Distillation techniques:

(under construction)

Helichryssum , Cévennes 2002 (Helichrysum italicum)

How to extract essential oils from plants.

You can find essential oils in different parts of plants:

Flowers (Rose, lavender, chamomile...)
Leavesn (Eucalyptus, niaouli, ravensara...)
Roots (Angelica, valerian...)
Resin (Frankincence, benzoin...)
Bark (Cinnamon)
Seed (Anise, Fennel, Dill, Angelica...)

If we take a magnifying glass, we can see some of the cells containing essential oils.:

Before we can start to distill we need to harvest the herbs....

The harvested herbs (some fresh, some dried) are put into a "alembic" vessel in order to be distilled.

The oldest method know of extracting pure essential oils is the steam distillation method.
There are two basic techniques:
The steam comes from above:  (Hydrodifusion)
The steam comes from under the alembic Classic technique)

When steam goes through the plant material, the aromatic  products are extracted through osmose and are trailed with the steam. We need to cool the steam in order to obtain two products:
the essential oil
the hydrolate

Next