It may seem like something more suited to the time of Jane Austen,
Martha left you her best Love; she will write to you herself in a short time, but trusting to my memory rather than her how she has nevertheless desired me to ask you to purchase for her two bottles of Steele’s Lavender Water when you are in Town.”
The letter was written by Jane Austen to her friend Cassandra, 14 January 1801.
But Lavender Water is a wonderful product that can be a quick and easy way to take some of the abundance of lavender from your garden into your home.
There are numerous different ways that you can preserve your homegrown lavender, but we think that making a bottle of lavender water is one of the simplest and quickest routes from fresh lavender to a usable product. Lavender water is incredibly simple to make, and the recipe can be altered to your own preference, but as a good starting point why not try the recipe below.
– Pop outside and gather a generous handful of fresh lavender stalks.
– Stop for a moment to breathe in the heavenly smell.
– Strip the flower buds from the stalks and check that there aren’t any wee beasties sheltering in there (a good shake outside should help discourage any stowaways).
– Tumble the buds into a glass jar or other airtight container and pour over 100ml of freshly boiled water. Ideally make sure that this is from fresh tap water or even mineral water, certainly not the dregs of water that have been sitting in the kettle for a few days!
– Leave the mixture to steep for at least 2 hours or even overnight (once it’s cool transfer it to the fridge).
– Strain out the lavender buds.
You will now have a wonderfully fragrant lavender water that will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. We generally recommend making small amounts of this right throughout lavender’s flowering season so that you always have a fresh supply on hand.
However, you can add up to an equal quantity (as water) of pure vodka or witch hazel to the mix. This will help to preserve the lavender water for up to a year. Also if you want an even stronger fragrance to your lavender water try adding a few drops of our wonderful lavender essential oil to the mixture. In this case, the vodka will also help act to emulsify the lavender essential oil and the water.
Don’t forget to come back next week for our blog post all about uses for your wonderful lavender water.
