Hello everyone,
Does anyone know where I can purchase
"aspalathos", "balanos oil", or "sorrel"(some type of plant/shrub??-i read somewhere that this could be "red bush" or 'hibiscus")?? These are ingredients used in Egyptian recipes, but i am having trouble locating these itmes. Anyone have any ideas?
Peace.
Does anyone know where I can purchase
"aspalathos", "balanos oil", or "sorrel"(some type of plant/shrub??-i read somewhere that this could be "red bush" or 'hibiscus")?? These are ingredients used in Egyptian recipes, but i am having trouble locating these itmes. Anyone have any ideas?
Peace.
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Re: Egyptian Resins/Herbs?
Thu, October 18, 2007 - 10:56 PMThe source I have found to be most reliable is An Ancient Egyptian Herbal by Lise Manniche.
The upshot is that alot of the names in the recipes cannot be matched to modern day nomeclature so the identity of some of the ingredients is uncertain.
Balanos is a plant that is more or less completely gone or unavailable but was used for a stable oil base. I would use moringa oil as a substiture since it is a very traditional Egyptian oil and is available online.
Asphaltos is probably asphaltum which is a naturally occuring tar which smells kind of interesting when burned, a bit like roofing tar, but it adds something mysterious, and was used in mummification.
Sorrel is an herb but I am not aware that it was ever native to Egypt.
Alchemy Works is a small estore that I have found reliable for a number of the odder resins and traditional ingredients. Good Luck. -
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Re: Egyptian Resins/Herbs?
Sat, October 20, 2007 - 11:12 AMI don't care for Hibiscus in incense as it has that burnt smokey thing going on but it's available anywhere you can find other herbs
depending on your local grocery store you might be able to find it in their herb/bulk section
additionally you could always use hibiscus as a tea in your incense will give a light blush color
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Re: Egyptian Resins/Herbs?
Sat, October 20, 2007 - 2:34 PMa number of years ago i went on an unsucessful quest to try and find balanos oil <sigh>
i am not a big fan of asphaltum but here's the link to check it out
www.alchemy-works.com/incense_asphaltum.html -
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Re: Egyptian Resins/Herbs?
Sun, October 21, 2007 - 12:22 PMI have found that if you use a very very miniscule amount of asphaltum with powdered woods, so that it does not burn but just smoulders a bit, it smells really interesting. It reminds me of a dank old stone church.
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Re: Egyptian Resins/Herbs?
Sun, January 27, 2008 - 8:07 PMAspalathos is probably not asphaltum. Plutarch records both "Bitumen of Judaea" (a.k.a. asphaltum) and aspalathos in his recipe for Kyphi, differentiating between the two. The actual identity of aspalathos is uncertain. Pliny records that aspalathos is, "a white thornie shrub it is, of the bignesse of a small tree, and beareth a flower resembling a rose" (Pliny, The Twelfth Book of the History of Nature, Chap. XXIIII).
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Re: Egyptian Resins/Herbs?
Tue, October 23, 2007 - 7:04 AMThanks everyone for your responses!!
Peace. -
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Re: Egyptian Resins/Herbs?
Tue, February 5, 2008 - 6:25 PMyes, thank you to everyone here. I am so grateful for all the attendance and brilliance in this tribe, as i have learned a lot since starting it.
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