Melissa derives its name from the Greek word honeybee because the tiny white flowers are so attractive to bees. According to The Drunken Botanist: “The upper leaves and flowers are steamed distilled to extract this potent flavor, which goes into absinthe, vermouth, and herbal liqueurs. It is suspected to be one of the secret ingredients in both Chartreuse and Benedictine.” As discussed in our article on St-Germain, Medieval monks and nuns used booze to preserve the healing powers of herbs. …
Tag: Herbalism
The Spirit of St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur
There was “sad news in the spirits world” when it was reported by Eater.com and countless other food and beverage blogs that Robert Cooper, the founder of the wildly popular St-Germain elderflower liqueur, died suddenly at the age of 39. Cooper was born into the booze business, but struck out on his own when his idea to make an elderflower liqueur (like those he’d encountered in London) was pooh-poohed by his father. The elder Cooper had cause to regret his …
Alchemy, Aromatherapy, and Distillation: An Interview with Cathy Skipper
Cathy Skipper is English by birth and spent much of her adult life in rural France, where she farmed, trained and worked as a herbalist and aromatherapist, and taught practical herbalism, botany and aromatherapy. Together with her husband Florian Birkmayer, she founded Aromagnosis.com. They live in New Mexico and offer courses live and online centralized around the work of Carl Jung, alchemy, aromatherapy, aromatic molecules and the mind. Her new book The Alchemy of Menopause helps women transform “the time …
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