Essences are found throughout the plant kingdom, although some families such as labials, umbelliferae, conifers, rutaceae and myrtaceae provide most of the essential oils used in aromatherapy.
Odoriferous substances found in plants could be considered similar to their pheromones. They are the product of chemically very complex structures and biochemical processes that occur inside their secretory glands. Its elaboration depends entirely on the climate (rain, sun, latitude, soil, etc.).
In this phase, they are not yet essential oils, but they are called essences. Essential oils become so only after they have been extracted by distillation.
Empirically, it is believed that each type of plant has its own personality and original characteristics: the soul or spirit of the respective plant.
In plants, its function is as follows:
They are also responsible for regulating the ripening or aging of fruits and leaves.
They help protect against dehydration or sunburn in hot areas.
The cells responsible for making or storing gasoline have specialized for this purpose and are part of the tissue of the plant’s secretion. In some cases, essences are stored inside the cells that produce them, in others they are rejected into cavities, channels or even outside the plant by means of secretory cells and epidermal hairs.
Some species tend to accumulate more in a particular organ. For example: leaf, bark, root and rhizome, seed, wood, floral tops and in the bark of the fruit.
In some cases, the essences are not present in a single organ: for example, in the orange tree (Citrus aurantíum), it is found in the leaf (petitgrain), in the bark of the fruit and in the flowers (orange blossom or neroli), etc.
Although the essences of each of the parts are different, they all have a common denominator.
The French pharmacopoeia (1965) defined them as: products of rather complex composition containing the volatile principles of vegetables, more or less modified during their production.
The essential oil is the extract obtained by subjecting the aromatic plant to distillation, either by water vapor or by steam trail, that is, it is the distilled essence.
Some chemical changes will take place in the different constituents of essence during this process, due to the effect of heat, contact with air and steam, but these changes are not harmful and do not spoil the therapeutic value of essence, it even seems to increase it.
Essential oils are liquid, more or less viscous (some have a consistency similar to that of honey), with a density generally lower than that of water (except cinnamon).
Its coloration varies; they are usually almost colorless (slightly yellowish), or pastel tones: such as chamomile (bluish), basil (light green) or rose (light pink), others are very pigmented: reddish, brown, green, etc.
Essential oils are very concentrated and very volatile, as they have a very large number of free electrons.
They are light and not greasy. Susceptible to damage caused by extreme temperatures, ultraviolet radiation and vibrations caused by high vibrations.
Dissolve easily in vegetable oils, fats, alcohol and not in water, but can be kept in suspension for short periods.
They are easily absorbed by the skin without the need for transporters (liposomes). They quickly diffuse into adjacent subcutaneous tissues and pass into the bloodstream that distributes them throughout the body. Essential oils are like the DNA of plants.
The French Pharmacopoeia (1976) advises to limit the term essential oil to products obtained by distillation and pressing, qualifying as essences those that have undergone transformations or have been obtained by other processes.
An essence and an essential oil are two different substances in nature. However, in ordinary language, the term essence is often used to refer to an essential oil and is not the most correct. In the field of therapeutics, this confusion should not be present, since it gives rise to the penetration of all kinds of products for different uses or lower qualities:
There are several methods to obtain it, but only two can be used for therapeutic purposes: distillation in the water vapor stream and expression (or pressing).
Steam distillation remains the most common extraction method.
The steam is passed through the leaves and flowers, under vacuum or under pressure, so that, with the heat, the oil molecules contained in the plant matter burst. The essence is released as steam, and then passes through the condenser, where water cooling occurs. When the steam cools, the oil molecules condense and, since they are not soluble in water, they separate and can be easily collected. By this method, the real essential oils are obtained, strictly speaking.
There are some essential oils that are obtained by dry distillation without using water or water vapor, this happens with some woods for example: Cedar (Atlantic Cedrus).
