Steam distillation

Steam distillation is the preferred form of procuring essential oils. The specific plant is harvested and loaded into a large still. Pressurised steam passes through the plant material creating the precise temperature to evaporate the pure essential oil. The steam and the essential oil vapour pass from the top of the still along a water-cooled condenser, returning to a liquid state. Here they are collected, and the water is extracted, yielding the high quality pure essential oil.

The quality of the essential oil is influenced by the duration of the distillation, the pressure and the temperature - a process requiring long experience.


Cold pressing

You can easily see the small oil glands in the peels of the citrus fruits. In order to extract citrus oils the peels are cut into small pieces, mixed with water and cold pressed via machines. This water-oil mixture is then filled into a centrifuge: The lighter citrus oil swims on the water and can thus be easily separated from the water. Our citrus oils may be of dimmed colour due to natural wax contained; this is a proof of quality.




Production Of Absolues

Absolues are the outcome of an extraction method with chemical solvents. The solvents will be removed after the process. If possible, our absolues are extracted with alcohol that will finally vaporise.

With some flowers, however, alcohol extraction does not yield a satisfactory result. In such case we use hexane or petrol ether.