Guest guest Posted November 22, 2006 Report Share Posted November 22, 2006 Hello all, I have a questions regarding infusion lavender buds in oil. I did an infusion using dried lavender buds and dried rose petals sometime ago but I dont seem to get the smell of either eventhough I pounded them first. Can anyone shed some light on this. BTW I used EVOO. Maybe this overpowers the scent. Thanks and a Happy thanksgiving to all regards Poh Yee _________________________________________________________________ Get FREE company branded e-mail accounts and business Web site from Microsoft Office Live http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/mcrssaub0050001411mrt/direct/01/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 <snip> I did an infusion using dried lavender buds and dried rose petals sometime ago but I dont seem to get the smell of either even though I pounded them first. Can anyone shed some light on this. BTW I used EVOO. Maybe this overpowers the scent. regards Poh Yee Hello Poh Yee, That EVOO could very well add its own bit to your scent overall. Also, it's sounding to me like you have the first round of flowers still in the oil, rather than changing out the lavender and rose for fresh material. If this is the case, try straining off the material and adding new. After doing this a few times over, you'll start to smell your ingredients. It takes quite a few flowers to capture scent -- look at the hundreds of pounds of material that goes into our attars and absolutes. Also, you might want to try gently heating your oil with the flowers in it to coax the scent out of them a little better. Jump in to add to this, anyone else... Warm regards, Andrine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 27, 2006 Report Share Posted November 27, 2006 ><pyoh@...> wrote: ><snip> I did an infusion using dried lavender buds and dried rose >petals sometime ago but I dont seem to get the smell of either even >though I pounded them first. > >Can anyone shed some light on this. BTW I used EVOO. Maybe this >overpowers the scent. >regards >Poh Yee > >Andrine wrote> >That EVOO could very well add its own bit to your scent overall. >Also, it's sounding to me like you have the first round of flowers >still in the oil, rather than changing out the lavender and rose for >fresh material. If this is the case, try straining off the material >and adding new. After doing this a few times over, you'll start to >smell your ingredients. It takes quite a few flowers to capture >scent -- look at the hundreds of pounds of material that goes into >our attars and absolutes. Also, you might want to try gently >heating your oil with the flowers in it to coax the scent out of >them a little better. > >Jump in to add to this, anyone else... > Andrine, I used dried flower petals and put the mason jar in a slow simmer. as you have suggested. I have strained everything out. Should I repeat this process. I will try with fresh flowers next year. Poh Yee _________________________________________________________________ Share your latest news with your friends with the Windows Live Spaces friends module. http://clk.atdmt.com/MSN/go/msnnkwsp0070000001msn/direct/01/?href=http://spaces.\ live.com/spacesapi.aspx?wx_action=create & wx_url=/friends.aspx & mk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 27, 2006 Report Share Posted November 27, 2006 > ><snip> I did an infusion using dried lavender buds and dried rose > >petals sometime ago but I dont seem to get the smell of either even > >though I pounded them first. > > > >Can anyone shed some light on this. BTW I used EVOO. Maybe this > >overpowers the scent. > >regards > >Poh Yee > >Jump in to add to this, anyone else... > > > Andrine, Hi Poh Yee, I remember doing a honey suckle infusion during the summer of last year. The blossoms were simply dripping from this wild honeysuckle I had climbing up my garden shed. I placed some in oil and left them to steep, simply dropping them in the oil without pounding them, I left them in the sun. There was a lovely scent forming. A couple of days later, while I was very pleased with the scent already I decided to pound them a bit in the oil. I used a stout pestle. As soon as the deed was done I noticed that the lovely delicate honeysuckle scent was gone and was replaced by a sort of unpleasant leafy smell. Maybe pounding the delicate rose petals and lavender buds is not the right thing to do. BTW I have to wait until next summer before I try the honeysuckle infusion again. Ruth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 27, 2006 Report Share Posted November 27, 2006 >Hi Poh Yee, > >I remember doing a honey suckle infusion during the summer of last >year. The blossoms were simply dripping from this wild honeysuckle I >had climbing up my garden shed. > >I placed some in oil and left them to steep, simply dropping them in >the oil without pounding them, I left them in the sun. There was a >lovely scent forming. A couple of days later, while I was very pleased >with the scent already I decided to pound them a bit in the oil. I >used a stout pestle. As soon as the deed was done I noticed that the >lovely delicate honeysuckle scent was gone and was replaced by a sort >of unpleasant leafy smell. Maybe pounding the delicate rose petals and >lavender buds is not the right thing to do. > >BTW I have to wait until next summer before I try the honeysuckle >infusion again. > >Ruth. Hello Ruth, The sight and smell of the h/suckle must be glorious. It's interesting that when you started pounding, the delicate scent disappeared. I dont