tincturing, infusing, Essence & Alchemy

[Guest guest]

>But the ones infused in sweet almond oil turned yellow and the smell

> is very pleasant. I am going to give it a try with jojoba oil.

>

> How do you infuse in oil? I know the oil needs to be warm and you

need to change out the flowers every so often, but how do you separate

the plant material from the oil when you are ready to change it out?

Hi,

I've been reading how everyone is infusing, tincturing and to read all

about in Essence & Alchemy. I have been making herbal infusions in

organic oils and tinctures in organic alcohol for a few years now and

am excited to try with flowers and other perfume scent items. A few

things are confusing me though. I searched through E & A last night (no

less than 3 passes)and could not find references to tincturing or

infusing, so here I go...

Infusions: I am under the impression that one has to use dried

materials to make oil infusions as the water can make the oil go

rancid. Yet, y'all seem to be doing it all the time with fresh flowers

(which contain water) with success. How do you separate or drain off

the water from the infusion?

Also, I generally infuse for months in the sun and/or lightly heated

areas yet rarely do I have scented oil...Do you think this is because

I use dry materials?

Tinctures: Using wet materials (flowers, fresh plants)in 190 proof

organic alcohol poses no water problems re: rancidity, but here again

I have never made a tincture that had a nice smell to it. They all

retain a strong alcohol scent. Very strong. So what's the secret?

Where am I going wrong????

And while I'm asking, I've poked around the site and found the files

re: enfleurage. Does anyone use a plant fat, if there is such a thing,

or can one use a thick plant/veggie oil? Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance for helping another wandering/wondering newbie!

[Guest guest]

Tinctures: Using wet materials (flowers, fresh plants)in 190 proof

organic alcohol poses no water problems re: rancidity, but here again

I have never made a tincture that had a nice smell to it. They all

retain a strong alcohol scent. Very strong. So what's the secret?

Where am I going wrong????

And while I'm asking, I've poked around the site and found the files

re: enfleurage. Does anyone use a plant fat, if there is such a thing,

or can one use a thick plant/veggie oil? Any recommendations?

Hi ,

Your tinctures aren't going to have a nice smell to them until they're

applied to something (skin, paper, fabric, etc.) and the alcohol

evaporates/dries down. Then you'll be able to smell what you tinctured.

When I do enfleurage, I buy non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening.

I'd certainly consider that to be a plant fat... I haven't started up

my projects again for this year. They're all still in the freezer

from last year. Maybe I'll be able to put them into alcohol this year

and draw off the scent.

I hope this helps. Sorry I didn't address all of your questions.

Anyone else???

Cheers,

Andrine

[Guest guest]

Hi Andrine,

Where have you found non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening?!

Vegetable fats are primarily liquid at room temperature and are

subject to rancidity after about 6 months. Hydrogenation turns

liquid fats into solids but it also changes the chemical structure of

the fat and gives it a long shelf life. The added hydrogen atom

creates a fat that doesn't exist in nature. There are several types

of naturally solid vegetable fats, such as cocoa butter, kukui nut

butter, shea butter, etc. I would say that a refined shea butter

would be a good choice for an enfleurage experiment. In fact, I was

thinking of doing it myself with jasmine from my back yard. From

what I've read, however, it does seem like alot of work for very

little return. Has anyone else tried shea butter enfleurage?

Maggie

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Maggie -

>>Where have you found non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening?!

There are several brands on the market now. The easiest to find, hands

down, is Crisco. It's been re-formulated, so some of us - scared-off before

- are back to using this familiar brand. Other choices are Smart Balance,

or Earth Balance. Most of these are made with Palm Oil, which is solid at

room temperature. (Sadly it's still not all that good for you...but so much

better than that hydrogenated garbage.)

Cheers,

[Guest guest]

Other choices are Smart Balance,

> or Earth Balance.

>

> Cheers,

>

Thanks , I will check out Crisco. I love Earth Balance (for

my toast), but are you using it for enfleurage? It's a water in oil

emulsion, so how does it hold up to pathogens?

Best,

Maggie

[Guest guest]

> Hi ,

>

>> When I do enfleurage, I buy non-hydrogenated vegetable

shortening.

> I'd certainly consider that to be a plant fat... I haven't

started up

> my projects again for this year. They're all still in the freezer

> from last year. Maybe I'll be able to put them into alcohol this

year

>>

> Cheers,

> Andrine

Wouldn't coconut oil be a good plant 'fat' to use? It is solid,

but 'soft' at room temperature. Palm oil might be another good one.

Cocao butter would be too hard. I'm not sure what non-hydrogenated

vegetable shortening would be?

Sagescript Institute, llc

http://www.sagescript.com; http://sagescript.blogspot.com

Microbiology, Distillates, Botanicals

[Guest guest]

--- M <BodyAmbrosia@...> wrote:

> Hi Maggie -

>

> >>Where have you found non-hydrogenated vegetable

> shortening?!

>

> There are several brands on the market now. The

> easiest to find, hands

> down, is Crisco. It's been re-formulated, so some

> of us - scared-off before

> - are back to using this familiar brand. Other

> choices are Smart Balance,

> or Earth Balance. Most of these are made with Palm

> Oil, which is solid at

> room temperature. (Sadly it's still not all that

> good for you...but so much

> better than that hydrogenated garbage.)

