| General Advise |
| The Art of Distillation from Fresh Herbs |
| Cold Pressed Extraction |
| Making Infused Oils |
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Special Recipes: |
* Myrrh Oil * Comfrey Oil |
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(I had to put these on a separate page, they were getting too much:) |
(Courtesy of Dottie - thanks 4 the great work!!!) |
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Essential oils are obtained from plant material by steam or steam and water distillation. Distillation in its simplest form is the process of driving off gas or vapor from liquids or solids by heating the liquid and then condensing the vapor. Essential oil distillation from plants begins by collecting the plants, whether it is the flowers (Ylang-Ylang), flowering tops (Lavender), rhizomes (Ginger), seeds (Anise), bark (Cinnamon) or fruit (Nutmeg); preparing them by drying, crushing or breaking in order to break up the glands that contain the essence of the plant; heating the plant part over water or having steam forced through the plant, which further breaks open the oil glands, releasing the volatile essential oil as a vapor; then cooling the vapor and collecting it. Warm air holds more moisture than cold air, and so the air above the plant and liquid is heated as well as the liquid itself. The art of distillation is in knowing the exact time to collect the plant in order to have the maximum amount of the essential oil available, and knowing as well how much heat to apply and how tong to keep the plant on the still. Some plants such as Dill (Anethum graveolens) produce different components in their oil depending on distillation time.* After one hour on the still, the Dill distillate contains mainly carvone (about 90%) and 10% limonene, while after six hours the timonene steadily increases and the distillate wilt be about 35% limonene and the rest carvone. Studies such as these are only now regularly being made, and in the years to come much more knowledge will be gained regarding the appropriate time needed to obtain essential oils with desired qualities. The goal of distillation is to extract from the plant the maximum amount of essential oil. To do this we take plant and water and heat them in a closed container. The liquid in the leaves vaporizes, taking along with it the essential oil; this is collected as a condensate, which is water and the plant's essential oil floating on top. The essential oil is then removed in some manner. There are many kinds of stills. One of the simplest is the solar box still invented by the Egyptians. A flat bowl is placed in a tight box with a slanted glass lid; this is set in the hot sun. Desert heat vaporizes the liquid, the vapors rise and collect on the inside of the cool glass, and as more moisture collects, droplets form and run down inside the glass into a trough. The Egyptians did this with their beer and by the end of the day, the distillate was a potent high-content alcohol. Several types of home stills are described here but for a fascinating account of distillation and its home use please read Secrets of the Still by Grace Firth, EPM Publications, Box 490, McLean, VA 22101. This book unfortunately is out of print but you may find it available in your local library. It is a wonderfully written and personalized account of the art of distillation. How to Make a Home Still: Do you want to distill your own hydrosols? It is not expensive or difficult or dangerous. A simple teapot still can be made at home. Get a copper tea kettle and a length of rubber or plastic tubing from the hardware store. Fill the teapot loosely with herbs or flowers. Rosemary is a good one to start with because the herb is available pretty much the year around. This teapot is called the cucurbit. If you have very smooth, very clean stones they should be placed in the bottom of the cucurbit to keep the plant material off the bottom surface. Add enough water to cover the botanicals. Use clean spring water, distilled water or deionized water. Attach enough rubber tubing to the teapot spout so that the center part of the tube can rest in a pan of ice water and then go on to empty into a small bowl. The small bowl is called the receiver. The receiver should be kept cool and so should be about 1-2 feet away from the cucurbit. Ideally the tube that rests in the ice water should be level with the top of the cucurbit, and the receiver should be below. Why, you ask? Steam