How to Distill Plants

The most common and simplest way to extract essential oils from plants is to distill them. The distillation process is centuries old yet still used due to its simplicity and reliability. Making your own essential oils at home can be quite simple using the distillation process. If you are looking to get into making your own essential oils, here are some steps to get you started distilling plants.

Things You'll Need

• Drill
• Drill bit
• Pasta cooker with steaming basket
• Solder
• Soldering torch
• Five or six feet of copper tubing

Instructions

1. Drill a hole in the lid of your pasta cooker.

2. Solder your copper pipe to the lid. Roll the excess pipe into a coil leaving enough extra tubing to allow the water and oil to drip into a jar.

3. Put the coil into a tub of ice or water to aid in the cooling process.

4. Fill the pot with water. Place your leafy plant material in the pasta steaming basket. Replace the lid on the pot.

5. Bring the water to a boil.

6. Allow the water to boil until it is all gone.

7. Let the distilled water and oil cool in the jar and separate--the oils will either sit on top of the water or, if they are denser than water, they will sink to the bottom.

Tips & Warnings

• The ratio of plant mass to extract varies from plant to plant and depends on the efficiency of the distilling pot. Generally speaking, the ratio of plant matter to essential oil is 1:200 to 1:300.

Resources

• Company Selling All Natural Essential Oils