Essence or essential oil?

Aromatic substances, when still inside the plant, are called essences. Once the distillation or extraction process is complete, they are called essential oils.

Essential oils are the most valuable product in the plant world. Often, precisely for this reason, they are adulterated or reproduced, and marketed with the designation "essence". This word, however beautiful, is rarely used by Olfattiva in order to firmly distinguish itself from all those who, all too often, take advantage of the poor knowledge of the raw material and the principles of aromatherapy to offer products that have little, if anything, natural about them.

Quality parameters: how to recognize a true essential oil?

To benefit from the physical and ethereal properties of the plant in complete safety, it is essential to choose a good quality essential oil. Selecting raw materials is a very complex practice, not only for novices and beginners, but also for the most experienced essential oil consumers. Given the great value of essential oil, these raw materials are often adulterated, if not even synthetically reproduced.

Below you will find some parameters to check on the label if you want to be sure you are making a conscious purchase:

> botanical name of the plant;

> common name;

> any chemotype;

> part of the plant distilled;

> method of extraction of the essential oil;

> batch number and date;

> purity and integrity of the oil, 100% natural;

A reminder to keep in mind: price is often an excellent indicator of product quality. In the case of essential oils, it varies depending on the yield of the plant: if a Sweet Orange peel has an excellent yield, that of a Rose petal is extremely low (it takes about a hundred kilograms of petals for 300g of essential oil). If you find flowers like Rose and Jasmine at the same price as Lavender or Mint, absolutely distrust anyone who offers you the product.