Hydrosols are an ancient & effective method to produce herbal extracts. For approximately 5000 years mankind has been making & using herbal hydrosols. Literally it is the simple distillation of herbs & flowers into hydrosolized oils & essences.
This process is completely non-alcoholic & produces a distillate containing the essential oils of an herb or flower of an herb. These essential oils are contained in micro-drops of the oils combined with other water-soluble components of the herb or flower. These hydrosols may used as aromatic enhancers, in cooking as flavor enhancers & medicinally as impactive ingredients or to cover less than palatable tastes. Everyone knows rosewater but not everyone knows that it is a hydrosol.
Usually hydrosols are thought to be a waste product or by-product of essential oil distillation but that is not the case. It is true that hydrosols are a left-over product of essential distallation but they are not waste products.
Hydrosols are used in the production of medicinal topicals for use on skin especially as a skincare product or as a medicinal to assist in the treatment of skin problems & conditions. When used to make aromatic sprays to refresh or deodorize a room hydrosols are an inexpensive additive. Because they are water-based they do not burn, they do not stain & they are easily diluted. In cooking these wonderful hydrosols can be used to flavor beverages, added to stews & soups as a flavor enhancer, to dough in place of water to enhance or add a taste to the baked goods being produced, frozen I ice cubes to enhance a drink's taste. Whatever way hydrosols are used they are an effective & easy way to enhance your life.
You can grow your own herbs, collect flowers & make your own hydrosols. Aromatic herbs such as mints, basils, thyme, sage, comfrey, lemon grass or flowers such as lavender, orange blossoms, roses, jasmine, honeysuckle and many others may be collected & used to produce hydrosols. You will need a still to produce them.
There are a number of companies that make stills or you can make your own. My still is made from a 3 gallon copper cylindrical pot with a funnel-shaped top & 9 feet of 3/8" copper tubing that was coiled around a 2" piece of PVC pipe. The pipe of course was removed. I collect the distillate in 1 gallon glass mayonnaise jars. You may also buy stills from manufacturers. Some are copper, some are stainless steel, some are glass lined & some are a combination.
You can get detailed & easy-to-follow instructions for building your won still at:
http://www.moonshine-still.com
In this quarter's "The Herb Quarterly" is an excellent article that goes into much depth about this fascinating subject. It written by Maggie Howe & I suggest reading it.
Sources:
375 Essential Oils And Hydrosols
by Jeanne Rose
Herbal Chemistry
By Jurgen Altschuler (German)
Unusual Alkynes Found in the Essential Oil of Artemisia Dracunculus L. var. dracunculus from the Pacific Northwest
J. Essent. Oil Res., 13, 187-188 (2001)
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Comments: 7
You can also get a stove still from the Essential Oil University, or www.essentialoils.org (Indianna)
or
from Butch Owen's site, www.av-at.com (Maryland)
Both are good references, and also sell pure hydrosols. Good article, Don! :)