Hydrosols
Hydrosols
Aromatic distillation is my passion! Discovering that I could distill the aromas of the forest into a bottle was life changing for me! I have spent the last several years in devotion to producing aromatic plant distillates, learning and growing with the plants. All of my hydrosols are produced in small batches in-house in traditional copper stills with botanicals grown on my small herb farm, ethically wild harvested from Northeast Michigan, or sourced from other small Michigan farms which align with my ethos.
Hydrosols are plant distillate waters distilled from fresh plant material. These aren’t simply essential oil added to water, these are the extraction of the cellular waters and volatile compounds of a plant through the botanical alchemy of distillation- where plant material is gently heated in an apparatus called a still. Steam gently carries the aromatic compounds up through the still into a condenser where the steam is cooled and transformed back into a liquid imbued with the essence of the plant- this is the hydrosol. Hydrosols extract the water soluble and volatile compounds from a plant. Unlike essential oils, hydrosols do not need to be diluted to safely use, making them an ideal addition to a plant based skincare routine.
To use a hydrosol in your skincare routine, simply mist it directly onto clean skin as a refreshing toner or facial mist before applying a moisturizer.. The gentle botanical waters help balance your skin’s pH, tighten pores, and deliver plant-based hydration. You can also use hydrosols to mix powdered masks or clay treatments instead of water for added benefits, or apply it before your moisturizer or facial oil to help lock in moisture. Spritz throughout the day to soothe and revive your skin naturally.
How to use hydrosols
How we transform plants into hydrosols...
How we transform plants into hydrosols...
First we harvest our plant material. This is best done early in the morning while the dew is still on the plant and the aromatic compounds are at peak. After harvesting we begin to load this still. Plant material is packed into the still tightly to ensure a richly aromatic hydrosol. After the plant material is loaded we add a bit of water to prevent the plant material from burning to the bottom of the still. Once the plant material and water are loaded we assemble the rest of the still and seal the still with a traditional rye paste to prevent any steam from escaping from cracks in the still during the distillation.
Next we light our heat source, and let the still begin to gently heat up. As it begins heating we prepare our cold water recirculation- the heat will volatilize the aromatic compounds from our plant material and turn them into steam, but in order to turn them into a hydrosol we need to cool the steam. This happens in the condenser of the still- where the steam travels through a thin copper pipe that is surrounded by cold water, cooling the steam and transforming it back into a liquid. Once the water inside the still reaches near boiling and the condenser is recirculating cold water the hydrosol begins to slowly drip. It will take several hours to collect the hydrosol.
Once collected we take the hydrosol back to our plant lab where it is filtered, then add a gentle plant derived preservative. Some of these hydrosols are bottled to use as a facial toner, but much of what we distill is used as the base of all of our lotions, serums and conditioners.
Follow us on social media @flora.fungi for lots of videos on distillation.