I mentioned in an earlier blog that I have been potion making since an early age.  Rose water is such a beautiful thing to make, but my childhood efforts did tend to consist of rose petals which quickly went mouldy in a jam-jar of water! You can not begin to imagine my nerdy excitement as a student herbalist when I learnt it was possible to create an aromatic steam distilation (AKA a hydrosol) in your kitchen without any fancy apparatus. That doesn't mean I don't still dream of owning my own copper alembic one day, but as its unlikely to be a common item in people's homes I'd love to share with you how you too can make your own homemade aromatic waters.

Aromatic waters are produced by the steam distillation of aromatic plants; as the steam passes through the plant matter the plant acids and volatile oils are carried into the steam which is then collected and condensed. In commercial preparations often the condensed water is allowed to cool and settle and essential oils rise to the top to be filtered out, this has led to some people thinking of hydrosols as simply a by-product of essential oil production, however, originally, (until the middle ages) the art of water distillation was used specifically to produce these precious aromatic waters and it was the essential oils that were discarded. Home distillation is unlikely to yield more than a miniscule amount of essential oils and these can simply be left suspended in the aromatic water making them even more fragrant and beneficial.

Hydrosols are much gentler than essential oils, and can be applied directly to the skin. The plant acids in the water have both a preservative and anti-inflammatory effect.  They can be used as a facial spray or toner or incorporated into the water phase of a natural skin cream (more on that in my next blog) 

How to make Rose Aromatic Water:

​You will need:
250ml of filtered water (plus extra for topping up if required) 
A few big handfuls of rose petals
Lots of ice cubes

A large saucepan with a lid that you can invert
A heatproof glass bowl that will fit inside the saucepan
Something to raise the glass bowl above the level of the water (eg a heatproof ramekin or I used a metal trivet stand) 

Place your heatproof glass bowl raised up in the centre of your saucepan (this is going to collect the condensed steam)  After picking your roses, and letting any bugs escape, separate the petals and put them in a saucepan. making sure they remain below the top of the bowl and add the filtered water.  Place the inverted lid on top of the pan and bring the water to a gentle boil.

Once the water is boiling put your ice cubes on the top of the inverted lid.  Its a lot less messy if you put them in a heatproof zip-lock bag so that you can easily empty the bag and refill it with more ice as it melts, however if you don't have one you can carefully tip the melted ice down the sink and replace with fresh (making sure you don't let too much precious steam escape in the process) 

If you watch carefully you can see the steam collecting on the chilled lid and dripping into the collecting bowl.

Continue this process for about 25-30 mins, keeping an eye on the water levels throughout and topping up if necessary.

After 30 mins allow the pan to cool and remove the bowl of aromatic water.  Store the rose water in a coloured glass bottle to extend its shelf life. It smells divine!
​
References:
James Green The Herbal Medicine Maker's Handbook.  A Home Manual Crossing Press, 2000
Jeanne Rose. The Aromatic Plant Project. www.aromaticplantproject.com
Suzanne Catty. Hydrosols: The Next Aromatherapy (Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press, 2001), 10

In last weeks blog, which included a recipe for a herbal vinegar, I mentioned that they can then be turned into an oxymel.  This week I'm going to explain what an oxymel is and how to make one.

An oxymel is a classic, but often overlooked herbal preparation made from a combination of vinegar and honey.  They are often made with herbs that are beneficial to the respiratory and immune system and can be an extraction of a single herb or a more complex herbal combination (such as the classic Fire Cider).  There are a number of different ways of making an oxymel.  At its simplest you can simply add equal parts honey to a herbal vinegar.  However as a friend has just gifted me some Hyssop I'm going to explain how to make a Hyssop Oxymel.

Hyssop is an incredible addition to your herbal medicine chest. It can help a wide range of maladies, specifically as a bronchitis home remedy, and has been relied upon for centuries. Hyssop comes to us originally from the Mediterranean and has been a beloved medicinal plant for thousands of years. It now grows easily around the world and has been naturalized throughout a lot of North America. The Romans are said to have introduced hyssop wherever they settled, valuing it as both a ceremonial and healing plant.

