Lavender.. From Plant to Oil

Have you ever wondered how many plants it takes to make a bottle of Lavender oil? 1, 2 ,3...5? Let's dive into the plant to oil process. A plant produces its aroma causing compounds in reaction to is environment. Different varieties will grow better in different environments. To achieve a plant suitable for harvesting, it can take several years to reach optimal size. The plant needs to be watched and maintained to create an easy plant to manage/harvest.

Once fully grown and harvested it can be moved to processing for extraction. During the extraction process we are trying to remove the volatile compounds produced by the plant. There are multiple forms of extraction of these compounds. One of the most widely used methods for Lavender Oil Extraction is steam or hydrodistillation. They both use water to capture the aromatic compounds contained in the plant material. Once captured; the water and volatile oil is separated. To put things into perspective, it takes 3.5 full sized lavender plants to create just one small 15ml bottle of Oil. This is why it takes so little oil to have great effects. The Extraction process requires close attention to create a high quality oil with maximum benefits.

If you are interested in learning more in depth about Extraction Processes, feel free to send us a message! We love educating our customers.