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What is Enfleurage?Enfleurage is a traditional method of extracting essential oils from delicate flowers such as rose and jasmine. It is very labor intensive and costly—and thus seldom used today—but it is a method that home gardeners can use to make their own rose oil. Sheets of glass are coated with purified fat. Freshly picked flower petals are layered over the fat, so the fat can absorb the essential oil from the flowers. The spent flowers are removed by hand each morning and another layer added, day after day, until the fat is unable to absorb any more essential oil (2 to 3 weeks). The aromatic fat at this stage is called a pomade. The pomade is mixed with alcohol and shaken vigorously for 24 hours to separate the fat from the essential oil and alcohol. Next the alcohol is removed to create an absolute. Most absolutes today are made using a chemical extraction process. (See absolutes). |
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