microwave EO distiller?

[grayceworks]

http://libertynatural.com/craft/mwv.htm

has anyone seen/used one?

i like the idea of making EOs in small, fresh batches, and especially making hard to find ones. what do you think?

 

[roseb]

I've seen the video. However, you need tons of plants to get a small amount of oil. Do you presently grow the plants for hard to find oils?

 

[grayceworks]

I have a couple things I want to, andI have friends that have some also. just an idea i've been tossing around.

 

[lsg]

I bought one, but I didn't get any essential oils with either rose petals or rosemary. I did get some nice hydrosol.

 

[grayceworks]

No essential oils came of it? Hydrosols are nice, but not what I need. Hmm.... Do you think it was the amount of blossoms used? Or that the distiller isn't effective?

Sent from my ME301T

 

[DeeAnna]

A little research shows the yield of EO from lavender buds is low -- roughly 0.5 to 2% by weight. You would get roughly the same yield for the chamomiles, geranium, rosemary, peppermint, oregano, etc. Rose EO yield is miniscule -- well under 1/100th of a percent.

At a 1% yield, you'd have to run 100 ounces of lavender buds through the distiller to get 1 ounce of EO. That is a LOT of lavender -- you'd need to grow a bed of about 300 square feet, according to my very rough calculations. When you consider the distiller you are looking at can only take a few ounces of plant matter at a time, that is a lot of time spent in front of the microwave for not a whole lot of return.

 

[grayceworks]

Thanks DeeAnna, that's very useful to know! And yeah, that sounds like entirely too much time microwaving. *sigh* well, there goes that idea lol

Sent from my ME301T

 

[DeeAnna]

Very interesting idea, probably fun to play with, but, yeah, probably not too practical for EOs. If you want hydrosols like LSG explained, that might be another story. I bet that rose hydrosol smells heavenly.