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Many household cosmetics and toiletries are fragranced to enhance their
attraction. These are some of the methods used to extract the fragrance
from their natural plant source. You may want to try some of these with
the children but please be aware of health and safety issues if using
alcohol in the classroom.
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Enflourage
Take a tray of white lard
such as Spry (originally goose fat would have been used for this process
but a synthetic version is now used by the modern cosmetic industry).
Collect your petals early in the morning while the dew is still on them.
Rose petals are usually the choice of perfume makers as the petals are
of a good size. Smooth each petal out on the tray of fat and leave overnight.
Turn the petals over and leave overnight again. On the third day, replace
your petals with new ones. This whole process should be repeated several
times. Then, scrape up the fat and stir well, to ensure the even spread
of the essence. In order to obtain a stronger fragrance, repeat the whole
process again. As you can see, this method of extraction is extremely
labour- intensive and perfume made in this way can cost up to £10,000
per kilo.
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Alcoholic
extraction
Take 50ml of good quality
vodka (denatured alcohol is a good substitute if your local chemist can
supply it) and place in a wide - necked, screw-top bottle. Collect the
flowers of lavender, herbs, rose or jasmine and place in the bottle -
these need to be covered by the alcohol. Leave the mixture to infuse for
a week and then filter through a pair of tights.
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Cold
expression
Any citrus fruit such as lemon,
orange, lime or grapefruit will work well for this method. Peel the fruit
and lay the flesh to one side - this can be squeezed and drunk later,
if wished. Wrap filter paper around the fruit and squeeze the zest so
that the oil is absorbed by the paper.
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Distillation
This is not an experiment
to try in the classroom unless you have access to proper distillation
equipment but as this is a common method of extraction you may wish to
explain the process to the children with the help of the diagram. Water
in a closed vessel is heated and the plant material placed on a wire mesh
above this. The steam takes up the oil, which then flows through a pipe
and then though a condenser. The mixture then separates into flower water,
which stays at the bottom of the container, and essential oil, which rises
to the top.
Download diagram of distillation
here.
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