WhatsappDistillation time of our Lavender has come!
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Lavandula Stoechas is our endemic variety of lavender, and it covers the genuine land where vegetation grows spontaneously in Sardinia. On our hectare with sea view, it grows abundantly everywhere!
That’s why, among our four sensory pathways, we created the Lavender Room: a small nest to relax body and mind, dedicated to those who have the need of rest and tranquility…
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Knowledge of Marina, the landlady, is the result of both passion for land and dedication to study: for over twenty years she’s been exploring the natural world and the endemic Sardinian plants, with all the potential uses of this heritage.
Compared to Lavandula Officinalis – commonly called Lavandula Vera and notoriously relaxing – ours is more balmy, expectorant, bronco-dilator: in short, is a panacea for the whole respiratory system. It can also be used in massage as anti-rheumatic, anti-arthritic, thanks to the presence of camphor in its essencial oil, which is a very odorous substance with a heating action. Nevertheless, the relaxing properties remain anyway!
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Early in the morning we gather in baskets flowering tops of the plant, preferring those intact and fresh, and leaving the drier or a little faded.
Then we get back in the central hall of L’Essenza and we arrange the flowers in a clean white linen tablecloth.
In the meantime, we put in the pot the amount of water required to fill it up to the level of the base grid.
Then we select the best flowers, making sure there are no bugs or damaged petals, and we put them in the pot by filling it to the brim. Then we place the second upper grille and the distiller tightly closed.
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We then place the glass on the little table in old wood, we make the connections of the pipes for cooling water, and we start the steam vapor distillation, lighting the fire under the pot, with a small portable stove.
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When the thermometer indicates exactly one hundred degrees, we start with the cooling by opening the cold water tap: from the tube on the lid the steam passes, ending up in the glass beads inside the glass cylinder cooling; so the cold water turns the steam back to the liquid state.
So from glass balls comes out a mixture of water and aromatic essential oil. The oil, being lighter, stays on the higher part of water. From the lower part of the glass cylinder, the aromatic water comes out and collects in the small jug. Approaching slowly, you should just see with the naked eye a ring of oil on the water, on top of the glass cylinder.
Getting something from nature in this case is an incredible balancing act, with the thermometer never rising above a hundred degrees and water levels always constant.
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We wait a few hours, and once off the stove we wait for the kettle to cool completely before it could be open. At the end of the work we have:
- the jug of aromatic water
- the glass cylinder with the essential oil
- herbs steamed into the pot (with which you can make excellent composting)
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Watch the distillation gallery
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If you like it, it’s your turn!
Write us and book your stay in the Lavender Room!
essenzasardegna@gmail.com
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