Tinctures & Essential Oils: Distillation Method

The difference between an herbal tincture and an essential oil begins with the method of distillation, which results in two wonderful but, chemically speaking, quite different products.

Tinctures are made using a solvent, most often alcohol because, among the options, alcohol is most effective. Two other solvents that are common are glycerin or apple cider vinegar. You place the herbs to soak in the solvent, which pulls the plant’s chemical components out from the plant and acts as a natural preserver and carrier.  Once the herbs have soaked long enough, they are strained from the solvent leaving you with the herbal extract. A couple droppers full (30 drops each) of tincture is about the equivalent of a cup of tea steeped in the same herbs. Tinctures also carry larger molecules not found in essential oils such as proteins and enzymes. Those nutrients make herbal tinctures more allergenic than the equivalent essential oil.

High quality, therapeutic grade essential oils are produced using steam distillation. Water is heated to produce steam. As the steam passes through the plant matter, the plant unseals its essence and releases it into the cloud. The steamy cloud then carries the essence into a condenser where it is cooled. There, it re-liquefies. The lighter oil molecules separate from water and heavier molecules, with the oil rising to the top. The remaining water is often called floral water or hydrosol, and the oil is of course our pure, distilled essential oil. They carry no solvents. Their healing properties can be imparted even without ingestion but simply through smelling or diffusion, and they do not contain the larger protein molecules that trigger allergies. Essential oils are 50-100x more concentrated than herbs and require very little to be effective.

Are Essential Oils Non-Allergenic? Hypo-Allergenic? or Non-Allergenic? Read about it HERE.