Technique called enfleurage which is usually used for flowers such as jasmine, orange blossom or neroli and rose, because the distillation method would harm its oil.
This is a very laborious process: flowers or petals are placed in trays coated with fat or vegetable oil. These trays are then kept stacked for 16 to 70 hours. At regular intervals, the flowers are replaced by fresh flowers, until the oil is saturated with their fragrance.
Finally, the saturation point is reached and the oil is collected.
Subsequently, the aromatic substances must be separated from the oil (now called ointment) with a solvent, and purified, a process called deflowering. This process involves liquefying the fat that has absorbed the gasoline into the alcohol for many hours, in order to separate the essence. It takes a long time in the whole process, sometimes it takes up to three months for the aromatic substances to be separated from the oil. The product thus obtained is classified as absolute, they are of better therapeutic quality, and have a stronger fragrance than those obtained by distillation. They also have a denser consistency and tend to be colorful, and are also much more expensive.
Sometimes it is better to use solvent substances, for example, alcohol, to extract gums or resins such as myrrh. In the case of fresh flowers and plants, it is better to use ether or benzine. The essential oil dissolves in the solvent liquid as it flows over the petals. A solvent is then distilled at low temperatures. The product that still contains some waxes is a semi-solid called concrete. When this concrete is liquefied in alcohol, the waxes are removed, leaving a high-quality floral oil, the absolute.
Currently, liquid butane or carbon dioxide can be used to obtain high-quality oils.
It is used to obtain essential oil from citrus bark (orange, lemon, bergamot, etc.) , since by this method we obtain oils of better quality and softer than by distillation. Originally, the bark of the fruit was pressed by hand on a sponge, which collected the oil. Today, machines are used for this process, the bark is disaggregated and by “cold pressing” the best qualities of citrus oils are obtained. These are not essential oils, they are called essences. Although to avoid confusion, we will call them essential oils to distinguish them from products that have undergone manipulations.
Essential oils can be purchased at pharmacies and health product establishments. There are currently many aromatherapy labs and you can choose from several brands.
Most of the essential oils currently available on the market are not qualitative. You find essential oils cut with other chemicals, or rectified, deterpenized, adulterated, some partially synthesized and almost always insufficiently defined.
These products are very random and offer no guarantee as to their origin and therapeutic properties, which can be toxic in some cases.
Finally, you should only purchase, for therapeutic purposes, essential oils packaged in tinted glass bottles, and their label must include:
1) Accurate botanical identification
In addition to its common name, its full name must be registered in Latin.
Example: the term Lavender is insufficient since there are different species of lavender from which are extracted essential oils whose composition varies considerably as well as their therapeutic properties …
Thus we obtain the exact botanical species : Lavándula vera, Lavandula hibrida, etc.
2) Part of the plant used (o.p)
Although there are some species that are distilled as a “whole plant” (peppermint, rosemary …), others produce essential oils of different composition depending on the part of the plant that is distilled, so their properties are different.
3) Biochemical specificity (chemotype s.b.)
The same plant produces different species with specific properties, depending on its environment (country, soil, climate, latitude, etc.).
Also, there are species in which this occurs very significantly, as is the case of rosemary (Rosmarínus oficinales):
The chemotype is a very important factor in the complex composition of an essential oil. Essential oils of different species, genera and families with a similar chemotype may be more similar in terms of therapeutic properties than essential oils of the same species with different chemotypes.
You should also take into account the price, natural essential oils are usually expensive (be careful if a company sells all the oils at the same price or too cheap).
You should also suspect an oil that is sold in a transparent glass jar.
You can perform the following test: A little essential oil is poured over a piece of blotting paper. If the aroma disappears too quickly, it is adulteration, probably with alcohol. If the texture is greasy and spreads on the paper, it indicates that it has been diluted in a vegetable oil.
They are intended to exhale the aroma of the mentioned oil, at the time of purchase you must take into account the aforementioned factors as well as the indications that appear next to them:
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