rises, breaking open the cell structure of the plant and releasing the essential oil that goes through the tube, condensing in the tube where it rests in the cold water, and then dropping into the receiver, where the essential oil and water separate. Bring the teapot to a boil and then turn the fire to low and simmer until at least half of the water has boiled off, vaporized into steam, and condensed into droplets in the ice water bath, which then collect in the receiver. This is your Flower Water or hydrosol (water solution) of Rosemary (that is, if you started with Rosemary herb). You can separate the essential oil from the water but why bother? Use the liquid as a facial spray, or to heat wounds. Lavender flower water would be excellent for this. If your hydrosol does not smell strong enough, just add a few drops of essential oil of whatever herb you started with. Since Lemon Balm is so easy to use, wouldn't it be nice if you made your own Melissa water ... A Simple Sand Still: Sand stills are perfect for desert terrain. The same principle operates here but Mother Nature and feminine Sun supplies the energy. A medium-sized container can serve as the cucurbit, attached by a length of glass or metal tubing to a receiver. Glass and metal are preferable to rubber or plastic because glass or metal will heat up in the hot sun and assist in the process of distillation. The cucurbit is filled with the botanical materials, and water is added to cover them. The cucurbit is set on the surface of the ground in the hot sun. The receiver is buried in the desert sand, at least I to 2 feet deep. Cucurbit and receiver are attached by the tube. As the sun heats the cucurbit, the liquid evaporates and moves up the tubing and then down into the buried receptacle. When it reaches the buried receptacle, it is condensed again into liquid by the cool underground environment. And this liquid contains the vital essence of the herbs and flowers that was in the cucurbit. A full day in the sun should suffice, and at dusk, as your still sits cooling in the shadow of the day, you can dig up your liquid buried treasure. In both these stills it is very important to have a water-tight seat between the cucurbit and the tube, and sand-tight between tube and receiver. A Country Still: Fragrant oils are often produced on the surface of plants, on their leaves and flowers. Rosemary is one Of these, as is Lavender. There are others.Take a large, fat, clear wine bottle. Hang freshly cut flowering stems of either of these two plants upside down in the bottle. Place where the warmth and heat of the sun can shine on the bottle for at least eight hours. Check the bottle daily. Within a few days oil and water from the now-wilted branches will have collected by condensation in the bottom of the bottle. Two things to remember: have a tight seal at the top and start with a very clean bottle. *"The Influence of Some Distillation Conditions on Essential Oil Composition," by A. Koedam in Volume 7 of Aromatic Plants, Basic and Applied Aspects. 1982: Martinus Nuyhof Publishers. |
| Used to obtain citrus fruit oils. The fruit rolls over a trough with sharp projections that penetrate the peel. This pierces the tiny pouches that contain the oil. Then the whole fruit is pressed to squeeze the juice from the pulp and to release the essential oil from the pouches. The essential oils rise to the surface of the juice and are separated by centrifugation. |
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The Folk Method: Grind dried herb to fine powder. Place in a tightly capped jar and add base carrier oil of your choice to completely wet the herb. Stir well. After mixture is wet, add enough oil to completely cover the mixture an additoinal ½ inch. Check 24 hours later, and replace the absorbed oil. Keep it tightly capped and keep the light out with a paper bag, and leave in the sun for 7-10 days, shaking often. Then strain the oil and press the remaining pulp, filter out sediments, and store dark and cool. |
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From 'Bodycraft' by Nerys Purchon MAKING A HERB OIL BASE |
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A herb oil base is used in ointments, massage oils, bath oils and creams. One method involves heating the oil to 50C (120F): the other uses sunlight only. The hot method is the most reliable unless you live in a part of the world that has long periods (at least a week) of hot, sunlit days.
