I don't know whether you've heard of her, but Canadian Suzanne Catty is North America's pre-eminent researcher and advocate of hydrosols. So what is a hydrosol?, Well, quite simply, when steam is passed through the plant material in order to extract essential oil, it cools and condenses into a fragrant water which contains small quantities of the oil, and literally the 'essence' of the plant. The queen of all flowers, the Rose, produces the most glorious, heady oils and waters, and Suzanne says of these:
'Its intense floral nature nature becomes delicate, ethereal and quite delicious. Once you have smelled and tasted rose hydrosol, you will instantly recognize the many artificial rosewaters in the marketplace.' For more details about this amazing product and its uses, see Dr Jane's new post on the home page.
As these waters are so strong, it is possible repeat the distillation process several times producing a weaker result each time. This is a practice which is followed in some parts of the world by unscrupulous producers, so the motto is
caveat emptor or 'let the buyer beware'. We have been able to find the purest single-distilled Rose water from plants grown in the gardens of the South of England, and the water is so gorgeous it has to be smelled to be believed.
