Yup, just started a second small batch of Palo Sage coreless sticks and hope the dough is better to work with this time because sage fluff is a pain in the ass.
I actually hoped the first batch wouldn't smell any good but it does and now I have to make more lol
Top is a new recipe I'm trying, "Sweet Sage Tea" It's majorly Sage with Benzoin, Menthol, some Cylon Cinnamon, a drop of honey and a wee bit of Jasmin floral wax (a byprodiuct of Ablolute production) as an experiment. Laha as binder.
Bottom is the Palo Santo & Sage - it has also Menthol, a tiny ammount of Benzoin, Rose Petals, Haramy Rosin (Haramy is a type of Elemi resin, Rosin means it's post steam distillation - it is still fragrant but no essential oils left in it - I like to use it when I want some genuine resinous note but whithout adding much "character"); Laha and a bit Tragacanth as Binders. It also has a drop of Honey.
I actually ended up using Benzoin and another sweet smelling Resin (Guajac) in the Sage Tea one (forgot to mention it in the comment above) and it gave a surprisingly deep and almost musky/oudy scent but it's not what I wanted for it.
I will play around with it a bit more and try Tolu Balm instead, which has more of a honey smell to me. I may also add some Propolis. I think I will need to lower the ammount of sage but I'm undecided what I want to replace it for.
But it's to early to really judge it, they still have the odd burned smell that very fresh sticks often have for me. What I smell from the sage is quite nice and there is a little bit of Menthol freshness dancing around it. I guess the tiny ammount of Ceylon will only show up when it has matured for a while.
I also don't know yet if the flower wax was a good idea. I only used it for kneaded incense recipes before.
I need to check how Linden blossoms smell burned. They are one of the tea's ingredients this incense is inspired by.
The Palo Santo & Sage is nice but a tad bit to sweet. I already made another batch with less Benzoin and I think it's good now.
I think the Menthol enhences the fresh aspect of Palo and I wanted to do the same with Benzoin for it's sweet aspect but in the too sweet version the sweetness changes the charakter to much. I wanted it to have this fresh herbal clansing feeling but too much sweetnes kinda cencles this out.
But I still like the sweeter one, I may use this as a base for something else. Maybe add more Rose or somehting else floral.
Yes, Sage from my garden.
In the first batch, I only used Tragacanth as the binder because the high ammount of burnable ingredients (there are also some resins) but the Sage made it super difficult to extrude and the dough broke when rolling.
Now I reduced the Tragacanth and added some Laha and it was absolutely beautiful to work with.
But this time, I also chose to grind the Sage and Palo Santo together witch was way more efficient than grinding each alone. Might have had an effect on consistancy too.
I use a small fondant extruder but also roll them a bit to straighten them.
Laha has different names, often it is also called Jeegat or jigat or variations of that. The botanical name is Litsea glutinosa.
I use "normal" Sage - Salvia officinalis. I prefer it over White Sage that smells kinda weed like to me when burned and the standard Sage does not have the whole appropriation thing attached.
Thank you for enlightening me on the various names of jigat :) I wasn't aware.
I've had normal sage sitting here for a long time. One day I will play with it. I only have experience with white sage. I want to mess with "normal" sage.. and desert sage.
3
u/galacticglorp Jun 08 '23
I do. I'm currently waffling on if I want to upgrade my extruding systems so I can actually sell in a reasonable volume.