Essential Oils are volatile, aromatic, hydrophobic/lipophilic, liquid chemical compounds derived from the different parts of plants like leaves, fruit rind, flowers, seeds, roots, wood/bark/resin. The oils are stored as micro-droplets in the glands of these parts. After diffusing through the walls of the glands, the droplets spread over the surface of the plant.
- Leaves: The oils extracted from leaves have a unique herbaceous aroma. Examples include Basil, Lemongrass, Rosemary, etc.
- Flowers: The oils extracted from flowers have a floral, sweet but unique aroma. Examples include Rose, Jasmine, Ylang-Ylang, etc.
- Fruit Rind: The oils extracted from fruit rinds have a tangy, sweet aroma unique to each fruit. For instance, the aroma of Orange is different from that of Lemon. Examples include Lemon, Orange, Mandarin, etc.
- Seeds: Most of the spicy aromas come under this category. Examples include Black pepper, Cardamom, etc.
- Wood/Bark/Resin: The oils extracted from these parts share a balsamic aroma. Yet, they smell different. Even their methods of extraction differ from plant to plant. Examples include Frankincense, Myrrh, Sandalwood, Cedarwood, etc.
- Roots: The oils extracted from these parts have an earthy aroma of roots. Examples include Vetiver, Spikenard, etc.
An Essential Oil is called ‘Essential’ because it carries the ‘Essence’ of the plant, particularly its fragrance. Out of the numerous varieties of plant species, only a few thousands of them produce Essential Oils; and only a few hundreds have therapeutic benefits. See how precious they are!
Most of the oils are extracted by the method of Steam Distillation. It requires a precise control of temperature, pressure and time to get the desired quality of Essential Oil. Other types of distillation include Hydro-distillation and Fractional distillation. While Frankincense and other resin derived oils are extracted by Hydro-distillation, Fractional distillation is used for Ylang-Ylang Essential Oil. Cold expression method is used to extract essential oils from citrus fruit rinds. Other less common methods are solvent extraction and Carbon-dioxide extraction.
Each Essential Oil tells us a unique story. The price of an Essential Oil reflects its precise growing conditions, time and the method of collection of the concerned part of the plant. For example, it takes around 10,000 flower-heads to prepare 5ml of Rose Essential Oil, whereas it takes a 30 year old Sandalwood tree to make it ready for the extraction of Sandalwood Essential Oil. Hence, cheaper prices will only reflect the poor quality of Essential Oils.
Interesting facts:
- It takes around 4 millions of early morning, handpicked, fresh Jasmine flowers to make just 30 ml of Jasmine Essential Oil!
- The oil extracted from different parts of the same plant don’t share the same aroma. For example, consider Neroli and Petitgrain. Not only is their aroma different, even the therapeutic benefits that we get from them differ a lot. And, strangely enough, Neroli is extracted from the flowers of Citrus Aurantinum, while Petitgrain is extracted from the young green fruits, leaves and twigs of the same plant!
| Part | Aroma | Examples |
| Leaves | The oils extracted from leaves have a unique herbaceous aroma. | Basil, Lemongrass, Rosemary |
| Flowers | The oils extracted from flowers have a floral, sweet but unique aroma. | Rose, Jasmine, Ylang-Ylang |
| Fruit Rind | The oils extracted from fruit rinds have a tangy, sweet aroma unique to each fruit. For instance, the aroma of Orange is different from that of Lemon. | Lemon, Orange, Mandarin |
| Seeds | Most of the spicy aromas come under this category. | Black pepper, Cardamom |
| Wood/Bark/Resin | The oils extracted from these parts share a balsamic aroma. Yet, they smell different. Even their methods of extraction differ from plant to plant. | Frankincense, Myrrh, Sandalwood, Cedarwood |
| Roots | The oils extracted from these parts have an earthy aroma of roots. | Vetiver, Spikenard |