Peonies are my favorite flower. They bloom without fail the first week of June. They were in my wedding bouquet and serve to remind me of that anniversary every year. The scent is amazing and hard to describe or “create”, just like plumeria. This sugar scrub actually holds the scent quite well. I can’t wait to use it in the shower tonight.
Peony Petal Sugar Scrub
2-4 cups of peony petals (kindly remove the ants which have a symbiotic relationship with the plant. They work together and the ant is helping rather than harming the peonies)
1 tsp of powdered dried cardamom
2 drops of lemon essential oil
Added to 2 cups of sugar in the food processor. Pulse the mixture until you have a coarse paste. If it feels too moist and sticky add more sugar at the very end and barely pulse so that you get more texture/scrub.
Store in a jar with a tight fitting lid. Check frequently to make sure it is not molding or going off. I do not know the preservative potential of this particular set of ingredients.
I bet you never considered peonies to have healing qualities unless you studied Traditional Chinese Medicine. It is the root that gets used for seizures, irritability, restlessness, coughs, headache, stomach pain, sleep issues, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, fever, muscle/menstrual cramps, diabetes, high blood pressure, and absent periods. The petals are great for rashes or aging skin with their anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. I only have one large plant and could not bear to dig it up to harvest roots. I feel fine about using the petals when they are about to fall. I hate to waste anything in the garden if it has a use.
Blackbird's Backyard Pharmacy 