When the steam is passed through the organic material, tiny pockets holding the essential oils open to release the essential oil molecules without doing any damage to these delicate components. The distillate obtained will contain a mixture of water vapour and essential oils which finally return to their liquid form in the condensing apparatus. Then they are separated using a Florentine separator.
In case of essential oils, using steam allows the distillate to retain the more delicate flavours and aromas which would otherwise breakdown if high temperatures is applied. This is a great process to extract essential oils from aromatic plants to flavour liqueurs.
The key to producing a therapeutic-grade essential oil is to preserve as many of the delicate aromatic compounds within the essential oil as possible.
Fragile aromatic chemicals are easily destroyed by high temperature and pressure, as well as contact with chemically reactive metals such as copper or aluminum. Our distillery is constructed from stainless steel cooking chambers and work on low pressure and low temperature.