I mainly use a crock-pot (a large electrically heated pan with a heavy pot inside it covered with a lid) (Note from Sorcy: Make sure the temperature does not exceed 120 F) and the hot method as I find it to be very reliable and trouble free. COLD METHOD The hot method tends to lose some of the natural perfume of the plant material while the cold method retains more of the scent.I use this method only when I want a strongly perfumed flower oil such as lavender or jasmine (luscious). 1. Cover FRESH flowers or leaves with a slightly warmed, delicate, scentless oil such as grapeseed or almond. Cover closely. 2. Put in a sunny spot for 1 week. Bring the jar in at night and leave in a warm place (on top of the fridge at the back is good). 3. Strain the oil through a sieve (sqeeze the plant material well to extract as much oil as you can) and using the strained oil repeat steps 1 & 2. 4. Keep repeating until the oil is as strongly perfumed as you desire. 5 Strain through a sieve and then through double cheesecloth (squeeze again) and pour into a jar. 6. After a few days you may see sediment in the bottom of the jar. Carefully decant the oil into a clean jar, leaving the sediment behind (I use the sediment mixed with ground almond or oats for a face pack). Label the jar with the date and name of the oil. Store in a refrigerator or a cool dark place. HOT METHOD This will make a triple strength oil. 1. Place either minced fresh or crumbled dried herbs (I prefer carefully dried herbs) in a jar. Only half fill the jar if you use dried herbs. Cover with oil. 2. Add 1 Tablespoon cider vinegar to each litre (32fl oz) oil, and stir well. 3. Cover with a lid and leave for 1-2 hours. The vinegar extracts properties left behind by the oil and also helps to speed up the extraction. 3. Put the jar in hot water in the crock pot or in a pan of hot water on the stove. Keeping the cover on the jar, heat the oil to no more than 50C (120F); if the oil overheats you will lose many of the important volatile properties of the herbs). When the oil temperature is reached, turn the heat off and allow to cool. 4. Repeat stage 3 several times over a period of twenty four hours. (I take a week over this allowing 2 days for each batch of herbs but twenty four hours is almost as good). 5. Strain through a sieve and then through cheesecloth, squeezing the cloth to extraxt as much oil as possible. If you want a single strength oil you can go to stage 7. 6. To make triple strength oil you need to repeat stages 1-5 twice more, using the original oil each time but topping up with fresh oil to keep the quantity the same. 7. Pour the finished oil into a jar. Follow the instructions for stage 6 of the Cold Method. |
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Rosehips are only ready for use medicinally after they have been touched by frost. Gently heat some oil (olive is great) and add the crushed hips. Simmer very slowly and then set aside for several days. Then, strain out the hips, keeping the oil and add more hips if you have some, repeating the process. Store in a dark bottle in a cool place. Rosehips infused oil: Put rosehips in a jar and cover with mineral oil or a light scented carrier oil...check it once a day, if you want a stronger scent, strain the oil, place fresh rosehips in the jar and pour the oil back over. You can do this until you get the amount of scent that you want. Note******Anyone using rose hips without straining should remove all the seeds. They are covered with sliver-hairs that, when ingested, irritate the digestive system and cause what the aboriginal people call "itchy bottom disease". |
| Myrrh is a resin. Some people advise to buy it already powdered, as it is sticky and tends to mess up the mortar and pestle, but I would not want to miss out on the joy of grinding my own. First of all, powdered products loose potency fast. So I only powder right before I use something. Secondly, it is calming to the nerves to release the wonderful aroma of freshly ground myrrh. Throw some on hot charcoal while you’re at it :=) Grinding your own herbs also adds personal magick and makes it much stronger, provided you love what you’re doing and have the right mind set while you work. Mix the ground powder with an oil base of your choice (I use Jojoba. Not cheap, but the best). Rule of thumb is 1-5. By the time the myrrh has absorbed the oil it’ll end up nearly 50/50 anyways. I don’t strain Myrrh after 6 weeks, I just leave the residue in the bottles. It keeps getting stronger and stronger that way. The oil is for external use, for internal use I tincture it. |
| Comfrey Essential Oil |
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Method 1: Chop clean comfrey leaves. Place in a dark colored glass jar. Seal tightly with a screw top, label and date. Then put it in a cool, dark place and DO NOT OPEN for two years!!! If you do, it will be ruined. After two years, a high potency viscous amber liquid with some sediment has formed. Decant oil into smaller container. Method 2: Chop up fresh leaves, cover with olive oil and ‘simmer’ in the oven for a few days at 50 degrees (celcious). Crock pot at lowest temp without a lid is also a nice option for making large amounts. Replace the leaves every other day. Repeat until oil is strong enough for your taste. Use dried leaves for the last replacement, and store tightly capped the next day without straining. Add a little vitamin E. Strain off as you need, the remaining herbs will continue to make the oil stronger. |
