Distillation is a very effective way to extract essential phytochemicals from herbs. Its products of essential oil and hydrosol are very commonly being used to make all kinds of skincare, hair care, and supplements products.

Good news is that distillation at home or workshop is not difficult. This can not only save you tons of money but also bring you the best quality product especially hydrosol. As anything else, understanding is the foundation of success. Here listed are the 8 key questions that I think are important to answer in order to have successful distillation.

Question 1: Use the right part of herbs for distillation

We eat fruit from apple trees but leaves from sweet basil. For the same reason, when we do distillation, we choose the parts containing the most essential phytochemicals. By distilling the right parts we can get the best quality essential oil or hydrosol.

Flowers, leaves, bark, fruit, peel, resin, root are the common parts to be used in distillation. Choose the right parts! For lavender, we use lavender buds before full flowering. We use eucalyptus leaves for distillation. Lemon peel is used to make lemon essential oil and its hydrosol.

Question 2: Fresh vs. Dried herb

99% of herbs can be used dry for distillation. Dry herbs contain less moisture than fresh ones and this can help make more potent hydrosol from the same amount (in volume) of dry herbs than fresh ones.

However, there are a few exemptions. Rosewater should be made from fresh rose flower. Pick up roses in the morning before fully open so as to save the essential compounds in to its hydrosol.

Question 3: Can we make essential oil at home?

It depends. Herbs contain very low essential oil. Some have higher percent of oil but others have much less. With high oil content herbs, such as lavender, rosemary, etc, you can make small amount of essential oil at home. Nevertheless, the homemade oil are the 100% pure and guaranteed all natural.

Question 4: Can we make hydrosol at home?

Definitely, Yes! You can make hydrosols from any herbs you like. Choose the right way to distill and right factors to control your distillation. Then you will get the best hydrosol.

Most commercial hydrosols were made as by-products from oil. The factory do further extraction to recycle oil from hydrosol after distillation in order to maximize their oil yield. This makes their hydrosol mostly like water rather than distillate. Your home made hydrosol brings you the full benefits of flower water so as to make your herbal lotion, cream, soap, shampoo, etc.

Question 5: Difference between essential oil and hydrosol

Essential oil is composed of water insoluble oily chemicals. Hydrosol contains water soluble chemicals with dispersed oil. The dispersion of small droplets of oil brings its cloudy color while making hydrosol from high oil content herbs such as lavender.

Essential oil is very potent and it needs to be used carefully. Lavender oil is one of a few oils that can be directly used on skin. Most oils need to be heavily diluted before use. Even some oils contain toxic or photosensitive chemicals which need extra care before using it.

Hydrosol contains 0.1% of phytochemicals. This makes it safe to be used directly and frequently. It can be used as spray or as an ingredient for making lotion, cream, shampoo, etc.

Question 6: Steam vs. Hydro Distillation

Hydro distillation has herbs mixed with water before distillation. Steam distillation is that herbs are separated from and on top of water and steam goes through herb bed to extract.

I was often asked the best ration between water and herbs. The ration only matters to hydro distillation. For steam distillation, you don’t need measure how much water in pot relative to the amount of herbs in your distiller. It is easier to control and avoid over cook. This is why LETIME designed steam distillation distiller.

Question 7: How to make the best hydrosol

While extracting phytochemicals from herbs, they come out quickly in the beginning and it gradually decreases with time. Next time when you distill lavender, keep checking hydrosol color changes with time. It becomes from cloudy into transparent. This indicates its potency reduces with time.

The easy-to-follow rule is making 1 part of high quality hydrosol from 1 part of herbs in volume. For example, with KD5 Hydrosol Distiller you expect making 2 cups of high quality hydrosol from one batch run; with LT3000 Essential Oil Distiller you can make 1 liter high quality hydrosol from one run.

Question 8: Hydrosol vs. Infusion

Different methods extract different compounds from herbs. Infusion is a solvent extraction process. For example, tea and decoction are water infusion and it extracts water soluble compounds such as color, sugar and some flavonoids.

Hydrosol is made by heat and water extraction. It collects volatile compounds which play important roles in keeping its plant healthy including keeping away invaders and attracting pollinators. Such small molecules are beneficial for antibacterial, anti-inflammation, antiseptic, etc. Because hydrosol doesn’t contain sugar, color and flavonoids, it has very good shelf life. Most hydrosols can keep it well for over 12 months.

For more details, please watch our YouTube video.

Top 8 Questions You Need Answer for Successful Distillation