honey that is free from pre-servatives will ensure that the gel lasts as long as possible. Store the gel in the fridge or at room temperature for up to 8 months. Be sure to keep the gel away from direct sunlight. Because the aloe vera is now in a gel solution with the honey, it mixes really well into other products. These options might include: Facial scrubs, Body wash, and Hair products. c put your aloe vera gel into a blender but don’t blend yet. The gel has a very gelatinous texture in its raw state and this can make it difficult to work with when using the gel for some purposes. Putting the gel through the blender allows it to become separated and liquefied. This makes it much easier to work with. Add your crushed vitamin C tablet. For every ¼ cup (60ml) of gel, add in 500 milligrams (0.018 oz) of vitamin C to the mixture. This combination will help preserve the gel for up to 8 months in the refrigerator once it has been mixed in. Blend your gel on high for a few seconds. This will ensure that the vitamin C is mixed in with the aloe vera and that the texture becomes liquefied and broken down. You should be left with an aloe vera juice. The juice should be much more runny and less gelatinous than it was before. Transfer the juice to a covered plastic container. There will be a foamy layer on the top of the liquid but this will go away after a few days so there’s no need to wor-ry about it. Move your juice to the refrigerator for storage. The juice is now ready to be used or stored for up to a month.