Aromatic Adventures

2015 is the year of the ANZAC as two nations remember and commemorate the landings at Gallipoli in April 2015. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corp. ANZAC day is commemorated on the 24 April each year with a national holiday and a day of reflection and remembrance. For both our nations it has embodied our sense of nationhood as this time in history was when NZ especially was beginning to develop its own identify as a nation and not just as a British colony. Most kiwis and Aussies try and make a journey to ANZAC cove in the hauntingly beautiful Gallipoli peninsular in Turkey. I had a very special opportunity this year to travel as part of a small contingent of 88 people to commemorate the work of the ANZAC nurses from August 2015, in harsh and trying conditions caring for the thousands of wounded ANZACS. We got to dress up in authentic recreated costumes as we learnt about how the nurses lived, worked, and in some cases died (10 NZ nurses perished when the Marquette...

The initial results are in comparing 2 samples of kanuka hydrosol distilled from 2 locations in NZ. I will share a brief over here as the full results will be shared in a international aromatherapy journal shortly. Thanks to some crowd funding support via give a little page (now closed) and self funding I was able to get two samples analysed-one obtained from Waiheke island (supplied by Jill at Alembics NZ ) and the other from a kind donor in the Nelson Lakes region. both samples were steam distilled in a copper alembic still with the essential oil not removed. The analyses were completed at the Callaghan Institute-here is a summary of what they found. Aromatically, both samples differed significantly in detectable aroma, with the Waiheke sample being a lot stronger. It cannot be determined whether this is due to the process of distillation or some other factor as more samples would be needed. This is visually apparent in the two graphs below. The key constituents identified...

Hi - here is a selection of aromatic presentations I have given over the years. Please respect my copy write. The files are accessed via google docs and just click on the links here. I will be adding to them from time to time. please note some information may be replicated in the files depending on the audience. Oral Care and Aromatics + an over view of hydrosols Turkish Rose Fields Or

I am really excited to be getting this project under way which has been in my head for a few years now, since I completed my Doctorate exploring the therapeutic benefits of Manuka and Kanuka essential oils. Doing any sort of research is costly, and as one private individual who is not attached to an organisation, it is sadly beyond my means. However I believe passionate in trying to understand more about our NZ natives and the ability in people being able to perhaps use and produce their hydrosols. It is well known that chemical composition of essential oils of Manuka does vary around NZ, but to my knowledge there has been no comprehensive analysis of the hydrosols. Below is my full research proposal-and it help fund this project I am having to put my cap out to the wider aromatic community to support it. Donations http://givealittle.co.nz/cause/nzaromatics# (anything from $1) can be made via  Give-a-little page set up expressively for this. The full details are here I wou...

love natural skincare: Ready Made bases- post 2 How to use gel bases :                                             How to Use Gel Bases Gel bases are usually a water based ingredient mixed with a gelling age...

I used my final remaining dried rose flower heads (including some leaves) and dislled using the copper alembic still (hydro distillation. I immersed the 40 gm or so of dried flower heads in approx 700 ml of boiling water and heated over the gas stove. I had cold water going over the condenser from the start as from prior experience disllate comes out very quikcly with my littles still. Sure enough with 5 mins. I had distillate coming out. In total I collected  approx 670 ml of decent hydrosol. I filled them in 125 ml bottles and labelled each with the time and number as the aroma varied from bottle to bottle. For the final amount I had a paper filter going from the still and was able to see a yellow staining on the paper (some precious otto perhaps). It really was at the end and I am sure all the water had gone from inside as the aroma was a sweet caramel, raw tobacco like with a slight hint of 'cooked. the final 50 ml was a cloudy yellow and I am going to put that bottle and th...

I use lemon geranium hydrosol, commercially produced by Lavender Impressions in a lot of my skin care products. For a few very special products I use a co distillation made of out Rosa damascena flowers which I grow organically and these are co distilled with the lemon geranium hydrosol as the base. I produce so few of the flowers at the moment so I dry the flowers until I have enough to use. I downsized from my column alembic still (where the plant material is encased in a metal basket and not immersed in the water) to a smaller still where it is in the water. This was my first distillation using plant material this way. I think aromatically the steam distilled has a nicer aroma, softer and fresher and I feel the colour of the distillate is clearer. I have found that some plant material ends up in the condenser so next time I will do smaller volumes and see what happens. I am going to do redistill the left over liquid (not distillate) and see what I get. Wendy  Part One: R...

Happy new year! Ahh, Osmanthus fragrans, one of the most delicious aromatics I can think of....my attempts to grow this wonderful flower for distillation has been spoken of here , and the subsequent knowledge that the plants I invested several hundred dollars in were mislabelled at the nursery was a heavy blow to my heart. Three years on they are still healthy and have doubled in size but no sign of ANY flowering. Anyway I have trying a one off 'plan B' to capture that wonderful aroma again just for myself. Three years ago I had secured a small amount of genuine osmanthus hydrosol which had been imported from India into New Zealand. I was using it for a range of natural skin care products for a client, but when the source of the hydrosol dried up I turned my last few litres into a gel to incorporate into other things. Just over 3 litres remained and due to the time frame I wouldn't want to use in skin care products now, even though it had been well preserved, so I hav...