Distilling oils: Basil

Essential oils can be expensive! A tiny vial of oil can be $8-10, so I decided to look at making my own.

I bought a new stock pot from Amazon in order to make the perfect home distillery for my oils. It consists of a base pot, a steamer pot that fits into the top of the stock pot and a lid. I thought I'd give this a try since it is way less expensive than glass beakers, copper piping, gaskets and all the paraphernalia required for a "scientific" still. Those cost around $300 or more.

A week or so ago I bought some edible herbs in little pots, and I'm starting off with Basil. For more on the usefulness of basil and the chemical compounds, look up Basil Essential Oil and chemical compounds of basil.  

Usage:

1. Basil has antioxident properties and helps with blemish control, as it is a natural antiseptic. As an astringent, this hydrosol refines the pores and helps to control sebum. Basil will energize your skin and help to start your day off right. This is great for any skin type, especially oily, aging, or acne prone skin.
2. The price of 1 fluid ounce of Basil Hydrosol on one website I found is $6.50; on another it is $4.70.   So my little Basil plant (cost $2.99) has yielded a good $38- $48 worth of hydrosol. Not bad! And I only cut off the top of the plant to use so I can grow more!
3. It may be used as a substitute for distilled water in recipes. Try it in creams and lotions and in dry or wet clay recipes.

Procedure:  
Distillation is very simple (apparently) and has been used for centuries, especially in those alcoholic beverages we all enjoy. So I naturally assumed it would be really easy to execute!

1. Cut off the tops of the basil plant and cut up the leaves and stems. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Distiller Base:  Fill pot with 1-2 inches water. 
3. Collector: Put the Collector (a glass bowl), in the middle of the pan and add the plant material to the water in the bottom of the pot.  This is to catch condensation and essential oils dripping from the Condenser.

5.Condenser: Place pot lid upside down with ice in top.  (I tried the stock pot lid, but I don't think it was a good fit so tried another lid I had that was made of glass. It seemed to fit better.)

6. Boil water in bottom of pot which will then steam through the steamer basket and through the plant material.  Do not boil the water at full blast because we want a slow boil - just enough to make the water steam.  Get the water to a boil and then turn the temp down immediately to low.

7. Steam for 20- 40 minutes and keep the ice on top iced. You will need a lot of ice to keep refilling the lid. Use a turkey baster to siphon off the melted water- don't remove lid.

8. Turn off the heat and let it all cool down. The result will be a small amount of oil floating on top of the water in the Collector.

It took me two attempts to get this right, but I'm hoping that on your first attempt you will end up with a cup of basil hydrosol. Because hydrosols need to be refrigerated, store it in the fridge.  Happy mixing!