Post by Homeschool†Shopper on Feb 3, 2005 18:33:06 GMT -5
Essential oils come from various parts of plants - the seeds, bark, leaves, stems, roots, flowers, and fruit. The oils can be distilled from the plant material or extracted. The majority are distilled.
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 - elements that are very fragile and destroyed by high temperature and high-pressure. Contact with chemically reactive metals (i.e., copper or aluminum) is another danger to the fragile aromatic compounds in oils.
To insure a high grade of essential oil, it is imperative to use stainless steel cooking equipment at low pressure and low temperature for long periods of time.
The purity of an essential oil is also determined by its chemical constituents. There are many variables that can affect these constituents.
These can include:
· Soil conditions
· Quality of fertilizer and whether it was organic or chemical
· Region
· Climate
· Altitude
· Harvest season
· Harvest methods
· Distillation process
· The part or parts of the plant used for distillation
One plant can produce several different chemotypes (biochemical variations). The chemotypes vary according to climate, altitude and growing conditions. For example, the later thyme is distilled in the growing season (i.e., late summer or fall), the more thymol the oil will contain. If it is distilled in the early summer, thymol levels will be very low; hence, the oil will be less effective, if at all.
A toxic oil is worse than an ineffective oil, however. Essential oils grown with agrochemicals can be dangerous. Pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers can react with the essential oil during distillation, producing toxic compounds. And synthetic oils not only lack therapeutic benefits, but also carry risks.
Natural essential oils contain hundreds of different chemical compounds, many of which have not been identified yet, but which bring important therapeutic properties to the oil. Although chemists have managed to recreate some of the constituents and fragrances of oils, there are many molecules and isomers that are impossible to manufacture in the laboratory. There simply are no substitutes for the purest essential oils.
Young Living Independent
Distributor #737932
Stacy
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 - elements that are very fragile and destroyed by high temperature and high-pressure. Contact with chemically reactive metals (i.e., copper or aluminum) is another danger to the fragile aromatic compounds in oils.
To insure a high grade of essential oil, it is imperative to use stainless steel cooking equipment at low pressure and low temperature for long periods of time.
The purity of an essential oil is also determined by its chemical constituents. There are many variables that can affect these constituents.
These can include:
· Soil conditions
· Quality of fertilizer and whether it was organic or chemical
· Region
· Climate
· Altitude
· Harvest season
· Harvest methods
· Distillation process
· The part or parts of the plant used for distillation
One plant can produce several different chemotypes (biochemical variations). The chemotypes vary according to climate, altitude and growing conditions. For example, the later thyme is distilled in the growing season (i.e., late summer or fall), the more thymol the oil will contain. If it is distilled in the early summer, thymol levels will be very low; hence, the oil will be less effective, if at all.
A toxic oil is worse than an ineffective oil, however. Essential oils grown with agrochemicals can be dangerous. Pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers can react with the essential oil during distillation, producing toxic compounds. And synthetic oils not only lack therapeutic benefits, but also carry risks.
Natural essential oils contain hundreds of different chemical compounds, many of which have not been identified yet, but which bring important therapeutic properties to the oil. Although chemists have managed to recreate some of the constituents and fragrances of oils, there are many molecules and isomers that are impossible to manufacture in the laboratory. There simply are no substitutes for the purest essential oils.
Young Living Independent
Distributor #737932
Stacy