homemade henna paste ... like homemade bread vs wonderbread
Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on July 25, 2000 at 19:54:13:
In Reply to: Catherine......I am going to attempt to make Henna myself....I have some qusetions? posted by Michelle on July 25, 2000 at 19:14:39:
There are a lot of variables. Freshness is one of them.
If your kitchen is very, very warm (over 90F) just use rainwater to
mix your henna, and leave it until you see the top go a little
brownish, like an apple cut and left out in the air. 4 hours perhaps.
If your kitchen is moderate, (70F) mix your henna with lemon juice and
leave it out ovenight. It will be ready to use tne next day.
If your kitchen is cold, less than 65F, (or if you are camping at
Brushwood and you can see your $%^& breath in the air by 9 pm ... dear
god this was a COLD July! There was frost last week!) , add lemon
juice and your henna will be ready to use the next evening or even the
next day.
Just mix enough lemon juice into your paste to make the glump the
consistency of green mashed potatoes.
The coffee doesn't make any particular difference ... but if you've
just run out of lemons and don't want to bother squeezing another,
it's convenient to grap a cuppa and thin the mashed potatoe glump into
the consistency of stirred up yoghurt. (My fav consistency .... other
people use it thicker). If you want to play kitchenwitch with your
mix, the coffee is very convenient, because you can simmer coffee with
cloves, eucalyptus leaves, cinnamon, dried orange peel, foenugreek ...
all sorts of goodies that may tweek your henna very slightly one way
or another.
I love working with fresh henna paste. I really love knowing what's
in the stuff.
