The history of essential oils where did it all start? The exact time that essential oils were first used is hard to determine. But if you are here then you are interested in the history of essential oils, and are interested in learning more about this topic. So take a few moments of your time to read through this article to learn what the history of essential oil is.
Looking Back In Time
The history of essential oil reaches back throughout the history of modern man to the period of ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt. In fact, it reaches throughout the Middle and Far East as well. The commonality here is the essence or spirit of the plant. The plants used in aromatherapy 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, plants and bark or flowers had to be steeped in a fatty oil or wine, which acted as a solvent to create the desired flavor or aroma that these people wanted the aroma to contain.
Timeline The History Of Essential Oil
Extracts both impure and diluted are oftentimes used as oils or creams. These were first introduced into Europe. However, the history of essential oils ended there for a while. Until specialized craftsmen started to work on these essential oils once 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 also so that more concentrated essences or spirits of the oils could be used. Over time the distillation process was slowly 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.
Modern Essential Oils
The modern practice can be traced to a French chemist by the name of Rene’ Gattefosse’, in the 1920’s. He also came up with the name “aromatherapy”. He often used essential oil stills to make the oils he did research on. Modern technology allows chemicals to be separated and used as a building block to introduce particular flavors and aromas into a product. 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 history of essential oils has evolved and changed considerably even in the last 200 years.
Notice:
EssenceandOils.com is solely to be used as an informational resource and should never be used to replace contact with your licensed healthcare provider.
