Ida's Soap Box

Essential oils are natural aromatic extracts from plant material including grasses, leaves, flowers, needles, twigs, peels of fruit, seeds, bark, and roots. The aromatic essential oil compounds are stored in tiny pockets in plant material and must be released. The type of plant material being used determines which method of extraction will produce the best results.

I love reading labels! I began reading product labels with the word “vanilla” in their title. What surprised me was how many products claimed to be made with “vanilla essential oil.”  Vanilla beans need a solvent to release their aromatic compounds! So, they CANNOT be called essential oils. There are vanilla extracts, infusions, absolutes, and fragrance oils—but no vanilla essential oil!