Honeysuckle Oil – Enfleurage / Organic Honeysuckle Enfleurage

Our Artisan Aromatics Honeysuckle Oil, Lonicera japonica, is produced using the ancient method of enfleurage. Our honeysuckle enfleurage oils is one of the most precious oils in the world and known for its heady floral fragrance. Organic honeysuckle oil, extracted from the flower by enfleurage is the rarest of the rare, coming from our small artisan organic grower/extractor in South America who extracts the essential oil by the ancient method of Enfleurage. Like all of our Artisan Aromatics essential oils, enfleurage oils, absolutes and blends, this oil has been carefully selected for its therapeutic quality. Then, to ensure maximum freshness and potency, it is bottled by hand in USA only after orders are received. This oil is just one of our line of exotic Artisan Aromatics Enfleurage Oils.

Our organic honeysuckle enfleurage  oil (Lonicera japonica) is pure undiluted extracted using a very old, all-natural technique known as enfleurage. Since the essential oil of the honeysuckle flower cannot be extracted by distillation or pressing, most available today is extracted by harsh solvents in a chemical process that produces a product called an “absolute” (Honeysuckle absolute). Although our honeysuckle Oil is sometimes referred to as an absolute because it is not extracted by steam distillation, it is more correctly called a an Enfleurage Oil. It is most rare, coming from a small grower/extractor in South America who uses only local organic palm oil and organic sugar cane alcohol to produce this very rare oil.

The entire process of extracting this honeysuckle oil, organic enfleurage is done by hand, with no heat and no harsh chemical solvents. Pure local organic palm oil is used to extract the aromatic oils from the flower petals by absorption. Once the palm oil is completely saturated with the essence of the flower, the palm oil is separated from the aromatics oils by cane sugar alcohol which is then evaporated to leave only the organic oil. The enfleurage process for producing our honeysuckle oil is quite labor intensive and requires many pounds of Honeysuckle flower petals per mL of oil, but the results are astounding. Many would find it difficult to differentiate the aroma of the oil from that of the actual flower – not quite as strong as the aroma when you are smelling the actual flower but, still quite wonderful.

Honeysuckle cannot be distilled like most essential oils due to the delicate nature of the flowers and there is not enough oil in the flower to extract by pressing. Enfleurage was the traditional method of extraction used in the 18th and 19th centuries and into the early 20th century. Solvent extraction using hexane has now virtually replaced the enfleurage method except for our own Honeysuckle Enfleurage. Solvent (hexane) extracted Honeysuckle Absolute is used extensively by the perfume industry. Only organic palm oil and organic can sugar alcohol are used to produce our Organic Honey-suckle Enfleurage and there is no hexane at all in this product. Both methods (enfleurage and solvent extraction) are time consuming, and the oil yields are quite small for the amount of materials used.

Due to our very limited supply, our enfleurage oils are not available for returns. If unsure, purchase a sample vial first.