Pg. 48-53 5 minute read
There are many things that I like about distilling essential oils. What I probably love most is that once I enter that magical and intimate relationship with the plant, I start thinking of how many essential oils from myriads of plants are extracted all over the world – and so do I, in my little place on the island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean Sea!
It's like I'm travelling; the journey is about feeling like a part of nature. Nature is our mother; it is so beautiful and generous everywhere! So I'm here to tell you about Myrtus communis essential oil, the plant, and the "terroir" from my experience as a Sardinian artisanal distiller. Green Myrtle (Myrtus communis) grows very well near the coast of Sardinia. Together with other plants, it forms the Mediterranean bush. It likes acid soil and can survive prolonged periods of drought.
When I distil or utilize a plant in any form, I like to start from the binomial Latin name. This can give us a lot of information about many things: general applications, when it is best to harvest, the duration of distillation, the yield of the essential oil, and more. What fascinates me is that in the case of the Myrtaceae family, there is that curious fact: The botanist Linnaeus gave the name Myrtaceae to a huge family of plants with 132 genera, which includes the genus Eucalyptus in Oceania and South America, Melaleuca in Southeast Asia, Luma in South America, Eugenia in Asia and Oceania, Kunzea in Australia and New Zealand, and Backhousia in Australia. Most of them are very interesting for their beautiful essential oils! Today, we know that at the time of Linnaeus (1758), many lands had not yet been "discovered". The genus Myrtus is native to North Africa and has spread only in the Mediterranean areas. The plant I distill is Myrtus communis, called Green Myrtle. It is the only representative of the Myrtaceae family here in Europe! (This gives us an idea of how strong the Eurocentric point of view in Western world culture has been for centuries.
Myrtle is one of those plants that spread its gentle aroma from May to June when it blooms with many little white flowers. This is the moment of the year when you can actually discover the bush in the wild!
By carefully observing and paying attention, we can understand why Myrtle was a mythological plant considered purifying and sacred to Venus. The plant's image and smell give you precisely the sensation of lightness and cleansing that belongs to a pure soul, and this quality is also present in the essential oil, of course!
So, for me, the best moment to distil Myrtle is when it blooms, and part of the plant is the small branches with leaves and flowers! I harvest Myrtle from the wild in a coastal zone where it is very abundant, cutting it with scissors and paying attention to not including woody parts. It's like pruning, so giving every bush a lovely shape is also nice, which is an excellent creative exercise. It is important to be conscious that from this moment, acting with kindness and attention, we can have a good essential oil.
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