Dana O'Driscoll What is a hydrosol? A hydrosol, also known as a floral water, distillate, or hydroflorate, is water that has been imbued with the essence of the plant through a distillation process. They are similar to essential oils (in that they carry the same plant properties), but are far less potent, and can be made at home with simple materials.
Why a magical hydrosol? I use sacred waters as part of my daily magical practice, and I decided I wanted to use herbs in conjunction with those waters. I was also looking for a different way to enjoy herbs and their magical and healing qualities. I had purchased some hydrosols (floral waters) from an herbal company, and I loved them, but I wanted to make my own so that I could magically craft them on appropriate days/times and keep my practice locally-based and more sustainable. (I talked about some of this magical crafting in my post on Hawthorn Tincture recently).
What you’ll need:
1. You will need fresh plant material (I have not tried it with dried, and I suspect it would turn out differently with dried plants and have different qualities). Even though we’ve had some serious frosts already, my mints and lemon balms are still going strong, so I decided to work with those two plants.
2. You will need a glass, copper, or enamel pot (not any kind of other metal). The pot should have a lid that seals well and that is domed somehow.
3. You will need three small stones.
4. You will need a small glass bowl that fits within the pot.
5. Filtered or distilled water.
6. A small bag of ice, enough to cover most of the lid of your pot.
For my example hydrosol (peppermint), I am using rocks I found in my driveway (and scrubbed well), a bowl I purchased for $1.00 at the thrift store, and an enamel pot I purchased for $2 at the thrift store. Sure beats a $500 alembic (which is a traditional distilling piece of equipment).
The Process
The process is so simple, and depending on how much water you want, takes about 1-2 hours.
1. Clean your equipment really well. This is because you want NOTHING in the pot or bowl that isn’t your floral water.
2. Place your bowl inside your pot on the three small stones (this makes a double-boiler).
3. Wash and chop up your herbs.
4. Add the herbs to the pot, and add enough filtered/distilled water to cover the herbs (you don’t want it going up too high on the bowl).
5. Place the lid on your pot upside down and slowly bring your herbs to simmer on the stove–not too rapid of a boil. The lid is placed upside down so that as the water evaporates, it will condense and drip into the smaller bowl.
6. Once it is simmering, place a bag of ice on top of your lid.
7. The domed lid will allow the floral water to drip right into the bowl. The ice will encourage the steam to condense back to water quicker. You may find that you need to add more ice as the process goes on.
8. Check it ever so often and when you have enough water, let it cool then place into a jar. It should stay good for 6-8 months, if its like the commercial hydrosol (I will report back in 6-8 months on this!)
Other ideas and thoughts. I suspect that you can do this with just about anything from which you can derive an oil. I was thinking about trying it with organic berries and fruits from the store to experiment, since all of my fresh produce is done for the year (with cabbage, kale, spinach, lettuce, and leeks being exceptions, none of which I really want as a floral water). If anyone else tries this or does experiments with other kinds of materials, please let me know how it works!
This is a great idea. What is the consistency of the final product? Assume you use what is left in the smaller bowl? Thanks!
Its just water with a strong flavor/smell of the plant you used. So my peppermint hydrosol smells and tastes like mint, but looks like water and has water’s purity. Make sense?
This is just…uh! Do you have any idea how fantastically happy I am right now?
YES!! I was so happy to do this as well :). Enjoy! 🙂
Thanks for the instructions! I so want to try this in the spring when my plants come back to life! I’m thinking plants like lemon balm, bee balm, mint, and violet flowers. I loved your idea of doing it with lemon balm, as the essential oil is quite expensive. Any ideas for things to do with the hydrosols?
Bethany,
You can use them as a uplifting spray–lemon balm and peppermint and lavender work well for this. You can add a few droppers full to a drink. I use it to create sacred waters for rituals and special occasions :). I’ve also read that people can use them for cooking, but I haven’t tried that yet.
I have seen a recipe for lemonade that had rosewater in it – I bet lemon balm or lavender hydrosol would make a tasty lemonade!
I bet you are totally right! Rosemary lemonade? Nums. Although it might be easier to make a tea than a hydrosol for the purposes of beverages 🙂
Hm.
What would happen if you made numerous batches, then re-hydrosol’d your hydrosol?
Super hydrosol?
I could think of a number of things for that…
Insect repellent
Body spray
Infused smoking blends/incense
Off the top of my head
I haven’t tried that, but it’s an interesting idea! The floral water that you get is pretty delicate–I don’t know how it would work through repeated steam distillation. It is certainly worth a try, however! 🙂
My first thought was with mugwort flower. I use it for so much along my path. I hear what you are saying about the delicacy of what you do, I’d say it might work well with something more robust.
Wintergreen would be fun too.
Mugwort isn’t very aromatic, but you could certainly try. Right now, our wormwood (artemesia vulgaris) is in bloom…now that is a robust smell and might be interesting to try in that way! Hmmm…..
Yes Artemisia vulgaris, That’s what I know as mugwort.
Its not blooming here yet. Soon though!