What is a hydrosol?

A hydrosol is an herbal preparation produced by steam distillation. Minuscule droplets of volatile essential oils and other aromatic compounsd are dispersed throughout distilled water to produce a clear, fragrant liquid. You might already be familiar with two hydrosols that are commonly used in culinary, beauty, and health applications: Rose water and orange blossom water.

What are the benefits of hydrosol?

All tinctures are chemical solutions. The alcohol-and-water blend, or menstruum, acts as a solvent, dissolving all the alcohol- and water-soluble chemicals out of the plant material. A solvent can only dissolve so much before it becomes saturated.
Because of this, most herbal tincture blends reduce the possible quantity of any given ingredient in a given volume of liquid. This isn’t bad, and skilled herbalists account for this when making tincture blends—but hydrosols give us an additional extra-elegant option.
Because the droplets of oil in a hydrosol are dispersed, not dissolved, the water in a hydrosol still has nearly its full potential as a solvent. This lets us combine a base herb with the volatile oils—or aromatic fraction—of another herb for a more compact, synergistic blend. Additionally, steam distillation lets us extract a lot more of the volatile oils into a hydrosol than would be present in a basic tincture of the same aromatic herb. This lets us make more potent tinctures of herbs with valued volatile oils, like lemon balm, rosemary, and tulsi.

How do you make hydrosol?

We produce hydrosol using our copper alembic still. Plant material is collected, weighed, and placed in the still with the appropriate amount of natural spring water. The still is placed on a low heat, simmering the water and releasing the aromatic constituents in the plant matter as steam. The hydrosol is collected in a graduated glass vessel as it drips out of the still; and then we measure it in a more accurate vessel. Depending on what the hydrosol will become, we mix it with other components for storage—for our tinctures with hydrosol, that’s blending it with grain alcohol before storing to ensure that it will be shelf-stable until other ingredients are in season.