What Makes An Essential Oil Therapeutic Grade?

[Guest guest]

What Makes An Essential Oil Therapeutic Grade?

 

Most people read the label on essential oils bottles and see

the words " 100% PURE " and think that is a therapeutic

grade oil. There is so much more involved in producing truly

therapeutic grade oils.

 

The key to producing a therapeutic grade essential oil is to

preserve as many of the delicate aromatic compounds

within the essential oil as possible. Most of these elements

are very fragile and are destroyed by high temperature and

high pressure.

 

Nutritionists tell us not to boil our vegetables because the

hot water removes the vitamins and nutrients. Similarly,

" boiling " plants to extract their essence destroys many of a

plant's fragile constituents, which gives essential oils their

therapeutic properties. So keeping the distiller's temperature

low is a must.

 

Distillation can determine the value of the oil, or destroy

the value of the oil. Essential oil distilling is not just

a job, but an art. The operator of the distiller must have a full

understanding of the value of oils in order to produce quality oils.

If the pressure is too high, or the temperature

is too high, it may change the molecular structure of the fragrance

molecule, altering the chemical constituents.

 

Essential oils MUST be distilled for the proper length of time

to release all their active constituents.

A distiller who is only interested in profit will distill oils for 15

minutes at very high temperature & very high pressure.

This way they can produce more oil and thus more profits.

 

For example, cypress must be distilled for 24 hours to

release all the chemical constituents. Most distilling

operations, throughout the world, only distill cypress one

hour and 15 minutes.

 

Similarly, lavender does not produce all its therapeutically

effective substances unless it is distilled for one hour and

30 minutes; but most lavender is distilled for only 15 minutes!

 

Three-quarters of the volume is extracted during the first

quarter of the distillation process. Many producers end the

process there because the increased time does not

significantly increase the volume. Time is " only " a crucial

factor to extracting the plant's therapeutic properties.

Lavender should be distilled at no more than 3 pounds of

pressure, a temperature of no higher than 245 degrees, and

should be distilled for 2 hours.

 

Another trick some distillers will do to produce more oil,

is to redistill the plant material over and over as many as

5 or 6 times. It's like using a tea bag over & over again.

When the plant material is redistilled, all the batches after

the first distillation are no longer therapeutic grade.

 

The oil distiller will then save the first batch to be sold as

therapeutic grade oils. Then the rest of the distillations

are sold to the unsuspecting public as so called " pure " oils.

 

There are many other factors that effect the quality of the oil.

 

A few examples:

How long did the plant material sit around before it was

distilled?

 

Is the distiller made of chemically reactive metals or was it

stainless steel?

 

Was the soil fertilized with chemical fertilizers or organic

fertilizers?

 

Were any chemicals added to the distillation water?

 

Note: Many distillers add chemicals to the water as they are

distilling to produce greater volume in the distillation

process. They can say they don't use adulterants in the oil

since they only used it in the water. The chemical still gets

into the oil and it is stretching the truth to say an oil distilled

this way is pure.

 

Don " t be afraid to ask questions about the origins, extraction

process, and quality of any essential oil you purchase. Insist

on essential oils extracted from organically grown plants,

with no chemicals in the extraction process, at the proper

temperature and pressure, for the appropriate length of

time. If we remain ignorant and continue to emphasize price

instead of quality, essential oils will indeed be nothing more

than a charming novelty item.

 

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