So What are Essential Oils Anyway?

So What are Essential Oils Anyway?

Essential oils are oils extracted from plants or parts of plants and used for various purposes and in several different ways. Often the oils are used in the treatment of ailments, injuries, and for a general sense of well being but serve other purposes as well. Depending on the oil, essential oils may be used topically, aromatically, or ingested. Humans have relied on plants for food and remedies to various aliments from the dawn of our existence. Over the millennia as our skills, technologies, and development of the scientific process developed we were able to refine our abilities to extract compounds from plants that we found to be useful, ultimately playing a role in the development of the age of modern medicine. In the case of essential oils, extraction of the oil is often done through steam distillation, although depending on the specific plant and part of the plant from which the oil is being extracted other methods may be used. In essence, an essential oil is the purest possible extract from a given plant without loosing it's characteristic qualities. As in the case of any plant, food, or medicine all items within a general category have dramatically different qualities and characteristics and will be used to different ends and in different ways which should be taken into account when researching essential oils.