It’s beautiful! Fragrant, clear with a very faint green tinge, and a full jam jar’s worth.
It bubbled away for a good 3 – 4 hours (can’t quite remember what time I put it on) after having macerated for about the same length of time. Masses of steam escaped from the home-made still, but I ended up with this 1lb jam jar’s worth of hydrosol.
Next hydrosol Lemon Verbena!
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Can I be a bit stupid and ask – what is hydrosol?!
And also, is lemon verbena the same as lemon balm?
Hi Amy! A hydrosol is a kind of mixture of water and the essential oils of a plant after distillation – well in fact it is the ‘leftover’ and byproduct of distilling a plant, after you have whisked away the precious essential oil, but in my case of the home-made still the essential oil was not the main player (mostly evaporated) but the steam distilling process leaves a marvellously fragrant leftover hydrosol which you can use externally (as in flower waters or toners) or indeed as part menstruum for tinctures or as salves, creams, lotions etc.
Lemon balm is not lemon verbena, but is wonderfully lemony all the same