[Sca-cooks] hydrosols

[Stefan li Rous]

   Jadwiga Zajaczkowa asked William de Grandfort:
> >> I picked up two 10-ounce bottles of Indo-European Rosewater at
> >> Ralph's Supermarket for $1.49 each.
> >> Nice price, and good quality.  They also had Orange Flower Water, 
> but
> >> I prefer to make my own.
> >
> > Interesting. Are you making a hydrosol of the flowers, or just an
> > infusion?
>
> When I make it, I usually start with a hydrosol, and use that to make 
> a simple orange water, depending on the strength I want in the final 
> product.  If I am
> spraying it on finished baked goods, I will usually dilute the orange 
> hydrosol with a little bit of alcohol (brandy or vodka) instead of 
> water.
>
> I have found that, during the distillation of the flowers, adding a 
> tiny bit of honey gives the resulting brew a nice complexity, ...

Okay, so what precisely is a "hydrosol"? Is this simply a distillation 
of the water which something has been soaked in? Or perhaps the flower 
or whatever is left in when the water is boiled?

> I got into making my own orange flower water many years ago, when 
> experimenting with the distillation of fruit and plant essences for a 
> culinary article (which
> never made it into the National Culinary Review because, little did I 
> know, they had already done an article on it).

So, what happened to the article? Did you get far enough long that it 
was publishable? I do understand that is likely to be modern and not on 
period techniques or history.
> I would recommend the following combinations for anyone wishing to 
> experiment:
>
> Kefir Lime Leaves and Mint
> Orange flower and Rosemary
> Orange flower and Honey
> Pineapple and Mint (especially when dropped into a Rum and Coke!!!)
> Muskmelon and Cucumber
> Thyme and Scallion
I think only a few of these have any chance of being period. So what 
period hydrosols were there? Rosewater and orange flower water? 
Anything else? Perhaps mints?

Thanks,
   Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****