Distillation techniques:
History of steam
distillation:
1 Direct fire,
"feu nu"
The first steam distillation alembics were filled with water, direct
fire was used to obtain the steam.
This technique was used untill the end of the 19 th Century , the only diffrence
was that the herbs did not soaked into the water anymore, but were
separated with a grill. You can still see this kind of still, usually in
developping countries.
Experimental still, France, 2002 Still, India
2 Indirect fire, use of a
steam generator:
It was the German company Schimmel & Company
from Leipzig that used for the first time indirect steam to distill lavender in
Barrème, Haute Provence (route Napoléon).
Some recent steam generators, used by small scale working distillers, France.