Monday, August 4, 2014

Steps On How To Make Homemade Essential Oils

By Annabelle Holman


Essential oils have already been used for therapeutic and medicinal purposes since ages ago. Aside from that, they have been used for culinary reasons, as well. These essential liquid are extracted from flowers, plants, and even peelings of citrus fruits.

A person may decide to make an oil of his own at home. This is certainly possible and guides are available on how to make homemade essential oils. It should be noted, however, that the resulting product from the homemade process is not that potent as those that are manufactured and bought commercially.

There are a number of methods on how to make the liquid. The three most common methods are distillation, expression or mechanically pressing the plant, and extraction. For making the oil at home, distillation would be the most relatively easy and effective method from the three presented.

Before starting the process, the maker should remember a few things. The organic material that he will be using should be clean and free from chemicals such as pesticides. He can use any organic material such as flowers, plants, herbs, and fruit rinds. However, he should be able to do a research first on the plant that he will be extracting the liquid from since different plants will obtain different results.

Once he is ready, he would need to get a still. A still is an apparatus used for the distillation process. Most stills in the market costs a lot and are remarkably expensive so he may have the initiative to build one. A homemade still should have the four basic parts, a furnace, a tank, a condenser, and the separator.

The maker should have his raw materials gathered. The raw materials can be herbs that he have planted himself. He needs to handle them very well so as not to damage them. He can also purchase them from the market but he needs to make sure to purchase those in whole form. The plants should appear healthy and in good condition.

One notable recommendation would be to dry the organic plants to be distilled. Doing so will ensure that the maker can collect a bigger yield. However, he needs to take note that the material should not be exposed to direct sunlight. It is ideal to dry the flora by putting them under a shade or even in a dark room to minimize losing oil. Once the raw materials have been dried, they should never get wet again.

The producer will then need to heat the tank or pot filled with water. This is where the dried materials will be submerged and boiled. Once the herbs are dry, he can put them inside the pot and boil them for several hours. The process may take a certain amount of time as it will depend on the quality and quantity of the material used.

When the distillation process is finished, the maker should filter the oil collected using a cheesecloth or other fabric. He must ensure the cloth is dry and clean so as not to contaminate the liquid. The final product should then be poured in glass containers and stored in cool and dark locations.




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