know, but perhaps the ?? scent molecules of these delicate flowers are damaged/destroyed with pounding ( I am thinking of how delicate flowers like jasmine etc are never steam distilled) I am sure everyone would be very keen to know how it goes next year. I am definitely not going to macerate the gardenia flowers when I get them. Thanks for your input. Poh Yee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 27, 2006 Report Share Posted November 27, 2006 > I used dried flower petals and put the mason jar in a slow simmer. > as you have suggested. I have strained everything out. Should I > repeat this process. I will try with fresh flowers next year. > > Poh Yee Hello again Poh Yee, I would use an even gentler heat than a simmer -- like just standing the jar in a sunny window, or setting it in a pot of warm (not hot) water. And I would change the flowers out several times until you find that you're satisfied with the strength of the scent. Also, if you're going to wait until next year, I'd definitely put that jar into the fridge 'til then. Or maybe even the freezer, but I'd ask someone else's advice on that one because I don't know if freezing would kill any part of the scent that is already started in your oil. (And, experimentally, I have my styrax enfleurage project in the freezer awaiting next summer's blossoms. More on that as it develops... Oh -- I just had an awful thought of pulling it out next year and discovering that my enfleurage has freezer burn. That's too painful to think about -- I just might have to investigate it tomorrow morning...) Do keep us posted on your progress! Still happy in my spikenard cloud from an earlier posting... Andrine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 28, 2006 Report Share Posted November 28, 2006 > > > I used dried flower petals and put the mason jar in a slow simmer. > > as you have suggested. I have strained everything out. Should I > > repeat this process. I will try with fresh flowers next year. > > > > Poh Yee > >Hello again Poh Yee, > >I would use an even gentler heat than a simmer -- like just standing >the jar in a sunny window, or setting it in a pot of warm (not hot) >water. And I would change the flowers out several times until you >find that you're satisfied with the strength of the scent. Also, if >you're going to wait until next year, I'd definitely put that jar >into the fridge 'til then. Or maybe even the freezer, but I'd ask >someone else's advice on that one because I don't know if freezing >would kill any part of the scent that is already started in your >oil. (And, experimentally, I have my styrax enfleurage project in >the freezer awaiting next summer's blossoms. More on that as it >develops... Oh -- I just had an awful thought of pulling it out >next year and discovering that my enfleurage has freezer burn. >That's too painful to think about -- I just might have to >investigate it tomorrow morning...) > >Do keep us posted on your progress! > >Still happy in my spikenard cloud from an earlier posting... >Andrine > Andrine, My apologies. The dried flowers (lavender & rose) have not been strained. Sorry, my mistake. What was I thinking??? I just took the jar out and to have a little whiff. I will strain the bits out tonight and then add a little more flowers and put it on a very ... slow simmer. Hopefully this would help. Wished I have used jojoba instead. thanks again:)) regards, Poh Yee _________________________________________________________________ Fixing up the home? Live Search can help http://imagine-windowslive.com/search/kits/default.aspx?kit=improve & locale=en-US\ & source=hmemailtaglinenov06 & FORM=WLMTAG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 28, 2006 Report Share Posted November 28, 2006 Andrine, My apologies. The dried flowers (lavender & rose) have not been strained. Sorry, my mistake. What was I thinking??? I just took the jar out and to have a little whiff. <snip> regards, Poh Yee Poh Yee, No need at all to apologize for anything! And as for the olive oil, I wouldn't worry about that either. Just keep it cool so it doesn't go off and you should be fine. I have a bottle of vanilla infusion in olive oil and I just make sure I keep it cool. Have fun! Andrine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 28, 2006 Report Share Posted November 28, 2006 At 08:21 AM 11/27/2006, you wrote: >I remember doing a honey suckle infusion during the summer of last >year. The blossoms were simply dripping from this wild honeysuckle I >had climbing up my garden shed. > >I placed some in oil and left them to steep, simply dropping them in >the oil without pounding them, I left them in the sun. There was a >lovely scent forming. A couple of days later, while I was very pleased >with the scent already I decided to pound them a bit in the oil. I >used a stout pestle. As soon as the deed was done I noticed that the >lovely delicate honeysuckle scent was gone and was replaced by a sort >of unpleasant leafy smell. Maybe pounding the delicate rose petals and >lavender buds is not the right thing to do. Never stir or crush the plant material. With leaves, you'll release a lot of chlorphyll, making it green and yucky. With flowers, a lot of unwanted stuff comes over too. Just gently strain. You can powder dried herbs before infusing, but not during ;-) Anya McCoy Anya's Garden of Natural Perfume http://anyasgarden.com Artisan Natural Perfumers Guild http://artisannaturalperfumers.org Natural Perfumers Chat Group / Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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