Some of my friends are discussing boiling citrus peels, like orange, lime, grapefruit and lemon. This is an activity I could never do. Distilling oils from the peel of citrus fruits is an art and has a scientific basis. The peels need to be grown without pesticides, pure water is required, the right temperature for boiling used, the time being boiled for, and the oil needs to be tested to ensure it is therapeutic grade. It is imperative that all the constituents are in the oil when applying to the body and drinking them. For example, testing the oils with the 'Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry' machine is just one of many tests that Young Living completes on each of our oils.
Scientific Testing
This is a list of all the tests that Young Living does and a brief description of their purpose. This is what sets Young Living apart as the highest standard in essential oil quality.
Viscometry- shows how viscous a liquid is (think vetiver versus lavender)
Densitometry- picks up water from distillation
Refractometry- measures how much light is bent
Polarimetry- sends a beam of polarized light thru oil to see the rotation
ICP- MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma mass spectrometry)- measures metal in oils
ICP- OES (Inductively couples plasma atomic optical emission spectrometry)- also measures metal
Gas Chromatograph- pulls apart into all compounds present and uses high heat
HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatograph)- similar to GC but uses a high pressure liquid
FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy)- Measures chemical bonds between compounds
Automated Micro-enumeration- Counts bacteria in a sample
Disintegration Testing- measures how quickly a tablet disintegrates
PH- measures how acidic/basic a product is
Flashpoint-point at which it ignites
Microscopy- looking at compound through the microscope to identify
Combustibility- measures how easily a substance will set on fire, through fire or combustion
Chiral Chromatography- this test separates optical isomers and determines organic compounds from inorganic compounds.
Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) - We have 2 of these machines and it takes 2 years of intense training to be able to use them. This test measures all oils to make sure they have the same ratio as the atmosphere.
According to Dr. Mike Buch, these are all the NORMAL TESTS that YL runs on ALL oils and products.
There are so many factors that make essential oils pure and this is the reason I would never do it at home.
I trust Young Living oils only for my culinary oils. Check out this link to see which essential oils can be used for flavouring food and drinks. Who can comment with how many citrus oils we have for culinary purposes?
PS: Who wants to drink a rare citrus oil called Yuzu? Four citrus oils are found in NingXia Red - orange, tangerine, lemon and yuzu. If you want to add additional culinary oils for flavouring like lime and grapefruit, that is easy to do.