Hyssop is probably most well known as an herb for helping with symptoms of a cold or flu. It is often used for children and is very effective for adults as well. Energetically hyssop can be explained as a warming and stimulating herb with a pungent taste. We use it to warm up the body and get things moving! Think of it for moving stagnation like stuck mucous, delayed menses or congealed blood (bruises). As a stimulating diaphoretic it warms the body, pushing out coldness and opening the pores. This is especially ideal for when a person feels cold and is shivering with a slight fever. Hyssop is perfect for coughs with congested mucus. It both stimulates mucus and expectorates mucus, which enables the lungs and coughing mechanisms to rid it from the body. Hyssop is incredibly easy to grow in the garden and I highly recommend cultivating it! Bees LOVE this plant. It’s also quite a beautiful little shrub with gorgeous purple blooms. If you are interested in trying hyssop but don’t have access to the fresh plant, you can buy dried hyssop and use it in the same way.

Hyssop Oxymel combines the stimulating properties of vinegar with the soothing qualities of honey. This centuries-old preparation is specific for coughs and congestion, especially when there is lots of mucus stuck in the lungs. To make this recipe you’ll need:

Hyssop (fresh or dried)
Good quality honey
Apple cider vinegar
Jar with a non-metal lid

To make your hyssop oxymel, fill a jar lightly with chopped fresh hyssop herb. (If using dried hyssop just fill the jar half way with hyssop.) Next fill the jar about 1/3 of the way full with honey. (For a sweeter and thicker preparation fill the jar half full with honey.) Then fill the jar the rest of the way with the vinegar. Vinegar can corrode a metal lid, so you’ll need to cover it with a plastic lid, or place a barrier between the metal lid and the liquid. Place a label on it and let it sit for 2-4 weeks. Strain it well. Label the bottle!

​Oxymels can be taken in teaspoon to tablespoon amounts. If dealing with an acute issue it is generally better to take smaller amounts more frequently, rather than larger doses only a few times a day. If I had a congested cough I would take this bronchitis home remedy 1 teaspoon at a time at least every hour. 

 I have a confession to make- I sometimes introduce weeds to my garden.

I love foraging for things growing wild, but sometimes its just not convenient, or the place where I spot things is too near a busy road or likely to have been 'watered' by local dogs.  I wanted to make some chickweed cream about this time last year, its great for calming itchy inflamed skin, and once the busy gardening and grass cutting season is in full swing my hands tend to be in need of some TLC.  There was non growing wild in my garden but I am lucky to live near enough to the beautiful Sustrans cycle route which is treasure trove for foragers.  I didn't have to go far to find some, but  I felt sure it would have been frequently urinated on as this was a prime dog walking location.  I managed to find a small patch that was less dog accessible and picked a small amount for one pot of cream, plus a bit to spare, which I left in a patchy area of grass in my garden and forgot about.  Yes you've guessed it - imagine my delight when this spring there is a decent patch of it growing through the grass near my herb bed. Perfect.

Chickweed (Stellaria media) has a long history of traditional use as an emollient for the skin, helping cases of eczema, psoriasis, ulcers, boils, abscesses as well as insect bites and stings.  Internally it soothes the respiratory mucus membranes.  Its also tasty in salads.

Firstly, as always with foraging you need to ensure that you have correctly identified the plant.  
 
Common Chickweed has small oval/round leaves with a pointed end. The delicate leaves can be smooth or sometimes slightly hairy.  It has small white flowers that look like they have 10 petals, but if you look closely you will see it has 5 petals that are lobed/split merely giving an appearance of 10 petals. 
The stem of common chickweed is the best way to differentiate it from other similar plants,  the stem is flimsy and mostly round with a tiny line of hairs down one side that look like it’s got a mohican!

You need to be careful that you aren’t confusing it with Scarlet pimpernel  (Anagallis arvensis) which can look a lot like common chickweed with similar leaves. Scarlet pimpernel is poisonous and its sap can irritate the skin. Its flowers are often red or salmon in colour however, despite the name they can also be white. The main differences are in the stems which are round in chickweed and square in scarlet pimpernel and the flowers of scarlet pimpernel are made up of 5 petals which are not lobed or split.

Spurge (Euphorbia) can also be a similar looking plant that is toxic, however it lacks the fine line of hair along the stem and lobed petals

To make a chickweed cream, first you have to make an infused oil, in the same way we did in the Daisy Bruise Balm I shared earlier. To recap; collect a jars worth of chickweed, spread out on a large tray to allow any insects to escape, don't wash the chickweed as excess moisture makes it more likely for mould to grow in the infused oil.  Pack the chickweed in to the clean glass jar and completely cover with almond oil.  Put a lid on the jar and leave on a sunny window ledge for 2 weeks. 2 weeks later strain the oil through a fine sieve and then you are ready to turn the infused oil into a cream. 

