Directions for Cookery, in its Various BranchesLeslie, Eliza
General
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Leslie, Eliza
Cooking, American
A French process for obtaining essential oils from flowers or herbs has
been described as follows:—Take carded cotton, or split wadding and
steep it in some pure Florence oil, such as is quite clear and has no
smell. Then place a layer of this cotton in the bottom of a deep china
dish, or in an earthen pipkin. Cover it with a thick layer of fresh
rose leaves, or the leaves of sweet pink, jasmine, wall-flower,
tuberose, magnolia blossoms, or any other odoriferous flower or plant
from which you wish to obtain the perfume. Spread over the
flower-leaves another layer of cotton that has been steeped in oil.
Afterwards a second layer of flowers, and repeat them alternately till
the vessel is quite full. Cover it closely, and let it stand in the sun
for a week. Then throw away the flower-leaves, carefully press out the
oil from the cotton, and put it into a small bottle for use. The oil
will be found to have imbibed the odour of the flowers.
Keep the scented cotton to perfume your clothes-presses.
BALM OF GILEAD OIL.
Put loosely into a bottle as many balm of Gilead flowers as will come
up to a third part of its height; then nearly fill up the bottle with
sweet oil, which should be of the best quality. Let it infuse (shaking
it occasionally) for several days, and it will then be fit for use. It
is considered a good remedy for bruises of the skin; also for cuts,
burns, and scalds that are not very bad, and should be applied
immediately,—by wetting a soft rag with it; renewing it frequently,
LIP SALVE.
Put into a wide-mouthed bottle four ounces of the best olive oil, with
one ounce of the small parts of alkanet root. Stop up the bottle, and
set it in the sun, (shaking it often,) till you find the liquid of a
beautiful crimson. Then strain off the oil very clear from the alkanet
root, put it into an earthen pipkin, and add to it an ounce of white
wax, and an ounce and a half of the best mutton suet, which has been
previously clarified, or boiled and skimmed. Set the mixture on the
embers of coals, and melt it slowly: stirring it well. After it has
simmered slowly far a little while, take it off; and while still hot,
mix with it a few drops of oil of roses, or of oil of neroli, or
tincture of musk.
COLD CREAM.
Cut very fine a drachm of white wax and a drachm of spermaceti. Put it
into a small sauce-pan with one ounce of oil of sweet almonds, and mix
them well together. Set it on hot coals, and as soon as it has boiled
take it off, and stir in an ounce of orange-flower or rose-water. Beat
it very hard, and then put it into gallipots.
SOFT POMATUM.
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