Ylang Ylang is distilled from the freshly picked flowers of the tropical Cananga tree. The oil produced is usually a fractionated oil— that is, the distillation process is interrupted at various times and the oil accumulated to that point is drawn off. This is was done traditionally because the first fractions contain most of the esters, the most aromatic components of the flower while the last fraction contains mainly sesquiterpenes that have little aroma value. The first oil or distillate to be removed is considered the highest grade (and the most expensive) and is called ylang extra. It is followed by grades 1, 2 and 3. Ylang extra has a finer, deeper, richer aroma than the other grades of ylang and is most often preferred for aromatherapy and perfume use. (Aura Cacia offers both the intensely aromatic ylang ylang extra and the more economical ylang ylang 3.)

White camphor is also a fractioned oil and is used for safety reasons. The essential oil is distilled from the wood of camphor trees. The first distillation yields 35 to 40% crude camphor and 60 to 65% crude essential oil. The crude essential oil is redistilled to remove about another 50% crude camphor (which is combined with the crude camphor from the first distillation and refined to make camphor crystals) and then separated into three fractions called white, brown and blue camphor oils. The brown and the blue fractions contain large amounts of safrole and are only used in commercial applications. The white fraction of camphor essential oil is used in aromatherapy.

Distilled almond bitter oil is about 95% benzaldehyde and 3% prussic acid (hydrocyanic acid). In order to remove the toxic prussic acid, the essential oil is redistilled leaving an oil that is 98 to 99% benzaldehyde but free from prussic acid (FFPA). When purchasing almond bitter essential oil, always look for almond bitter FFPA rather than natural oil which is not considered safe to use.

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