How To Distill Gardenia Flowers In California: Wild Card Wednesday

Gardenia jasminoides hides her insecurities under her waxy branches and behind soft powdery spice notes, much like Jasmine auriculatum. But she belongs in fat and tincture and the belly of a still. She is still present long after her soft, creamy white petals have browned. She minds us that she is a genus of flowering plants in the coffee family and like coffee, she is adored and admired. Coveted. Gardenias love the early burst of June heat here in Sacramento, California; so much so that they return for another lush crop in mid fall. In this video, I talk about a gardenia tincture I started in October 2021 as well as this week’s distillation of the fresh flowers. I will return with another video later this summer about how I turn the Gardenia tincture into an absolute. I also recap last week’s distillation lessons learned from the Blue Lotus I distilled. I hope you enjoy this week’s video! Thank you for watching weekly distillations of my wild foraging in Northern California plus some off the grid distillations of aromatics in my apothecary. Subscribe to the channel and receive a free sample of the distillation when an order is placed on our Etsy shop or website (Let us know you subscribed) where aromatic stories and shipping are always free. Visit us at www.etsy.com/shop/EOApothecare or www.essentialoilapothecary.com Gratitude for your support!