Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Floral Water

Here is a biodegradable beauty product recipe from Greta Breedlove, author of The Herbal Home Spa, that I really like. It's floral water, which is made from water and a variety of fresh flowers and herbs, such as rose petals, lavendar, sage or mint. I tried making mine with rose petals, lavendar and mint from my garden. I put a brick in the bottom of a 16-quart cooker and surrounded it with the flowers and herbs.


Then I filled the pot with water to the top of the brick to cover the herbs and then put a glass bowl on top of the brick. Next, I covered the pot with a stainless-steel bowl and put a chunk of ice in the bowl. I turned the burner on the lowest setting to simmer the herbs. Slowly, the ice melts, and condensation inside the pot falls into the glass bowl. The process takes two to three hours and yields about 2 ounces to 5 ounces of distilled floral water.
One of the chief benefits of making floral water is the incredible smell of the cooked flowers and herbs that perfumes your home. It also works well as a facial toner. After applying it to my face, my skin felt refreshed. My fine lines are still there, but my face felt refreshed nonetheless. If I keep the floral water in my refrigerator, it will last two weeks.
So with your garden in full swing, try using up some your rose petals and herbs by making some homemade floral water this summer.





3 comments:

Brightmyer said...

I'm going to have to try this! I have all kinds of herbs ready in the garden and I've been saving rose petals. Now I have something to do with them!

Anna said...

That's really cool. :) We'll have to wait until fall to do this because it's too hot right now to have the stove on and the ice might prematurely melt. Such is life in southern AZ with no central air. :)

Shannon said...

This is really fun! I want to try it!