Guest guest Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 I am fascinated with the scent of the Hyacinth which grows quite well here in San Francisco and is accessible during the month of february. I have read all the messages and can not understand the difficulty with making an alcohol extraction or tincture from these fragrant blossoms. This is one of the plants that my students study in the Aromatherapy Studies Course ((Chapter 3). You will find that the plant contains benzyl alcohol, benzyl acetate, farnesene and benzoates which make up the floral note, while the cinnalyl alcohols make up the spicy note and the indole is that 'funky', 'musty' animalic note that is also in some jasmines and the fungal earthy smell is octenol. An interesting combination. Indole is actually in high percentage at 0.3%. The trick to extraction is to use the finest highest proof of neutral grape spirits (95%) and lots of flowers picked and infused in the alcohol sequentially. Hyacinth is one of those thick-leaved flowers that continues to produce odor up to 24-36 hours after it is picked. One should use alcohol because there is moisture in the fresh flower - thus if you infuse in oil -you are adding moisture to the oil and getting mold. So use good quality grape spirits. Get a small sparkly clean glass container (4 oz jam jar), fill will freshly picked flowers (after the dew is dried), add 4 oz alcohol, shake around, let sit, the next day strain this over a brand new jar of freshly picked flowers. You can repeat this process 2-4 times. At the end of the 6-days you will eventually capture about 2 oz of sweetly Hyacinth scented alcohol. Refrigerate this and use in your perfumes. Remember that this alcohol will pick up both the scent and the color of the flowers. In my case, I used pink Hyacinth. It will also pick up the moisture from the flowers - this is why you must use high-proof alcohol. At the end of your tincture, your Hyacinth alcohol will have reduced in percentage to about 80% - and should not be further reduced as essential oils will no longer be solvent. I intend to let my coming class use my Hyacinth tincture as their base when next Natural Perfumery class happens (in March). Jeanne Rose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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