As promised, here are a few of the recipes we created last night at the hydrosol workshop.
A hydrosol is a steam-distilled essence of a plant. If you do not have a still, you can create your own hydrosols by piling fragrant, fresh plants (rosemary, lavender, fennel, elderflower, rose petal, calendula…) into a stainless steel or enamel pot with a domed lid. Set a brick at the bottom of the pot and a heatproof bowl atop the brick, arranging your leaves or flowers so that they surround the brick and bowl. Add some pure water and bring just to the boil, then lower to a simmer. Invert the lid and place it on the pot such that the base of the dome is centered over the bowl, and fill the inverted lid with ice.
As steam rises from the plants, it hits the cold lid and condenses. The condensation (distilled plant vapor) drips down the sides of the lid and falls into the bowl. Keep gently simmering until your bowl is full or until your hydrosol (the clear liquid that drips into your bowl) stops smelling incredible.
Last night we made lavender, cucumber, elderflower, and fennel hydrosols. We set them out into pitchers (lavender to detoxify the air, calm the mind, and heal the skin; cucumber to cool and refresh the skin and eyes; elderflower to soften and cleanse the skin, fennel to stimulate digestion) and filled a small spray bottle with our chosen combination. Then each of us chose a unique combination of essential oils: sandalwood for clarity of mind and complexion, patchouli to ground and sensualize, ylang ylang for euphoria and self-confidence, rose to soften the skin and open the heart, lavender as an antimicrobial and skin healer, rosemary for circulation and beautiful hair. We added 10 drops of these to our bottles, then chose whether we wanted to add a little vodka to preserve the spray and help kill germs, or pure blended aloe vera gel from the garden to soothe sunburn and inflammation.
These herbal mists can be used as facial moisturizing sprays, as air purification spritzes, as hair treatments, as fragrance, to cool the body or refresh the sheets.
We also talked about the joys of fruit facials. Enzymes in strawberry and banana and many other fruits help dissolve old skin cells–simply mash the fresh fruit or lay the peel over your face. (check for sensitivities first–many people are allergic to citrus, and most to mango.) Follow with an exfoliant: two of my favorites are a handful of oats lightly powedered in the blender and mixed with water, or chia seeds hydrated in lavender or calendula tea (as a bonus, chia gel protects your face all day long). Sometimes I will follow this with a mashed avocado moisturizing treatment, or simply a layer of rosehip seed oil or a combination of fresh aloe and jojoba.
Either way, this routine makes your face glow. (Sometimes too much. I can’t tell you how many family photos feature my rosy-red, gleaming face set among a sea of more sedately-complexioned relatives. Give yourself a day between a facial and a photo shoot!)
And here, finally, are a few recipes from our herbal feast:
Verbena-infused Riesling
The night before a gathering, fill a pitcher with any or a combination of fresh lemon verbena, pineapple sage, bee balm, or elderflowers. Pour over them a full bottle of Riesling. Let sit in a cool place—preferably moonlit, but a refrigerator will do—removing them to the refrigerator when the day heats up. You can either serve the Riesling as is, or strain just before serving, adding a dollop of elderflower or bee balm hydrosol if you have it!
Basil-infused Cream and Apricots
Gently warm a cup of whipping cream in a double boiler or a bowl set over a pan of boiling water. When it steams (but doesn’t boil!) remove it from the heat and add 1/2 cup of crushed fresh basil or thai basil leaves. Let steep until the cream cools to room temperature. Then strain, squeezing the leaves gently to remove all of the cream, and refrigerate the cream until cool. Whip, adding maple syrup or honey to taste.
While the cream is cooling, slice ten fresh, organic apricots. Place them in a bowl with a few tablespoons of brandy and a few tablespoons of orange-flower hydrosol. Macerate them with a fork until the juices combine.
Layer the apricots and basil-whipped cream into a glass bowl or parfait glasses. Decorate with springs of basil and orange flowers.
Or, if you’re in California…come taste them all firsthand at Salon of the Senses on Wednesday!
truebeautyalways 
Excellent instructions and explanation of the process.
thank you! it was such a beautiful evening. i can’t tell you how heavenly we all smell today!!
Wonderful :). Now I know how to make my own hydrosols 🙂
Hi there. Just wanted to say that I tried this in the homemade way with an inverted lid and ice method collecting the steam in a glass jar, and it worked well, except it had no smell. The water left in the pot with the rose petals smelt more like roses and had a film of oil across it. I used mostly deep red rose petals. From what I gather it should have a nice rose smell. Am I doing something wrong.
Hi Simone! That’s interesting–the film of oil was in the pot with the petals instead of in the jar? I’m wondering if the mouth of the jar may have been narrower than the apex of the lid so that some of the condensation returned to the pot instead of falling into the jar. That sheen of oil is actually essential oil, and a great deal of what is responsible for the scent of the hydrosol.
Another possibility would be that the temperature was too high during the steam. Keeping it at the lowest possible simmer helps preserve the scent.
And then, there are simply some roses whose scent does not translate to hydrosol! This can be incredibly frustrating because it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with how fragrant the roses are in the first place. I’ve been so disappointed by this in the past.
I do hope this helps and wish you aromatic joy in your hydrosol process in future!
(One easy way to troubleshoot would be to take a very aromatic plentiful plant like rosemary and tinker with your process until you figure out what combination of temperature & positioning gets the strongest scent. That way you don’t waste your precious roses!)
Thanks for your response. I used quite a large bowl, the rim of which is slightly larger than my litre pyrex jug. I barely simmered as I read just the steam will work. Did this for about 40 minutes. The roses didnt really have much of a smell in the first place. Will have to try again.
When you do this process, is the infused water left in the bottom any good since it smells nicer than the hydrosol? Thanks in advance.
Interesting–it sounds like it was the petals themselves then! If they weren’t highly scented to begin with sometimes the hydrosol is very muted.
I often use the steaming water in my bath or make a footpath with it, strained or not depending on my mood!
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Haha! Foot BATH. Though footpath would work too, I suppose.
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