Essentialz Profile ~ Foeniculum vulgare ~ Baby Fennel Hydrosol & Sweet Fennel Crystal Floral Water

Last year I planted some fennel, because I love roasted fennel, but only 3 plants as I wasn’t sure how it would grow. I also thought I could collect the seeds to distil my own fennel oil for floral waters… and that’s where I didn’t allow for Mother Nature doing her own thing! This year I don’t have 3 fennel plants, more like 300!

So yesterday, being the first fine day of spring, I went and pulled out over 100 of those baby seedlings, tenderly washed all the soil off them and roasted some little roots for dinner (not 100 of them I can assure you). Then I distilled the remaining bulbs and fronds — 500gm of plant material to 2 litres of water in my still, and got 500ml of beautiful Hydrosol with a little bit of essential oil floating on top.

What can you do with Fennel Hydrosol? I have this amazing book called Hydrosols — The Next Aromatherapy by Suzanne Catty. Admittedly, hers is for Fennel Seeds (my original intention), however, fennel is fennel! The difference between the seeds and the leaves is that it isn’t as strong on the liquorice flavour.

It’s great for tummy upset, can help cleanse the digestive system, and promote lactation in breastfeeding mothers. It’s also a decongestant and expectorant and is recommended for smoker’s cough.

Fennel is recommended for dull, oily and mature skin types, so my first thought for this batch was to add it to a clay mask for a spring facial pickme-up, especially with being stuck inside for lockdown!

If you’d like to try some, there are 50ml bottles available on the website.  

Back in 2007, I was making Crystal Floral Waters for a company in Korea, and they used them in the face masks that you can now buy here in the packets. Fennel was a popular one, and I have just started transferring them over to the new website…

So please keep watching Aromatherapy/Floral Waters & Hydrosols as this section grows...