23 June 2011

Pineapple Sage



Not long ago there was talk on the Yahoo Natural Perfumery group about extracting the scent of pineapple sage. Pineapple is my favorite fruit. I love the sweet smell of a fresh cut pineapple and I love the smell of this pineapple scented herb. The subject of the group discussion was distilling. According to Jeanne Rose the hydrosol (or distillate/fragrant water left over after distilling) is very green/herbal smelling without the fruity pineapple scent. I don't have a still so I opted to tincture the leaves. I started this one on June 21. I added 9 grams of pineapple sage to a small jar and poured 160 grams alcohol to cover the leaves. This set for two days before I strained off the alcohol and added new leaved. Weighing the alcohol I had 145 grams after straining. I added new leaves to the jar along with the 145 grams of tincture. I topped it off with more alcohol to bring it back up to 160 grams. Note: I used 100 proof alcohol for this since I was out higher proof.


Alcohol after it had been strained


Tincture poured over new leaves


I will continue until I feel I have gotten as much scent as I can in the alcohol. I'll keep you updated on my progress.

6 comments:

Charna said...

Ooh, I'm excited to hear how your tincture turns out! I was at Home Depot last weekend and stumbled upon a whole tower of pineapple sage plants. I've never smelled them before, and I was delighted by the fresh pineapple scent. Keep us posted on your tincture--I love the bright green color!

Unknown said...

One of my favorite herbs. Mahalo for sharing and good luck with your carfting. Keep us posted.

xo
Aloha
PK

Lisa Abdul-Quddus said...

Charna, I LOVE the scent. I have 4 plants and one is about 2 ft tall. I'm hoping I can get a good tincture from this. That would be great. The color is beautiful isn't it? It was a nice surprise.

Lisa Abdul-Quddus said...

Thank you PK! This is just the second year I planted pineapple sage but I hope to make this a permanent resident in my herb garden.

Unknown said...

Happy aloha Friday Lisa. My little plant grew into a really huge bush, which I just loved sitting next to and enjoying it's magical scent. It's just one of those herbs that grows on you, and when they flower the bees just loved them too.

have a great one.
PK

Lisa Abdul-Quddus said...

PK, my plants are in pots but now reading your comment I may replant them in the ground. Thanks for the info.