Although the way perfumes are made has changed a lot over the millennium it has been around, the methods used today definitely have their roots in ancient principles. These principles are expression, enfleurage, maceration, and stream distillation. These principles are used in order to attain an absolute”, or pure essence of a flower’s scent. The absolute is not possible for many flowers, but essential oils are, and are gotten in many of the same ways.
Expression
Expression is a technique of acquiring essential oils that is relatively simple. When a flower or fruit is expressed, it is basically pressed, either by a roller, sponges, or being wrung out. There is no heat involved in this process, so the fragrance of the oil remains very close to the scent of the plant it came from.
Enfleurage
Enfleurage is a very expensive process, and isn’t as common today as it once was. It reached its peak of popularity in the mid 19th century. It is a very labor intensive process, but produces the highest quality of absolutes, for the reason that it does not use any heat. Heat will always alter a fragrance, and many flowers, such as violet, jasmine, and rose do not stand up to heat well at all.
Enfleurage works on the principle that smells are absorbed by fats. In this process, the fragrant parts of a plant are steeped in fat or other non-evaporating oil to absorb their fragrance. The process must be repeated numerous times, with fresh flowers each time. The oil is than removed from the fat by dissolving it in a solvent made from alcohol. The fat remains, while the essential oils are dissolved out by the alcohol. The mixture is chilled and the process is repeated several times to remove all of the fat, then the alcohol is evaporated, leaving just the oil.
Maceration
Maceration is similar, but much more simple. In this process, vanilla, iris, or animal ingredients are converted into essential oils by soaking in a vat of oil until they dissolve. Heat may be used to make this process go faster, but it still can take years.
Steam Distillation
Steam distillation is a method of scent extraction that obviously utilizes heat. This is the main method for making essential oils. In it, plants are crushed, then boiled in water. The essential oil evaporates with the water, then when it condenses, the oil is separate from the water. Sometimes tons of flowers are needed in order to produce just one kilo of essential oil.
A similar process using solvents that have lower boiling points than water is used to extract oils from plants that cannot take high heat.
Now, when you are shopping for a new fragrance, you can have an idea of how it began. Perfumes of all types can be found today on the internet, which is also often the place to get the best deals. There are plenty of sites that offer upscale fragrances at a fraction of their retail price.
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