Practical Skills: How to Make Essential Oil

May 27, 2006 at 1:48 pm (Skills)

Essential oils are used in a variety of different products that you can make yourself. They are aromatic oils that exist within plants and flowers, and are the concentrated essences of those plants and flowers.

While it is possible to buy these oils, it would ultimately be much cheaper to make them yourself, though a bit more difficult. For now, I am going to outline a method of extracting these oils with little difficulty. There are better ways, which are also more difficult ways, to do it, but until I do them myself, I will concentrate on the easier method.

What you need:
Oil, olive or any other very lightly scented oil
Herb you wish to extract oils from

For every cup of oil you’ll need 1/4 of an ounce of herbs.

First, you’ll need to mix the oil and herbs together, heating them up in a crock pot on low heat for about 6 hours. Another method would be combining them in a mason jar and setting in the sun for 2 weeks.
Once the time is up, be it 6 hours or 2 weeks, the liquid needs to be strained with a cheese cloth. Avoid any cloth that has been bleached, as this will contaminate your final product. Empty into a clean mason jar, label it with contents and the date created, and store in a cool, dry spot. Shelf life is generally about 6 months.

That’s all! Now you have a very simple method of extracting the essential oils from plants and flowers.

– Miranda Vivian