Guest guest Posted November 29, 2011 Report Share Posted November 29, 2011 I was thinking tonight, and got to wondering and of course I can't find a straight answer on line so here I am asking a group again if there is a simple answer to this. Can you make an extract or essence from say melons, cucumbers and such things which normally you can't find except in pill form? If you can would you use the enfleurage technique for making perfumes or would you simply extract it into vodka or pga? If you did use the enfleurage technique if you used coconut oil as the base in which the scent essence went into after you extracted into alcohol could you reuse that same oil as a base in some other natural cosmetic or healing urgent? Thank you for you time Willow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 30, 2011 Report Share Posted November 30, 2011 ________________________________ To: NaturalPerfumery Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 10:34 PM Subject: Enfleurage Question  I was thinking tonight, and got to wondering and of course I can't find a straight answer on line so here I am asking a group again if there is a simple answer to this. Can you make an extract or essence from say melons, cucumbers and such things which normally you can't find except in pill form? If you can would you use the enfleurage technique for making perfumes or would you simply extract it into vodka or pga? If you did use the enfleurage technique if you used coconut oil as the base in which the scent essence went into after you extracted into alcohol could you reuse that same oil as a base in some other natural cosmetic or healing urgent? Thank you for you time Willow  *************************************************  Hi Willow I'm not sure what application you are going to use this for, but I would go with alcohol extraction, particularly if you are going to use fresh material. Any water content in an oil base is going to grow funky things. And then, you are going to get a lot of extra water in there with the alcohol which will make it difficult to concentrate the aroma. (Melons and cucumbers as you know are chock full of water and have a faint scent as it is.) If you dried the material first, you could either use alcohol extraction or oil. I haven't done it, but my gut feeling is that, using oil, it would never be strong enough. If you just want something to add to perfumes, there are companies, such as Mountain Rose Herbs, that sell cucumber hydrosol obtained through distillation. I haven't heard of any melon hydrosol, as of yet.   Patty Ganache for Lips http://www.ganacheforlips.com  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 30, 2011 Report Share Posted November 30, 2011 >> say melons, cucumbers and such things which normally you can't find except in pill form? Pill form?? Uh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 30, 2011 Report Share Posted November 30, 2011 Hi Willow I'm not sure what application you are going to use this for, but I would go with alcohol extraction, particularly if you are going to use fresh material. Any water content in an oil base is going to grow funky things. And then, you are going to get a lot of extra water in there with the alcohol which will make it difficult to concentrate the aroma. (Melons and cucumbers as you know are chock full of water and have a faint scent as it is.) If you dried the material first, you could either use alcohol extraction or oil. I haven't done it, but my gut feeling is that, using oil, it would never be strong enough. If you just want something to add to perfumes, there are companies, such as Mountain Rose Herbs, that sell cucumber hydrosol obtained through distillation. I haven't heard of any melon hydrosol, as of yet. Patty Ganache for Lips http://www.ganacheforlips.com ***************************** I second what Patty said, you will probably have a much better chance with tincture than oil maceration or enfleurage. Even the tincture would be iffy because of water contents. There are hydrosols out there. I haven't worked with any of them personally, but they would impart a bit of scent to your finished product. You have to be careful about using too much in your finished product otherwise some of your essential oils and absolutes won't fully dissolve or go in to solution with the alcohol in your perfume. You wouldn't, to my knowledge, be able to really use the hydrosol in an oil perfume, but possibly in a cream if you use an emulsifyer. One source that seems to be expanding their hydrosols, fruit in particular, is Liberty Natural. They have Cantelope, Cucumber, and several other herbs and fruits. Another option is blending essential oils and absolutes to mimic the scent of the fruit you are wanting to use. White Lotus Aromatics sells a Mango blend, for example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 30, 2011 Report Share Posted November 30, 2011 If you can would you use the enfleurage technique for making perfumes or would you simply extract it into vodka or pga? If you did use the enfleurage technique if you used coconut oil as the base in which the scent essence went into after you extracted into alcohol could you reuse that same oil as a base in some other natural cosmetic or healing urgent? Thank you for you time Willow ******************************* Generally, if you are making alcohol-based perfumes, you will want to extract your pommade (the scent-infused fat from enfleurage) with alcohol. Then either use that alcohol (you want to be using as high proof alcohol as you can, 95% alcohol or 190 proof is preferred as vodkas have too much water, with rare exceptions) in your perfume or you can distill it, if you have distilling equipment, to seperate the aromatic oil and the alcohol. If you are making solid perfumes or cremes, then you may be able to simply use the pommade as is. I wouldn't suggest using extra virgin coconut oil to enfleurage. It has a pretty strong scent of its own, and that may carry over into your final product. I am actually trying to tincture it right now to see how well that scent extracts into alcohol. Palm Oil seems the popular choice for enfleurage. I found mine at the natural grocers here in town. Also, I wouldn't reuse the engleurage fat after washing it in alcohol. Some of the scent will still remain in the fat, and could alter the scent of your next enfleurage product. Hope that answers some of your questions, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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