Does e3 Distill Essential Oils?

Great question!

No, we do not do any distillation at e3 that would result in a quantity of essential oil large enough to bottle and offer for sale. We do small distillations during our Essential Oil Distillation class that we offer toward the end of the summer when local plant material is plentiful. The major reason I love to do this distillation class is that it  allows participants to gain a greater understanding of the entire process involved to produce an essential oil. We have a direct experience with the volume of plant material required, the equipment used and the mechanics of how the distillation process works to produce essential oils and hydrosols.

Essential Oil “Yield”

To distill essential oils for commercial sale, a huge volume of plant material is needed. Each plants “yield” (meaning, how much plant material does it take to get how much essential oil?) varies greatly. Thus the more plant material it takes to get 1 kilo of essential oil, the higher the cost of the essential oil e.g. Rose, Jasmine, Helichrysum.

Availability of the plant also affects the price of an essential oil.  Sandalwood Mysore trees for example, take 30-40 years before they are ready for harvest and distillation. Early practice of harvesting trees without replanting and the growing demand for the essential oils has left the number of mature trees at a minimum. Growers are now replanting to replenish the supply but we need 30-40 years of growth before they will be ready for harvest.

Hydrosols, Flower Water, Hydrolates

The by-product of the distillation process for essential oils results in: Hydrosols, Flower water, Hydrolates –  all those words should mean the same thing; when we do a distillation class we gets lots of wonderful hydrolate which everyone gets to take home, plus maybe about one millimeter of essential oil from whatever we have distilled, i.e. Spearmint, Peppermint, Lavender, Rosemary. Hydrosols shelf life is short, which is why you do not see many hydrosols on the market; if you do find a supplier and intend to purchase always check to make sure no preservatives have been added.

In the big picture – the plants, trees, leaves, flowers, seeds (cardamom pods), bark (cinnamon bark), rhizomes & roots (ginger), twigs, berries, flowers, fruit, (spikenard), resin (frankincense), grasses, needles (pine) that essential oils come from are grown all over the world. Only a small fraction of essential oils come from plants grown in the United States. We can get Peppermint, Spearmint, Chamomile Roman, to name a few.

Most growers have distillation tanks on or near the land where they grow and harvest their plants. Each plant has a best time of day, season, temperature, etc to harvest as well as a best distillation time; some plants need to be distilled immediately while others it is best to wait a period of time in order to get the highest quality and integrity of essential oil.

e3 purchases essential oils in large lots and re-bottles into various bottle sizes; these are the essential oils that e3 sells and we also supply private label essential oils for other companies.

If you you would like to join one of our Essential Oil Distillation Classes contact us and we will add you to our class list.

Love the questions!
Caryn

P.S. Would you like to learn more about essential oils – like how to make your own special blends? Simply download our free ebook, Listen to Your Nose – An Introduction to Aromatherapy.