>

> Cheers,

>

***********************************************

Just out of curiosity, why is hydrogenated vegetable

oil not suitable for enfleurage? I mean, I know it's

not healthy to ingest but what does it do to the stuff

you're enfleuraging?

Patty

________________________________________________________________________________\

____

Be a better friend, newshound, and

know-it-all with Mobile. Try it now.

http://mobile./;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

[Guest guest]

> Hi Andrine,

> Where have you found non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening?!

Hi Maggie,

I'm really lucky that our main island grocery store is

forward-thinking enough to carry tons of natural and organic stuff.

They even put it on the shelves with the other mainstream stuff,

rather than putting it in a segregated " health-food section " . I got

the shortening there. I can't remember the name of it now -- and I

ran out at the end of my enfleuraging last year, so the container's

long since gone to the recyclers. I'll try to remember to look it up

next time I'm at the store. It comes in a blue and white plastic tub.

I'm pretty certain that it was palm kernel oil, and that there was no

water in it. It didn't go rancid in just over a year at room

temperature. That seemed like a fairly good sign of stability to me.

When I started using it, it was the only non-hydrogenated shortening

that I could see on the shelf. I originally bought it to use in my

cooking, and then there it was when I wanted to start enfleuraging. I

used it rather than Crisco (I guess they're making non-hydrogenated

Crisco now, though), partly because of my own feeling of wanting to

use something that hadn't been " monkeyed with " . I haven't done any

research on it... I'm no scientist. (It shows!) Anyway, I like the

texture a lot better than Crisco. It's not as sticky. It spreads

fairly easily, and releases from my tools much more easily than

Crisco. Crisco likes to cling to knives and spatulas rather than

staying on the enfleurage chassis or plate. The stuff I use also

seems to smell cleaner than Crisco. Crisco has its own distinct odor.

This stuff barely has any odor at all.

> There are several types

> of naturally solid vegetable fats, such as cocoa butter, kukui nut

> butter, shea butter, etc. I would say that a refined shea butter

> would be a good choice for an enfleurage experiment. In fact, I was

> thinking of doing it myself with jasmine from my back yard. From

> what I've read, however, it does seem like alot of work for very

> little return. Has anyone else tried shea butter enfleurage?

I've thought about using organic refined coconut oil (the virgin is

too highly scented -- I LOVE it, but not necessarily for enfleurage --

I'll stick with using it on my toast, and rubbing onto my skin --

mmmm!!!). However, coconut oil is more difficult to work with than

this shortening that I use. It's got a harder consistency and is more

difficult to spread. Cocoa butter is too hard at room temperature

(here in the Pacific Northwest), and is also too highly scented (to

me) for enfleurage. I prefer not to work with deodorized fats because

heaven only knows what was used to deodorize them. Shea butter seems

like it's a little too sticky, and it's also pretty costly. And I

think that kukui nut butter would be a little too hard and also

costly. But those are just my thoughts, and I only have experience

using those fats in my local climate. They might work great for

people in warmer climes...

Anyway, I hope this helps a little. Sorry I didn't respond sooner,

and that this is so long...

Cheers,

Andrine

[Guest guest]

West wrote:

>

> --- M <BodyAmbrosia@...> wrote:

> (Sadly it's still not all that

> > good for you...but so much

> > better than that hydrogenated garbage.)

> >

> ***********************************************

>

> Just out of curiosity, why is hydrogenated vegetable

> oil not suitable for enfleurage? I mean, I know it's

> not healthy to ingest but what does it do to the stuff

> you're enfleuraging?

>

You know, Patty.....

That's a *good* question.......

I'm no expert, but I know you don't *eat* the enfleurage media.....(At

least I can't imagine so)....

The original concept was to use odorless *animal* fat on the glass as

the extracting medium.......

Then the whole thing, when saturated, gets washed in ethyl alcohol, to

extract the scent from the pomade.....

I can understand folks not wanting to use animal components.....

Does hydrogenated veggie oil not " grab " the scent as well...?

Does anybody eat this stuff left over after the wash...?

Otherwise....what difference does it make....?

--

W. Bourbonais

L'Hermite Aromatique

A.J.P. (GIA)

[Guest guest]

Andrine Olson-Kirschenman wrote:

> Hi Maggie,

> It comes in a blue and white plastic tub.

> I'm pretty certain that it was palm kernel oil, and that there was no

> water in it. It didn't go rancid in just over a year at room

> temperature. That seemed like a fairly good sign of stability to me.

Scroll down this page, Andrine. I think this is the company:

http://www.spectrumorganics.com/?id=87

--

Sincerely, Anya

Anya's Garden http://AnyasGarden.com - perfumes, aromatics, classes,

consultation

Natural Perfumers Guild http://NaturalPerfumersGuild.com

1400 member Natural Perfumery group -

/

[Guest guest]

Re: non-hydrogenated shortening for enfleurage

Thanks Andrine, for your post on a vegetable alternative for

enfleurage. I will definitely look into non-hydrogenated shortening at

the health food store and try coconut oil on my toast!

Best,

Maggie