Hydrosols

Distilled or Extracted Specifically For Therapeutic Use

Distillation is not a new art. Although the perfection of the process is usually credited to Avicenna (Ibn Sina) in the eleventh century, the art was known long before then. A clay still was found in Pakistan that dates back to the year 500 B.C. The Greek alchemist Zosimos described the three-legged still, or "Tribikos," of Maria Prophetissima, from the year 299 A.D. The Chinese were distilling plum wine into brandy in 500 A.D. using boiling/condensing technique, long after the emperor Wang Mang  (r.9-23 A.D.), who made alcohol by freezing wine, nationalized the brewing and fermenting industries.

As early as 2600 B.C the ancient Egyptians were boiling plant material in large pots covered with the short fleece of a sheep or a heavy cloth. The wool acted as a type of condenser, absorbing the aromatic steam and cooling it within the fibres so that it condensed. The fleece was then wrung out to extract the aromatic substances, which were allowed to separate in the clay vessels.

The wood extracts - sandalwood, cypress, myrrh, cedar, and pine - were important elements in many aspects of Egyptian life and, including, of course, the expensive and lengthy process of embalming. In all these cases it appears that hydrosols or aromatic waters were produced and considered a valuable product of the exercise. Paintings of this process have survived to this day.

There are three main types of distillation for hydrosols. Steam-distillation, water-or hydro distillation, and hydro -diffusion. I will discuss steam-distillation at length here, but the other two methods are also worth examining, as they are the subject of much debate among producers. There is a massive difference, of course, between industrial steam-distillation and all manner of therapeutic distillation. The yield from therapeutic distillation is usually about half that of industrial output.

In steam-Distillation, today's techniques differ only slightly from those of the ancients. The still design remains quite simple, although there is magic in its measurements. Basically a still is a large pot with a grate in its bottom and a removable lid that can be secured to create a hermetic seal. The height of the pot should be greater than the width of the pot to prevent the steam from channeling up only one side or the center of the plant material. Obviously, it is important that the steam travel through all of the plant material so that all of the oil can be extracted. The steam is allowed to enter at the bottom of the still in a trickle, wafting in like a light fog rolling over the land. The steam enters through a grid or cross of pipes with vent holes that face down to further slow the entry of the steam and to ensure that it fills every centimeter of the still body.

Industrial distillation forces the steam into the still under pressure and in high volumes , but therapeutic distillation prefers this gentle trickle of steam. Sometimes it can take up to two hours for the steam to make its way through all the plant material and reach the condenser. The grid is placed above the steam pipes to keep the plants away from the steam until it fills the still completely.

It was the shape of the lid and condenser that Avicenna really perfected back in the eleventh century. His design became known as a Moor's head, for its resemblance to the arches and minarets of Morrish architecture. Originally, and even today in small stills, coiled condensers were used. That is, the pipe down which the steam travels as it cools back into water is coiled like the shell of a snail. Many alchemists believed that the angle and rotation of the coil should in fact be based on the torus, a specific spiral angle of rotation that exists in nature: shells, leaves growing along a branch, the spin of a maple key as it floats to the ground . Many believed that using the sacred geometry of the torus created a more natural flow, one that would enhance the energy of the material being extracted.

But what modern aromatherapy distillers know is that many plants require specific condensing parameters, and some distillers have multiple condensers  in different shapes and sizes so the most appropriate cooling and therefore separation can be chosen for the plant material being distilled.

This knowledge is part of the art and science of the alchemy of distilling.

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Reference: Hydrosols The Next Aromatherapy / Suzanne Catty