Hydrosols (Floral Waters)

Hydrosols are formed during the extraction process when the botanical material is subjected to distillation. While the essential oil of the plant material is drawn off and sold as pure essential oil, the remaining water still contains certain constituents of the plant material, even when filtered and cleaned.
These hydrolats contain the water soluble constituents and are free from the lipophillic substances that make up the essential oils – such as the hydrocarbons, oxides, esters, ether, etcetera, yet contain a whole collection of their own ingredients.
It is this filtered water, with the remaining plant and fragrance molecules that are referred to as floral waters, hydrolats or hydrosols.