A cream is an emulsion of either water in oil, or oil in water. When you make a herbal cream the medicinal actions can be added through either the water or oil components or, as I've done here, in  both . Creams can be complicated to make and you need to get more specialized ingredients in many cases. However please don't be put off by this, the satisfaction of creating your own bespoke cream far out weighs the effort. 

Chickweed Cream (anti-itch, also good for eczema)  (Makes 100g)

30ml/ 2tbsp chickweed infused sweet almond oil
15ml/ 1 tbsp jojoba oil (this is a richer oil which is great to help moisturise dry skin) 
8g/ 2tsp beeswax (granules or grated. You can substitute with soya wax or ricebran wax to make a vegan cream)
10g / 2 ½ tsp cocoa butter

45ml/ 3 tbsp herbal infusion* (I like to use a chamomile or rose petal infusion in this cream) 
5g/ 1 ¼ tsp emulsifying wax
10 drops Blue Chamomile Essential Oil
20 drops Aromantic's "Preservative Eco"

(there is always some discussion about the use of 'preservatives' in natural skincare products, however, if you use any water in a product it is necessary to add preservatives to stop the growth of micro-organisms such as fungi and bacteria.  Without a preservative this cream would have a shelf life of about 1 week, if stored in the fridge.   Some people claim that you can use vitamins as natural preservatives, however vitamins act as anti-oxidants, that stop products from going rancid, but don't affect and stop the growth of fungi and bacteria.  Aromantics "Preservative Eco" is palm free and has good eco credentials and is licensed to be used in certified natural and organic products)

2 saucepans and dark glass jars
A cooking thermometer

*Pre-make the herbal infusion, Put 2 large tbsp of chamomile or rose petals in 150ml of boiling water and allow to steep for 10 mins.  Strain the 'tea' through a sieve and its then ready to be measured up for the recipe
 
Heat the oils, beeswax and cocoa butter together in a bain marie or bowl over a saucepan of water until the ingredients have melted and reached 75 degrees centigrade 

Warm the herbal infusion in another saucepan and dissolve the emulsifying wax into it. 
Take the oily mixture off the heat. 

Slowly add the herbal infusion to the oily mixture and stir until cool. You may find its better to use a balloon whisk to stir the mixture as it cools.  It will slowly start to resemble an egg custard or mayonnaise

Once cooled but not fully 'set' add 10 drops of Blue Chamomile essential oil and the preservative. 

Store in a dark jar.

Its National Growing for Wellbeing Week   .#GYOforWellbeing

I was lucky enough to discover the joy of gardening at an early age. That's me in the first picture, helping at my parents allotment. The contentment that comes from being more connected with nature, through growing your own food and learning a gardeners patience were vital life lessons.  Scrumping tomatoes still warm from the greenhouse; eating peas straight from the pod; watching tiny seeds transform into plants that were taller than me and that deep in your soul happiness that time in green spaces brings, were all part of my journey to becoming the Medical Herbalist I am today. 

​I count myself very lucky to have my own garden, never more than in 2020, I'll be honest, I've had my ups and downs throughout the lock-down and spending much more time gardening has been the one thing that has got me through these challenging times.

Its a sad fact that 1 in 8 children and 1 in 4 adults in the UK will experience mental ill health each year.  I suspect these numbers will increase this year.  There is strong evidence highlighting the health benefits of gardening, and growing your own food in particular, including improved confidence, resilience, communication, concentration and ultimately self-belief.

Gardening improves mental health, enables better physical health, helps you to acquire new skills and enjoy the great outdoors.

My top tips would be:

• If you haven't gardened before, start simple, do a bit of research so you don't attempt something too ambitious until you've found your 'gardening feet'.
• you don't need an actual garden.  Many things like herbs, salad leaves, chillis and bell peppers will grow on a sunny window ledge or balcony
• Grow things you like! Broad beans are really easy to grow, but there isn't a lot of point growing them if you wont want to eat them
• If you've got kids, get them involved! Mine wouldn't touch broccoli until they'd grown it themselves and now its one of their favourite vegetables 
• Grow some pretty flowers too, not only do they make your garden more bee friendly, their scent and colours are uplifting
• Share.  Share seeds, cuttings, plants and tips with other gardeners, its a great way to grow your garden without it costing anything.  If you share with friends the plants will also remind you of them when we can't be together.  The beautiful purple hardy geraniums in the picture below were painstakingly transplanted from my grans house when she had to move into a nursing home. Sadly she is now longer with us but every year their luminous beauty reminds me of her and makes me smile.

If you want more tips  Life at No. 22 has some great free resources 

​Happy gardening!