How to Make Orange Essential Oil
You will need
Orange peels
Grain
alcohol or vodka* (a cheap grocery store brand vodka is
perfect for this project)
Tray, cookie sheet, or towel
Knife or food processor (the food processor/chopper is easier!)
Coffee filters
Two jars, one should have a tight fitting lid
Make it
- Eat a bunch of oranges, clementines, or mandarins and save the peels. Yum, yum, yum!
- Lay the peels on the cookie sheet, tray or towel and let them air dry (do not put them in a dehydrator or you will lose the oil!) until the peels are rock hard. It took my peels about one week to dry.
- Use the food process/chopper/knife to cut the dry peels into small bits. Do not over process the peels in the food processor/chopper until they are mushy or you will lose the oil in the peel.
- Add the chopped peels to the jar with the tight fitting lid and cover the peels in grain alcohol or vodka.
- Shake the jar to release the oil several times a day for several days. The longer you let the peels steep the more orange oil you will extract. I let mine sit in a sorta sunny spot on my kitchen counter for a weekend.
- Use a coffee filter to strain liquid from the orange peels and into the second jar.
- Place a clean coffee filter or cloth on top of the jar of liquid. Allow the alcohol to evaporate from the jar. I let mine sit for one week.
My orange essential oil after one week. |
- Optional: I had sediment in the bottom of my jar of orange oil after one week. It isn't going to hurt anything. I had an extra disposable coffee filters that I know I wouldn't use for coffee ( I use a reusable gold coffee filter. It's supposed to make better coffee.) I strained the orange oil again with a clean coffee filter into an amber jar (a re-purposed yeast jar.) A dark colored jar will keep sunlight from degrading the essential oil.
The disposable filters came with a new coffeemaker. |
- What you have left is a jar of orange essential oil!
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