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Essential oils are the volatile, aromatic oils obtained by steam or hydrodistillation of botanicals. Most essential oils are primarily composed of terpenes and their oxygenated derivatives. Different parts of the plants can be used to obtain essential oils, including the flowers, leaves, seeds, roots, stems, bark, wood, etc. Certain cold-pressed oils, such as the oils from various citrus peels, are also considered to be essential oils but these are not to be confused with cold-pressed fixed or carrier oils such as olive, grapeseed, coconut etc. which are non-volatile oils composed mainly of fatty acid triglycerides. Other aromatic, plant-derived oils, which technically aren't essential oils because they are solvent extracted, include Absolutes (hexane followed by ethanol extraction), CO2's (liquid carbon dioxide used as the solvent) and Phytols or Florosols (fluoro-hydrocarbon solvent).
Essential oils are made from flowers, leaves, bark, roots, fruits, seeds, grasses and resins. Considered to be the life force of plants, they are highly concentrated, volatile substances that contain vitamins, minerals, enzymes and hormones. Pure essential oils are directly extracted from different parts of plants; which part depends on the oil concerned. Because essential oils are so concentrated, it takes a huge amount of plant materials to produce them. For example, four million jasmine blossoms are required to yield about one pound of jasmine oil, and it takes 5000 pounds of rose petals to produce one pound of rose oil. Consequently, these essential oils can easily become very expensive and rare.
The use of essential oil and aromatherapy may be considered as modern or new age by some, yet in actual fact it has been around for centuries.
In ancient times it also played an important part in ceremonial use, but today we use it to improve health and general well being, as well as the pure joy of using these delightfully pure oils.
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