I walked into my health food store the other day and saw that they sell pounds of both raw sassasfras root bark and also grinded up sassafras root bark powder. Has anyone steam distilled essential oils before? Do you you think it would be worth trying?

I steam distill a lot in the summer when the trees are easily dug up but I've only used commercial bought bark once...for the price i didn't find it worthwhile. The yield digging up roots is leaps and bounds ahead of store bought sass bark. I know Sedit can vouch for this one. Throw the bark in a pressure cooker, and nigga rig a hose of some kind to the top...biomass vessel in 40 seconds. Then I just feed the hose into my condenser and distill like normal. A supersaturation of salt helps bring the hydrosol out of the aqueous layer but unless you're workin with A LOT of hydrosol it's not worth the added effort.

You might want to check out "mexican pepperleaf" or "hoja santa", piper auritum. It made strikes book for a reason. Everywhere it can grow it is a weed. The plant will take over your house if you live in SoCal, the humid south, or I bet it would do well in a pot but to really see the monster go and get enough of what you are after it has to be in the ground in the sunshine. You will be steam distilling just to get it ready for composting. They sell it in little bags in Mexican areas for making food. As NeilPatrickHarris pointed out, because the target is so volatile the bags aren't any good. But that place will know someone that has it live. Fresh just tastes better! Long story short, you break the plant into sections of 2 nodes or more and baby it with high humidity untill it roots and you are in. No joke, safrole forever. Freeze the leaves and go.

If you are getting chlorophyll in the reciever then best to pack a small colume ahead of the condenser with a small amount of glass wool. The chlorophyll is not distilling over persay but is being contained in a mist from rapidly boiling mixture. The wool should solve this issue 99% of the time.

I had read up on the "dry basket" with non condensing steam flying around it but thought that if I was to get every drop I was going to need every cell wall broken and the stuff like soup. I hand blendered the stuff in a modified pressure cooker of doom. Also These leaves are big and flat. Even dried, cut into strips I just wasn't seeing how steam was going to go all around every part and get it all. Remember, this isn't rosemary or lavender where steam can rip right through.

And from the soup, I remember the product looking pretty amazing right off the bat. I don't know what I was doing to not get super chlorophyll oil. Solvent in the sep receiver, drying then vac fract distill and it was perfect. The only part that isn't perfect is the amount of work for so little. The smell will get to you after a while, also. I was circulating ice water and it still loved up my house.

I said little bags, because they only have a few leaves. In the bags the leaves are like the size of your two hands flat next to each other, but on a big plant in the ground they are more then a foot long.

I don't know what tech was being used for drying. These leaves as they come off the plant are almost all water. They also reek of safrole. No shit. You handle the leaves in any way and you smell like (m)honey. I was interested in the least amount of loss and the most extraction. Please, someone tell me/us the way.

I never got around to it, but perhaps will soon, but old hippy pot cooking tech is to float a high boiling non polar(cooking oil) on a big pot of water and toss in all your trim from your plants and boil away. Auto temp control 2 phase extraction. Might be just the ticket to making your neighborhood stink like a community college kids e lab. Distilled peanut oil?

Since this is of interest, I will point out again that this is a traditional ingredient in Mexican cooking. Being that it is a traditional flavor, and in parts of the US a weed, lot's of said Mexicans mothers/grandmothers either have the plant or have a friend with the plant. The stuff takes off like golden pathos. Seriously, get as big a piece of it as you can, rip the leaves off the 2 bottom nodes and toss it in a water bottle. When you get home put it dirt, water & mist it, put a plastic bag over it not air tight, and put it somewhere comfortable for a couple days. Then start moving it towards light. When the leaves don't wilt when you leave the bag off you are money.

In spring I have broken pieces off and stuck them in the ground outside with no bag or sun protection, they wilted to the ground for a few days then took off. This stuff is tough like the grandmas cooking with it.

I found it from people who had it. I didn't even have to buy it. I'm sure someone sells it live online. I have no recommendations or knowledge of vendors or raising from seed. I just typed the latin name in and the first google result has info and seeds. I have never seen seeds from it. I also have seen that with lots of water it seems to prefer sun/side of house areas where as that site says shade. It is tough. Put it everywhere and see where it grows

That site is talking about root division. Huh? Yeah, they make plenty of plantlets, but the real deal is knocking off a big branch and making 10-20 plants.

