I'm an organic chemist and in my lab, we use a "fancy" steam distillation set up with lemon peels to extract lemon essential oil (limonene). I've read some cool benefits of lemon hydrosol, too. Anyway, you might want to play with lemon peels in your set up, since you might be using the rest of the lemon in cooking. 😊
Brilliant. Thanks for sharing that pressure cooker distillation information. Back in the early '80's I tried making a still using a pressure cooker and some copper tubing. I made what I thought was a decent corn mash a week or so before putting it in the cooker. It didn't work out too well. It didn't explode or anything like that, my fermented mash mixture simply stunk up the house in the middle of Summer. My folks and sisters weren't too pleased.
Thank you. A lot of people use the mint hydrosol for all sorts of things. Some people drink it because it's said to be good for digestion. Some spray it on their skin to relieve itching. Some people just spritz it around their home as a natural air freshener. Personally, the thing I use it for the most is as a natural insect repellent. I actually spray it all around my outdoor cooking area to keep the flies and bees away while I'm out there. They do not care for the smell, but it smells very nice to me.
Pondering this process.... If you're just going to boil the leaves directly IN the water, (as opposed to boiling water under a rack that holds the leaves separate from the water, allowing steam to pass through the leaves) maybe you don't need this distillation process. Just boil it, separate off the water, then pour into your oil separator and allow it to cool. Seems like it would garner the same amount of oil. ?
While steam distillation (using a rack to hold the leaves above the water) would improve this process - particularly with certain spices or plants - it's still advantageous over doing it how you described. First, if you use your idea, you need to start with distilled water (like, buy distilled water at the store, or make your own with a distiller). Because the distillation process does more than just heat the mint leaves; it's separating and leaving behind all manner of impurities and other junk you don't want in your final product. Second, from what I've read online, your idea takes much longer. I've seen articles that advise leaving the leaves steeping in the water for weeks before the oil is fully extracted. With distillation, it's obviously much quicker.
Very interesting, Great Lakes! I thought this would be quite complicated, but it's actually much simpler than imagined.
Thanks Joe. A bit resource and time-consuming, but otherwise pretty simple in principle.
Fascinating. Very simple and straight-forward. Very helpful! I read that thyme hydrosol is a good antimicrobial, great for cleaning.
A lot of effort, it's worth the effort. Thanks for sharing this.
I'm an organic chemist and in my lab, we use a "fancy" steam distillation set up with lemon peels to extract lemon essential oil (limonene). I've read some cool benefits of lemon hydrosol, too. Anyway, you might want to play with lemon peels in your set up, since you might be using the rest of the lemon in cooking. 😊
Thanks Lauren, lemon is definitely one I've thought about trying. I bet you all have some awesome equipment to work with!
I'm sure your lab-derived lemon essential oil is very good🥳. But do you need better distillation and laboratory equipment🤔?
@@ShanghaiQIYUIndustrialCompanyM not necessarily, no. If you can heat it enough and trap the oil vs hydrosol. 🤷♀️
@@laurenragle5228 Okay, I see😄. I also wanted to try this interesting experiment, after all, the leftover lemons can be used in the cooking process🥳.
Brilliant.
Thanks for sharing that pressure cooker distillation information. Back in the early '80's I tried making a still using a pressure cooker and some copper tubing. I made what I thought was a decent corn mash a week or so before putting it in the cooker.
It didn't work out too well.
It didn't explode or anything like that, my fermented mash mixture simply stunk up the house in the middle of Summer.
My folks and sisters weren't too pleased.
Haha...at lease you had a go...keep playing 😊
Great video...what would you use the water for ? Thanks 😊
Thank you. A lot of people use the mint hydrosol for all sorts of things. Some people drink it because it's said to be good for digestion. Some spray it on their skin to relieve itching. Some people just spritz it around their home as a natural air freshener. Personally, the thing I use it for the most is as a natural insect repellent. I actually spray it all around my outdoor cooking area to keep the flies and bees away while I'm out there. They do not care for the smell, but it smells very nice to me.
😮interesting 🎉
I’m keen
Awesome video you rock
Thanks Matthew
Woow i like it so much so how much are th prices of all the material plz
Pondering this process.... If you're just going to boil the leaves directly IN the water, (as opposed to boiling water under a rack that holds the leaves separate from the water, allowing steam to pass through the leaves) maybe you don't need this distillation process. Just boil it, separate off the water, then pour into your oil separator and allow it to cool. Seems like it would garner the same amount of oil. ?
While steam distillation (using a rack to hold the leaves above the water) would improve this process - particularly with certain spices or plants - it's still advantageous over doing it how you described.
First, if you use your idea, you need to start with distilled water (like, buy distilled water at the store, or make your own with a distiller). Because the distillation process does more than just heat the mint leaves; it's separating and leaving behind all manner of impurities and other junk you don't want in your final product.
Second, from what I've read online, your idea takes much longer. I've seen articles that advise leaving the leaves steeping in the water for weeks before the oil is fully extracted. With distillation, it's obviously much quicker.
Great video but what is hydrosol?
Hydrosol is just the mint-infused (in this case) water that's leftover after I separate the oil out of it.
@@GreatLakesPrepping
Thanks, so mint flavored water? Cool.
Iam making tooth wash out of Neem leaves so iam need of the machine