Majority of essential oils are produced by distillation ...

Thankfully, people have started becoming aware of the aromatherapy concept. To say, it's a process would be more appropriate. And not only aromatherapy, but the various teeny tiny things associated with it. For eg : Essential Oils , which play an important role in the practice of aromatherapy.

Now, there has been loads of studies, research and discussions on how these essential oils are made ? Firstly, you should know that although essential oils have these distinctive fragrances, they differ to a great from fragrant oils. Essential oils have medicinal properties which works best for both mental as well as emotional healing. And, every essential oil have their own scent which is again beneficial for your mind and body. Both.

Essential Oils are produced by the process of distillation. Distilling essential oils can be done by three different ways, but, the one thing common in all these ways are that - the water is heated to create steam which carries the evaporative chemicals of the aromatic material with it. The second step is where the steam gets cooled down in the condenser and the distillate is collected. Normally, the essential oil will float on the top of the hydrosol or in simple terms - the floral water.

the essential oil distillation process

The three processes of distillation :

Water Distillation /  Hydrodistillation : In this method, the plant material is soaked in boiling water and the steam and oils are captured. A separator then helps to produce the essential oil. This process is the standard method for extracting essential oils for quality control. During hydrodistillation the essential oil components form an azeotropic mixture with water. Essential Oils, generally don't mix well with water in the liquid phase. Therefore, they are separated by decantation after condensation.

Water / Steam Distillation : The plant material is suspended above the boiling water thus exposing them only to the steam. Steam and water are pushed through the plant material in this method. The steam and oils are then captured and separated out to produce essential oil.

Steam Distillation : This process involves an outside source of steam which pushes it into the distillation unit at high pressure. The steam then passes through the botanicals and exits into the condenser.

Did you also know that essential oils should only be stored in dark bottles ? Why ?

- Essential oils oxidize and lose their therapeutic properties. A lot of plant material is required to extract a small amount of oil. Therefore, it's not cheap and needs to be stored properly. While the aroma of some essential oils seem to mature as the time goes, it's not the same for all. That's the reason for essential oils to be stored in amber, dark or cobalt blue glass bottles. Dark bottles protects the oil from damaging sunlight. Sunlight deteriorates the quality of essential oil by destroying it's fragile composition. In this way, the beneficial properties along with the aroma of the essential oils can be retained. 

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