Also know what you are getting into. Even with a big plant that has a high concentration of what you want, you still have to process a shitload of it. But if you want to be off the radar and know your oil(and eventually crystals) was loved up from the start, this will get you there.

Sorry to derail sassy root bark thread. If this should be clipped and moved, whatever...

Since more people are asking...

Where I was at the time never froze but all the info says it is not freeze hardy. I would believe them.

I also would believe that if one kept a "mother" indoors and in winter chopped up nodes to have plants ready to plant in spring, you would probably be stoked. This is all just guessing, because like I said, mine lived outside. But it grows fast. Or when it's end of season, knock all the leaves off and just plant up the broken up nodes and bring them inside to grow out all winter in a terrarium or whatever.

Get creative! You guys are smarter me.

I would actually like to hear better ideas for the steam extraction. These leaves are a big wet mess and I typed how I dealt with them. One thing I never tried was super heated steam. Just would pop off the still head and fill er up every once and while when it felt low when rocked.

I think that if you all have questions, ask them here. Sometime down the road it could help someone else. And helping people make more real deal is awesome.

Next up, Acorus calamus gardening and extraction! You kids have work to do!

"Awesome pond. I like how you planted it."
"Yeah, I made an artificial wetland to handle the waste treatment for the fish."
"Cool."
"You wish you knew how cool..."

EDIT---> I forgot to point out the important non-polar, floating on water, in the receiving sep funnel. It stops all that hydrosol little effing globs of oil stuck everywhere bs and lets you drain the shitloads of water that come over. I typed it, but it deserves mention again. Save yourself the hassle. When you are working hard for it, it is way not cool how nice your unrinsed glass smells. Sure it aint much, but dammit it will piss you off to not get every bit.

Root bark, sure. Floppy leaves? I didn't think so. That is exactly what I was typing about. I have seen a number of the basket above water or superheated steam chamber essential oil distillers pics. You will see. Toss a bunch in that machine and you would have a big mass with vapor going around the sides. I still don't see it working right.

If you build a super critical co2 machine you could also make aerogel, I think

For those living on this side of the pond who are interested in raising Auritum I'd suggest getting a plant from Scotland (check RHS plantfinder) rather than sowing from seed. I found germination difficult though once through the seedling stage it doesn't need much attention. Its a tough little bugger though and continued to grow in an unheated house through the winter with outside temps down to -10c.  Re. extraction - I'm not there yet... lot, lot more growing to do...

Root bark, sure. Floppy leaves? I didn't think so. That is exactly what I was typing about. I have seen a number of the basket above water or superheated steam chamber essential oil distillers pics. You will see. Toss a bunch in that machine and you would have a big mass with vapor going around the sides. I still don't see it working right.

If you build a super critical co2 machine you could also make aerogel, I think

Back on off topic, There is a better design "cauldron", Vesp. It looks like a beer keg(and could be made from one) that has a basket that drops down in from the top. That way it has an insulating jacket of steam around the sides as well, only surface condensing is the top. But still, I think that style doesn't work well with these leaves. Big, flat, floppy. Tits in National Geographic. Anyway, I think the hot ticket would be to blender frozen leaves with water, toss in said device, heat and inject super heated steam. I never got to the super heated steam injection, but I'm sure it would rock.

Oh I understand now! Perhaps just boiling the ground frozen leafs in water to make a soup, allowing to cool and then using ethyl acetate to extract the material with a few washes would be really effective. Distill the ethyl acetate, and then steam distill the, what I assume would be a black/green solidy goop?

This would be pretty labor intensive, but I think it would get most of the oils - and if you used the same water, and ethyl acetate each time -- you'd only lose it by what is left in the leafs, which would obviously be filtered and pressed after the boil.

I don't know... I haven't done many plant extractions of this sort before.

Intresting idea... I was thinking it would probably grow well where the hostilis plants grow.. and then just water them more then ever, and keep a bunch in a lot of pots inside the house. Most things can live in the house... including my ~ 6 ft tobacco plant and a few others...


I'm a fan of spreading plants and seeds around -- I often trade (on other sites) various seeds and plants for others.. or other items. I just haven't found anybody who has this plant, or would probably want to trade for it.