How to Make Essential Oils
Essential oils are basically volatile oils which are highly concentrated and
can be extracted from aromatic plants. These are extracted from various parts of
plants through different techniques. Their uses include that of therapeutic,
medicinal and culinary and hence are popular.
These oils are being used since
ancient times and there are about 700 different kinds of plants that contain
useful essential oils and there are several methods employed to extract them.
The most common method to make essential oils is through distillation and steam
distillation is quite popular. It might sound a little old technique, yet it is
popular and in fact the most effective of all. Steam in this process is used to
heat the part of plant from which oil has to be extracted and the vapors and the
essence is collected and bottled.
Cold pressing and Centrifugal method of separation are other popular methods for
extraction of oils from fruits like grapefruit.
Yet another process for making essential oils is the enfleurage. It is quite
expensive and lengthy, but is quite useful when it comes to make oil from
flowers like Jasmine etc. this is so because these have quite a low content of
oil and the heating process wastes lot of it. Under this method, the flowers are
placed on a surface that is odorless for a long time till the extract
accumulates on it and get saturated. Then alcohol is added to the surface which
absorbs it as it is made of fat, leaving behind the essence.
There are other methods also namely solvent extraction, hydro diffusion
extraction, carbon dioxide diffusion extraction and turbo distillation
extraction which are used for making essential oils. Out of all these the
comparatively cheaper method is the solvent extraction method in which a solvent
like alcohol is added to the plant part needed for extraction. As the essence
gets transferred to the solvent, it is vaporized and collected in a bottle.
Turbo distillation as tells the name is a tough method for coarse and hard
textured plants which are not easily available. In this method water is allowed
to circulate continuously through the plant till the essence comes out.
Thus, we see there are various methods used for making essential oils. These
methods are chosen carefully by deciding on the type of plant and the part to be
used for oil extraction.
