EO Extraction Problems ** Was: Another Newbie, Requesting Comments Please

[Guest guest]

Howdy Jill .. other good folks ..

 

I changed the subject line because it makes it easier to later find

the post in the archive .. its tough enough now to find posts since

changed the filing system. ;-)

 

>Jill Livingston <jandk wrote:

>

>Hi Folks, I'm looking for comments re: making essential oils and/or

>infused oils.

>

> (Snipped) My sister and I have been trying to capture the wonderful

> odor of the leaves of a shrub that grows in the high mountains near

> where we live for use in lotions and soaps. Initially we infused

> sweet almond oil with the leaves. I sort of tore them up roughly,

> covered them with oil in a glass jar and kept it in a warm place

> for a day or so. Then strained it off and repeated two or three

> more times. Seemed to loose a tremendous amount (1/3 to 1/2) of the

> oil in the process but it ended up greenish and smelled great but

> each batch varied of course.

 

What is the Common or more importantly if you know it .. the

Botanical Name of this plant?

 

You say that you seemed to loose 1/2 to 1/2 of the oil when you used

the above described extraction method .. how did you determine

that? I mean .. how do you know how much (if any) oil this plant

would or should yield? Have you obtained oil from it prior to using

the above extraction method?

 

> I'm soliciting comments on

>

> 1) type of carrier oil used--anything better than sweet almond?

>

> 2) method of making the oil--it all seems so imprecise

 

I'll leave this for others to reply to .. my point is .. perhaps this

plant has no Essential Oil to yield. All plants do not have EO and

some plants or blossoms can smell fantastic .. can take us to the

moon .. but there are no effective means of extracting/preserving

that odor.

 

One that I (and others) have failed repeatedly to extract is the odor

of a type of wild date growing all over SW Turkey .. its called

Igda. In late May and early June if one travels from Ankara to the

South or Southwest they'll be driving along and all of a sudden be

hit with the most fantastic odor imaginable .. its the blooming Igda

tree. Later it produces small date like fruits that are tasty but

have only a hint of the odor of the blossoms. Amateurs and

professionals have failed to extract the odor of those blossoms.

 

> Then, we decided to spring for the glass still, quite a big

> investment for us. It's been quite disappointing at least for this

> plant (haven't tried anything else yet). The yield of oil was

> shockingly small but that can probably be attributed to the dry

> leathery quality of the leaves. Additionally, what oil we did get

> seemed to have a somewhat " cooked " smell, not nearly so nice as the

> raw leaves or the infused oil.

 

What is produced from distillation .. especially if its a very small

volume .. is not always an Essential Oil .. there can be other liquid

forms resulting from distillation. The cooking odor is most likely

a result of what is known as caramelization .. overheating of the

aromatic (if it is an aromatic) or allowing the material to come into

direct contact with the sides of the still can cause this.

 

A true Essential Oil is a volatile oil that emits an aroma when

exposed to air .. and of the zillions of plants around there are many

that will not give us a volatile oil that in any way has an odor that

is similar to the plant or plant parts.

 

> Questions: Is a very low yield unusual?

 

Could be a norm for that plant .. or could be that there is NO

Essential Oil to yield. An example of low yield is Black Cumin ..

it must be Cold Pressed because distillation yields next to no

Essential Oil. We tried to distill it and after two tries we

calculated that the volume of oil produced would cause the price to

be around $7,000 a kilo if Distilled .. but around $40 a kilo if Cold

Pressed.

 

> And, do all distilled essential oils tend to have an altered

> ( " cooked " ) odor?

 

As for cooked odor .. the answer is NO .. as for altered odor .. the

answer is ALWAYS! I know of no Essential Oil that will have an odor

that is identical to the aromatic plant or plant part that was

distilled. We must be satisfied with what we get from distillation

because there are no other choices. There are choices as to the

form of distillation and sometimes Steam Distillation is not the best

choice .. could be that Hydro-Steam or Hydro-Diffusion could be

better choices. When dealing with some blossoms .. in many cases we

find that Solvent Extraction using Hexane and later Alcohol as the

solvents are the best choice for extraction and in those cases we'll

get an odor that more closely resembles the original aromatic than we

will get with any form of distillation.

 

Then there is the final possibility .. that is that the yield of an

aromatic might be so hydrophilic that it requires a second

distillation (called " cohobation " of the hydrosol. This is always

the case with Rose Blossoms because roughly 80% of the Essential Oil

remains in the Hydrosol following the first distillation.

 

> So much to learn, I appreciate any insights. Jill

 

Jill .. we all have much to learn and you are on the right track by

asking questions. If you can provide the name (preferably

Botanical) of the plant we might get closer to being able to provide

a valid reply.

 

One other point I will make .. that is that even if an aromatic does

produce a nice EO .. the fact that it smells nice does not mean that

it is a SAFE EO if used on the skin .. it could be an irritant or

even a sensitizing EO.

 

Y'all keep smiling. :-)

 

Butch .. http://www.AV-AT.com .. who is taking a break from freezing

Collards, Broccoli, Blueberries and Peaches .. we worked till past

midnight on putting up one heckuva lotta goodies and got up with the

chickens this morning to finish off the Peaches. Still have a long

way to go cause our garden is fulla goodies now and putting out more

each day than we can eat. Wish I could capture the fantastic odor of

the Vanilla Peach Pie that Tanya is cooking right now. I'd make a

fortune in a heartbeat just selling it to perfumers. ;-)