And Thus, It Begins . . .
The blossom and leaf distillation ~ branches from a sweet orange and a lemon tree full with buds and waxy bloomed white flowers. Most of the blossoms fell off the branches during transport from the farm to home, so I'll be scooping them out of the bottom of the bag by handfuls and loading them into the retort first. Then the chopped leaves and smaller twigs.
All this blooming bodes well for the copper al'embic.
This sounds like a beautiful experiment! I learned just a short while ago that some people think distilled lemon blossoms and sweet orange blossoms are neroli. Boy was I surprised to see that level of misunderstanding in a group that should know better.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to have access to bitter orange trees, but I live in the land of edibles, sweet orange and lemon blossoms abound and I intend to make the most of it. So far I've got a very bitter smelling, green, and aldehydic hydrosol with nice floral notes. The still notes are strong in this one. Lots of oil, too, but it won't stick together, and clings to the sides of the receiver like its afraid of swimming! I started with one part blossoms to two parts leaves and twigs. Can't wait for it to mature.
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