Lavandula angustifolia is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. The plant can be found in southern Europe, northern Africa and the Mediterranean’s. It has pale blue or purple flowers on a large bush, which can spread to up to 90 centimeters in height and spread. The flowers are arranged in spirals of 5-10 blossoms, where the oil in contained. It was first used in Roman times when flowers were sold for 100 denarii per a half-kilogram, which was about the same as a month’s wage of a farm worker. Another famous legend says that lavender originally had no smell, but since the Virgin Mary dried Jesus’s swaddling clothes on it, it has had a heavenly perfume.

The aroma is sweet, floral, and herbal. Some of the names widely used to describe the different species are: “English lavender“, “French lavender” and “Spanish lavender“(which are all imprecisely applied). The species which we Lavender Oil Bulgaria are growing is “English lavender“, commonly used for Lavandula angustifolia, which is also referred to as “officinalis” or “spica”. It is the best known of the lavender family since it produces the highest quality essential oils.

DISTILLATION

The extraction method that we use is steam distillation. The process begins in the morning (once the dew has evaporated) by harvesting the lavender flowers, first with harvesting machinery and then collecting by hand what was left. The plants are loaded into 600 kilogram stainless steel pots and sealed. Pressure steam is then led to flow through the tank which causes the plants oil glands to erupt and evaporate into the steam. This steam then passes though special copper tubes (which help to achieve higher quality oil) leading to the condeser where cold water cools down the steam and turns it to liquid of oil and hydrosol. The essential oil, being lighter than water, rises to the surface which allows their easy seperation.