I confess my one time profound ambivalence about doing my own essential oil making. On the one hand, essential oil making intrigues me, suggesting liberal doses of "the fun factor"; on the other hand, it seems to involve a lot of sophisticated equipment and complex processes. Do I have space, do I have time, and do I have sufficient skill and expertise for my own essential oil making I asked myself? Can I somewhere, somehow take a risk-free trial of essential oil home-cooking-you know, like some online casinos let you play Texas Hold "Em for free until you really get the hang of it and feel ready to part with real money?
Please, do not misunderstand: I love greening, gardening, picking, preserving, pickling, packing, and all the esoteric home arts as much as the next girl does-maybe more. But when it comes to essential oil making, many still wonder: Is it not easier and less expensive to let the professionals do it? I have taken a long, hard look at this essential oil making business, and I see an awful lot of muss, fuss, bother, and general mayhem not so cleverly hidden among the vats and presses.
Yes, I agree essential oil making must provide hours of family-time fun; when will my family ever stay home long enough to enjoy this festive frolic? I agree it must be fantastically fragrant and overwhelmingly olfactory; but we could say pretty much the same of the time my husband decided to build a fiberglass canoe in the basement, filling the whole house with the rich smell of epoxy resin. And, really, while essential oil making must keep otherwise recreant grannies out of the bingo parlors and slot machine palaces, how will I fit distillery between morning and afternoon carpools and the agony of algebra homework?Most natural scent making requires at least a little chemistry. The professionals make essential oil by "extraction." They can also employ "solvent extraction," and some of them use "turbo distillation extraction," which sounds like a great feature on my dream-Porsche but in my kitchen maybe not so much. Some professional "oilers" employ "hydro-diffusion extraction," and others use "carbon dioxide extraction." Do these not sound like processes and protocols in common use at NASA, MIT, Cal-Tech, and The Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories? I mean, yeah, I kicked some serious laboratory butt in advanced placement chemistry, and I know of no other cutie who works her way around a Bunsen burner like I do. The question a lot of people ask is, can I do this without proper supervision or a safety spotter or something? I insist I have no fear, but I have a very healthy respect for all that can go wrong. I try always to remember mine is the house that Murphy built.
A friend, reminiscing about her glory days in AP chemistry, once wondered if she might find a class in essential oil making. Looking online, she found an absolutely perfect class...in Hampton, England, just about the antipodes of her current location. I can see and hear it now. "Honey, you will not mind if I spend a month or so in the UK, will you?" Right after my husband nods his eager assent; my fairy godmother will appear, granting me the powers of invisibility for which I always have wished.
Of course, sometimes the best things remain hidden in obvious places. I suggested the local community college. There it was: a beginning class in essential oil making, taught by no less an authority than the Chairperson of The Department of Environmental Horticulture. Problem solved. Ambivalence reconciled. Where do I sign? Can we chew gum?
Am I Ready For Essential Oil Making at Home?