Читать книгу Aromatherapy Workbook - Shirley Price - Страница 21

These are a by-product of distillation and contain some of the properties of the essential oil, even though it may be thought that because essential oils float on water they are not water-soluble. Some essential oil components do dissolve in water, and these, together with larger molecules from the plant (too large to vaporize, but soluble in water), form the aromatic water. Because of the presence of these other molecules, genuine waters have a different aroma from the essential oil of the same name.

The water from plants with a high yield of essential oil is normally discarded – directed into the nearby stream (large stills are always located beside a stream or river). However, with low-yield oils like melissa, rose and neroli, producers cannot afford to lose a single drop of the precious essential oil, so a special method called ‘cohobation’ is used, requiring a highly technical still and an experienced distiller. The basic process is as described above, except that, instead of using fresh water for each new plant load, the same water is piped back into the system, and used over and over again. Eventually, this water becomes saturated with the water-soluble elements from the plant (and water-soluble essential oil components). At this stage, every particle of volatile oil condenses and is collected at the end of the process to make a complete oil.

This saturated water is very concentrated and this strength is good for transport, as it saves on freight costs: it needs to be diluted with pure water to be comparable in strength with other plant waters. Lavender, clary and other waters from normal distillation are not as cheap as one would think (considering they are thrown away unless specifically ordered in advance), because of the cost of packaging and transport.

Before Avicenna’s improvement to distillation and before cohobation was thought of, rose and neroli flowers were distilled simply for the water – the amount of essential oil obtained was negligible. In Tunisia, our friend Manoubi’s mother, like many Arab women today, has her own tiny still, in which she makes orange flower water for her own medicinal and culinary use.

Unfortunately, unless one has a good connection in the country of origin (which, fortunately, we do), it is as difficult to buy untampered-with aromatic waters as it is to buy untampered-with essential oils (almost all rose water available in pharmacies is made with synthetic substitutes).

Aromatic waters can be made from plants which have no essential oil, by using diffusion.