Skip to main content

Osmanthus Distillation Experiment

Happy new year!
Ahh, Osmanthus fragrans, one of the most delicious aromatics I can think of....my attempts to grow this wonderful flower for distillation has been spoken of here, and the subsequent knowledge that the plants I invested several hundred dollars in were mislabelled at the nursery was a heavy blow to my heart. Three years on they are still healthy and have doubled in size but no sign of ANY flowering. Anyway I have trying a one off 'plan B' to capture that wonderful aroma again just for myself. Three years ago I had secured a small amount of genuine osmanthus hydrosol which had been imported from India into New Zealand. I was using it for a range of natural skin care products for a client, but when the source of the hydrosol dried up I turned my last few litres into a gel to incorporate into other things. Just over 3 litres remained and due to the time frame I wouldn't want to use in skin care products now, even though it had been well preserved, so I have decided to distil the gel and see what happens. The gel was made up of osmanthus hydrosol, xantham gum 1% and naticide a plant based preservative made from vanilla and almonds.  The pH was 4 and I have poured 3 litres into my copper alembic still (3 litre still) from Alembics NZ.

The gel boiling over through the condenser.

pH test of 2nd distillation attempt

The mess!


Make sure you cover your condensor with cold running water to avert disaster!

incorrect distillate-not consensed

Filtering the distilled gel

The final 3 distillates- L-R last distillate, first gel and clear almost water at end.
However approximately 20 mins into the distillation i took my eye of the ball (well the condenser) and disaster struck. This little still doesn't have a thermometer in the condenser so I was going very much by touch- the condenser was still cool to touch and i thought I could nip away for a few minutes and do something- but alas no a loud gurgling and bubbling noise soon erupted from my still room. At first i thought the hose was disconnected and water was going everywhere -but no- the gel in the still was bubbling down through the condenser and not being condensed as no water was going through it.
I stopped the process at this time (it was only about 25 minutes into the process). I managed to salvage approximately 1600 ml and the rest was either on the floor or gone to the 'angels'.

Second time around i paid more attention but it still did the same thing after 20 mins.- it went from a low drip of a clear liquid to suddenly pouring out thick and fast! I manged to distill approx 300ml of cloudy aromatic mobile liquid with a specific gravity (SG) of 1.090. The rest was still quite gel like with a SG of 1.170. I poured this through a coffee filter into a clean bottle. Each product smelt slightly differnt, with the mobile liquid smelling 'cleaner' and less sweet. Both had the original aroma of the osnamnthus and vanilla/almond.
I guess at the end of the 2 I now have a really sterile aromatic product which I can play with for me- may be a luxury soap for my self. the lesson is- don't leave the still! The pH of all the variations was between 4-5.

Next up is the rose geranium/Rosa damascena/lemon scented geranium distillations....


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lemon Verbena Harvest & Distillation December 2013

Aloysia triphlla (Lemon verbena) in flower Lemon verbena (Lippia citriodora) or Aloysia triphylla is a precious essential oil which has a low yield and is quite hard to come by the genuine oil. Details as to its origins and habitat can be found here on Wikipedia.  It is believed many so called lemon verbena oils on the market are heavily adulterated with lemon thyme, Litsea cubeba (May chang) or synthetic citral. Previously I have used lemon verbena hydrosol my friend produced on his lavender farm ( www.lavender-impressions.co.nz ), with only a tiny amount of oil obtained. Most of his lemon verbena leaves are destined to be dried and sold as a herbal tea. On the 29 December 2013 I was able to take part in the harvest and distillation of his organic lemon verbena. The key difference this year is that it is the flowers and leaves which are being distilled, not just the leaves. Leaf only essential oil can produce a high (up to 35% citral) content which, being an aldehyde may ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Geranium Distillation for Hydrosol

This is a the first run of my small scale back yard set up on various geraniums distilled for hydrosol, using a pump to reticulate water through the condenser to save water. It means I do not have to stay close by every second for two or more hours. (I am still in the vicinity though in case of mishaps!) Day 1: Harvest of lemon geranium ( Pelargonium crispum ) this morning, stripped leaves from branches (approx 500gm plant material) and added to 3 litres of commercially distilled lemon geranium hydrosol so I get double the benefit. I don't extract any essential oil out of it. https://youtu.be/LFVPV6WHCIg . I achieved about 600 ml good quality hydrosol after 3 hours on the hot plate. (leaf 1 in picture below) Day 2: First up is rose geranium ( Pelargonium graveloans var. roseum ) with pure water (leaf 2 in picture below). Hydrosol appeared very quickly and prolifically, obtaining 200 ml within first 20 minutes of the distillation. This was distilled for about two hours  and...
Post a Comment
Read more

Harakeke-NZ Flax-An iconic Plant

Harakeke, Phormium tenax , isn't exactly an aromatic plant, but it does have plenty of healing properties. Nothing screams out 'New Zealand' more than an image of our native flax in flower! Further background about the plant can be found here Currently I am surrounded by a variety of them in my garden- planted as short a time as two years ago and they all have swung into a tremendous flowering action, some with spikes almost 3 metres tall. Like a triffid the spikes seem to appear almost over night.  My plants have a number of very practical uses- firstly to assist with drainage of a heavy clay soil with a high water table; secondly for shelter and privacy; thridly to attract more nativve birds (like our TUI ) who feast of the nectar; and lastly (but by no means least) I collect the seeds and use as a co distillation with lavender hydrosol to incorporate into products.   The uses of flax historically is entrenched in Maori culture and history, and early Maori could not ...
Post a Comment
Read more