A Look Back In Time: The History Of Essential Oil

The history of essential oil reaches back throughout time to the period of ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt. In fact, it reaches throughout the Middle and Far East as well. The common feature here is the essence of the plant. These plants had to have an identifiable aroma, flavor or other characteristic that people found to be of practical use.

Throughout the history of essential oil these essential oils were used as perfume, food flavoring, deodorant, a pharmaceutical or as an embalming antiseptic. In order to create these things, plant material had to be steeped in a fatty oil or wine, which acted as a solvent to establish the desired flavor or aroma that these people wanted to have.

The History Of Essential Oil Timeline

The impure and diluted extracts are oftentimes used as oils or creams. These things were introduced into Europe. However, the history of essential oil ended there for a while. Until specialized craftsmen started to work on these essential oils again. This happened in the 12th century when the English Guild of Pepperers and the French court perfumers began working with essential oils. In the 1300s Spain and France began distilling so that more concentrated essences of the oils could be enjoyed. Over time the distillation process was improved upon. Then in 1430 the first publication about essential oils was written, entitled “The Book of Nurture.”

By 1550 there were some specific trends obvious. First, France was producing spiked lavender oil, which was used as a trading commodity. Secondly, flavors and aromas were being expressed from an increasing number of new sources. Third, pharmacists, chemists, and physicians began studying the physical, chemical and medicinal properties of these oils.

A Look At Essential Oils Today

There are now numerous essential oils and products available today. In fact, there are both international markets and industries that only deal with essential oils. This is all thanks to the technology of the 20th century. The technology allows chemicals to be separated and used as a building block to introduce particular flavors and aromas into a product.