When produced correctly, an absolute will contain far more of the aromatic principles of the flower than its steam distilled counterpart. Because of this, many popular herbs are also extracted using this process; Clary sage, Geranium, Lavender, Tonka bean and Vanilla are just a small selection of materials that are available as an absolute. Because absolutes are highly concentrated, they do not often smell like the herbs until they are once again diluted down to the correct levels.
A very trace amount of solvent can remain in the final absolute. This indeed is a disadvantage to using absolutes as aromatherapy focuses on the use of pure and natural plant matter. Although the amount of remaining solvent is minimal, absolutes are used in true aromatherapy with care, respect and knowledge. Essential oils should never be taken internally by anyone that is not trained, educated and experienced at doing so. Absolutes should never be taken internally by anyone because of that small amount of trace solvent that may remain.
Absolutes are used extensively in perfumery applications. With a good knowledge of the solvent they are using, extractors can produce absolutes having an aroma closer to the original plant than is possible with essential oils produced through distillation. Examples of this are rose otto (steam distilled rose oil) compared to rose absolute or neroli (steam distilled oil from the blossom of the bitter orange tree) compared to orange blossom absolute. Furthermore, some botanicals are too delicate to be steam distilled and can yield their aroma only through other methods, such as solvent extraction or lipid absorption. Examples of this are jasmine, tuberose, and mimosa.
The absolute are concentrated aromatic oily mixture extracted from plants through the use of solvent extraction. Typical solvents used are hexane and petroleum ether. Absolutes are obtained from concretes - wax like mass obtained through adding solvents to the plant material. The lower molecular weight fragrant compounds are extracted from the concrete into ethanol. The resulting material after the evaporation of the ethanol is the absolute.
The advantage of the absolutes is that they are more concentrated and because the plant material is not subjected to high temperatures more of the aromatic compounds are preserved. However, complete elimination of the solvents is not possible and solvent traces may be found in the absolute.
Nevertheless, absolutes are widely used for aromatherapy and perfumery applications. This is because there are certain botanicals, which are too fragile and their aroma cannot be distilled by the steam extraction method. Thus, the solvent extraction is the best method for dealing with such plants. Some of the plants which lie in this category are jasmine, mimosa and tuberose. It should be noted that absolutes should never be taken internally by anyone as the solvent impurity may harm your system.
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