Soapmakers: What is the difference between EO and FO?

[Rusty Hills Farm]

...and does anyone make their own?

I have a simple "recipe" for making essential oils using an almond oil base, and am wondering if this is really a FO and not an EO?

....Each day for four days place 1 cup of flowers (1/4 cup of herbs or chopped fruit peel) in the plastic bag, close the bag and lightly tap the materials within the bag to bruise them slightly. Do not beat the material into a pulp, this is a gentle process.

Place the sweet almond oil and the flowers, herbs or citrus peel into one wide mouthed glass jar, replace the top and gently shake to mix. Make sure your materials have been saturated in the oil. Leave the bottle in a warm place, perhaps in your kitchen.

Each day using the cheesecloth as a strainer, transfer the oil from one bottle to the other collecting your material in the cheesecloth. Squeeze the cheesecloth to transfer as much of the oil as possible into the second bottle.

Throw away the old material and repeat the bruising procedure with a fresh batch of your flowers, herbs or citrus peel. Add the new material to the oil and gently shake.

When the four days have elapsed, strain the oil through the cheesecloth one final time and using the funnel transfer the oil into the colored glass bottles. Place the stopper on the bottles. Congratulations - You have now made your own essential oil.

So what I am trying to figure out is, is this making a true EO, or is it an FO, or is it something else entirely?

Thanks!


Rusty


edited to add that I have a large rose garden and am wondering if I treated the rose petals with this process, would I have an EO/FO that I could use for soapmaking? I would love to have bars that smell like my roses!​

 

[cybercat]

That is neither of them. That is how a flavored oil is made. It will have a little of the EO but not much of it. Eo are distilled and FO are synthetic. You can not make rose oil only rose water. It would take millions of rose petals to make 1 once of rose oil.

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

This is infused oil, neither an EO or FO.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

Infused oil? Does that mean that if I made, oh, 2-3 oz. of a rose scented infused oil using almond oil for the base, could I substitute the scented almond oil instead of the regular almond oil called for in the recipe? I realize that the scent would not last as long as a real EO, but I only make half a dozen bars at a time, just for my own use.

Thanks!


Rusty

 

[amyquilt]

FO-Fragrance Oil
EO-Essential Oil

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

Rusty,
I doubt the scent would make it through the saponification. But you can try!

 

[ametauss]

What if you used that as part of your scent following trace???

If you only use 2-3oz of the scented oil wouldn't that keep the smell???

 

[Morgaine]

Essential oils and Fragrance oils are VERY concentrated so that is all you need to scent a 2-4 pound batch. When you make an infused oil, you do not have the same concentration, it is still mainly your base oil. To scent 2-4 oz of almond oil, you would only need a few drops of rose essential oil to scent it, but if you were to use that scented oil in soap, the amount of rose is so little that most likely you would have no scent in the soap. Fragrance oils are synthetic and EO are the natural extracts or oils from plants.

Hope that helps.