Essential Oils - Absolutes

Absolutes are solvent extracted products. Produced by a multi-step process, which involves first extracting the flower (or other biomass) with a non-polar solvent such as hexane. After the hexane is evaporated, a waxy product is obtained called the CONCRETE. The concrete is then extracted using a polar solvent such as ethanol. The polarity of ethanol will allow extraction of the volatile aromatics from the concrete while leaving behind the non-polar plant waxes which don't dissolve well in ethanol. Finally, the ethanol is evaporated to leave behind the absolute which will typically have 1-5% ethanol remaining in it and sometimes a trace of hexane, depending on the method used.