How to Make Essential Oils

Pure essential oils are concentrated liquids extracted from various parts of a tree like the leaves, bark, roots and stem by a process called distillation. Flowers also are a source of obtaining such oils. An example of this would be the cannabis flower essential oil, that is obtained from the cannabis flower. This oil is also known as the Hemp essential oil. The rinds of a ripened citrus fruit when cold-pressed yield citrus oil.

Pure essential oils normally tend to be clear, but exceptions to this are the oils like lemongrass, patchouli and orange that are yellow or amber in color. Essential oils are to be used in small quantities, as these are highly concentrated and therefore a very small quantity can last for a longer time. Essential oils and perfume oils are mostly perceived to be similar although they are different from each other. Essential oils are extracted from plants, whereas perfume oils are fragrances that are artificially created and composed of artificial substances.

How to Make Essential Oils at Home?
If you are excited and are thinking right now, "How do I make essential oils at home"? Here is the answer. Making essential oils at home is not at all a difficult job. You would need a few ingredients and some time to prepare essential oils.

Requirements
¼ cup of herb (you can select and add the herb that you wish), 1 cup of olive oil, a glass bottle of dark amber color, a medium-sized pot and a cheese cloth.

Procedure

1. Take a medium-sized pot and pour the olive oil along with the herb that you have selected.
2. Now to heat the mixture of olive oil and the herb, you can do two things, you can either simmer the mixture for six hours, by cooking it in the oven on a low heat or if you do not wish to cook, you can simply place the mixture in a glass jar and place it in sunlight. You need to place the glass jar in sunlight for about two weeks.
3. Post cooking, the residue of the herb needs to be removed from the olive oil. This should be done with the aid of a cheese cloth. A clean cheese cloth is recommended as a bleached one might result in contamination of the essential oil.
4. The final step is to pour the essential oil in a dark amber glass bottle. In order to store the essential oil for a longer time, a dark-colored bottle is recommended. If you wish to use a clear glass bottle to store the essential oil, then care must be taken that the bottle is not exposed to sunlight and the place of storage is dry and a cool one.

There are many types of essential oils available in the market such as basil oil, black pepper, camphor, eucalyptus, melissa, spearmint, sandalwood and many more. If you wish to purchase an essential oil, you need to be aware that the quality and the price of the essential oils depend upon the plant that they are extracted from. The amount of oil produced by the plant is also an important concern. The scarcity of the plant, the native region of that plant and the conditions in which the plant flourishes, the distillation machine that was used to extract the contents are also taken into consideration.

Other than distillation, pure essential oils can be obtained from a process called solvent extraction. Essential oils prove to be important not only in curing skin problems or hair damage but also are useful in the preparation of cosmetics, flavoring food products and also in household cleaning products to enhance their fragrance.