How to Make Lavender Water

Several years ago, a friend gave me a bottle of lavender water. It came in a spritzer, and I used it to freshen napkins and pillowcases. The calming scent tiptoed into my dreams and I always awoke happy and refreshed. Well--most of the time.
I was sad when I used the last of the ironing water and decided to pull a Mrs. Frankenstein and make my own.

Pictured from left: Lavandula Heterophylla (from Publix--couldn't resist), culinary lavender, lavender water.
My lavender garden needs tending. In fact, it looks pretty scraggly. The icy winter claimed two or three shrubs, though this particular variety was supposed to withstand temperatures below 20 degrees. (We bought the plants at Home Depot 2 years ago.)

Naturally, I'm planting more. Lavender likes a sunny spot and grows 3' tall and 3' wide. I interspersed my shrubs with hardy knockout tree roses. Dr. Big, who is my go-to guy for all things biological, says it's best to pick lavender when the flowers start to open. Farmers know those things. Which is a good, because I'm a terrible gardener.

But I'm trying to learn.

The Country House Kitchen Garden claims that "eating sage butter in the early morning was a rule of life for some, while washing their hands in a scented herbal water, distilled from thyme, lavender, and rosemary was another."

I began searching for a recipe. I didn't want to use dried lavender (though it's delightful for culinary purposes, such as shortbread, honey-lavender chicken, and bread). Last year, several bloggers made lavender shortbread, which is one of my personal favorites.

One recipe called for vodka, as the alcohol preserves the aroma longer than just distilled water, but I wanted to keep this recipe simple and opted for the distilled only.
It smells heavenly, a sort of purple-blue smell.

According to A Modern Herbal, "Lavender was hawked around the streets of London with the haunting call, 'Who will buy my sweet lavender?'"

In those days (as now) dried flowers were tucked into linen closets to infuse the scent into bedsheets. The aroma is supposed to be calming, although the authors of Herbs claims, "Lavender oil is a stimulant used to prevent vertigo and fainting."


What You Need:

1 bottle distilled water

Essential lavender oil

fresh lavender sprigs to decorate outside of bottoe, optional

spray bottle or decanter


Pour water into a bottle. I used spring water because it was on sale--Bandwidth, the biochemist, promised it would work.

Add 5 drops essential oil to every 5 oz of water.

If you are very, very patient, steep the water two weeks. If you're like me and can't wait, just spritz everything from tablecloths to your husband's undershirts. Anything spritz-able (not a word, but you get the idea) will calm the spirit and freshen the house.

It took less than 2 minutes to "make" this, including the time it took to find a funnel.

The cost: less than $5. While fresh lavender sprigs are beautiful in the water, they are organic and will make the water cloudy in a few days.


This would make a darling Mother's Day gift...or even a bridal shower present.

"The air was fragrant with a thousand trodden aromatic herbs, with fields of lavender, and with the brightest roses blushing in tufts all over the meadows. . . .”
-- William Cullen Bryant

I'm linking to Metamorphosis Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch.

Sources:

The Country House Kitchen Garden, edited by C. Anne Wilson, Sutton Publishing in association with The National Trust, London: 1998.

The Encyclopedia of Herbs: A Cook's Companion, editeed by Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz, Dorling Kindersly, Inc, London: 1992.

A Modern Herbal, Treasure Press, London: 1974.

Herbs by Simon and Judith Hopkinson, Globe Pequot Press, Chester, CT: 1989.

How to buy essential oils.

Essential Lavender Oil, $3.81 /.5 oz.

Culinary lavender. A wee bit pricey, $6/ounce.

quotation from www.Thinkexist.com