Hibiscus Foot Soak — Adventures With The Sage

The hibiscus plant and flowers have been used in China and India as a traditional medicine, tea and even shoe polish for a long time. The hibiscus has been noted in Chinese history by depictions of the plant on porcelain pottery from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD) and when it was planted along the fortress walls protecting Chengdu between 907-960 AD. The fortress walls were torn down during the 1960s, but Chengdu retains its name of “The City of Hibiscus”.

Hibiscus tea has been one of my favorite teas when I’m settling down for the evening to relax. Since I find hibiscus tea so relaxing, I decided to make a foot soak with it. Let’s look at all the ingredients.

I wanted to make this foot soak a special pampering treat, so I added HoneyQuat to the formula as a humectant. The goal is to treat the feet by helping them retain the moisture from the foot soak.

Since hibiscus was the inspiration for this post, I put dried tea grade hibiscus flowers in a blender and ground them to a fine powder. While you may not be able to easily get whole or partial hibiscus flowers, you can powder hibiscus teas like the Natural Hibiscus Tea from The Republic of Tea. Maybe if enough people ask, the Purchasing Team can see what it would take to carry a Hibiscus additive. 😉

Natrasorb helps carry fragrances and other liquid additives so this was a great ingredient to add to help give the foot soak volume. It also made the tub tea lighter so the bags wouldn’t feel like there were pebbles inside!

I really like the soothing feel that Oat Flour contributes to a bath or foot soak. Oats contain proteins that help our skin when irritated or when needing a touch of luxury.

Personally, I feel that a tub tea or foot soak is incomplete without Milk Powder. I mean, if Cleopatra bathed in the stuff on a regular basis to keep her skin fresh in the Egyptian desert, then what better excuse to use milk? No matter the reason, I’m a fan of milk powder!

Calendula has been used for a long time to fight rough and scaly skin and for its anti-inflammatory properties. To pamper feet, what better way that to use a botanical that has been known to help skin?

We used several different fragrances in the production of samples for shipping. The fragrances we used were Polynesian Red, Hibiscus Passion, and Ginger Pomelo.

Lets go make this foot soak!

Collect needed items:

Ingredients
HoneyQuat
Hibiscus Flowers, finely ground
Natrasorb
Oatmeal, finely ground
Milk Powder
Calendula Petals, finely ground
Fragrance of your choice: We used Polynesian Red, Hibiscus Passion, and Ginger Pomelo

Equipment
Small Heat & Seal Tea Bags
Mixing Bowl or Bucket
Coffee Grinder or Mortar & Pestle
Spoons
Scale
Iron

Recipe: (Makes 3.5 ounces or 100 grams)

Recipe in ounces:
0.11 ounces HoneyQuat
0.81 ounces Hibiscus Flowers, finely ground
0.53 ounces Natrasorb
1.05 ounces Oatmeal, finely ground
0.53 ounces Milk Powder
0.46 ounces Calendula Petals, finely ground
0.04 ounces Fragrance of Choice

Recipe in grams:
3 grams HoneyQuat
23 grams Hibiscus Flowers, finely ground
15 grams Natrasorb
30 grams Oatmeal, finely ground
15 grams Milk Powder
13 grams Calendula Petals, finely ground
1 grams Fragrance of Choice

Recipe in Percentages
3% HoneyQuat
23% Hibiscus Flowers, finely ground
15% Natrasorb
30% Oatmeal, finely ground
15% Milk Powder
13% Calendula Petals, finely ground
1% Fragrance of Choice

Weigh all the dry ingredients into a mixing bucket or bag. Weigh the HoneyQuat and fragrance into a beaker and then add to the dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly. After the ingredients have been completely mixed together, fill each small Heat & Seal Tea Bag with 1 tablespoon of the foot soak mixture. Seal with the iron.

Notes: This recipe filled 23 Small Heat & Seal Tea Bags.