How I make my all-natural hydrosol that is used in various products I create
First of all your probably wondering what is hydrosol?
Hydrosols are sometimes referred to as hydrolats, distillate waters or floral waters.
Explained as simply as possible, a hydrosol is the aromatic water that remains after steam-distilling or
hydro-distilling botanical material such as lavender. … This can result in hydrosols with superior aroma and therapeutic benefit.
This is my process
I grow a variety of fragrant rose bushes and other herbs and flowers in my yard that I tend to by providing organic compost.
When the roses bloom I wait till they are half open and harvest the heads. Once I have a strainer full of rose heads I rinse them in my sink and pluck all the petals off placing them in another basket.
While the water drains from the petals I set up a large pot and place a clean brick in the center of the pot with a small bowl on top of the brick.
All the petals are stuffed around the side of the pot until it reaches the bottom of the bowl and I cover the petals with fresh water until I reach the top of the brick. From there I set the stove on low heat and place a bowl-shaped lid upside down on top of the pot. As the water warms up and produces condensation it rolls to the center of the lid and drops in the bowl collecting the essence of the rose petals. This process takes about 12 hours and frequent checking in order to ensure that the pot doesn’t run dry of water and to make sure the bowl in the center does not overflow. All the hydrosol goes into a sterile glass jar and organic witch hazel is added to ensure that no bacteria grows. This is how I not only process roses but any and all herbs or flowers that are grown on my property.
