How to Make Birch Essential Oil

Birch bark essential oil has a sharp, sweet and minty aroma similar to wintergreen. Although this bark is said to have a medicinal property like aspirin, it should be uses with care. Use birch bark essential oil as a skin-care product to soften your skin by adding it to bath water or rubbing it on your skin as a moisturizer. Historically, Native Americans used the essential oil as a massage tonic for its anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic properties, reports Guerilla Distiller. They drank a diluted amount while enclosed in sweat huts to bring heat to their limbs during prayer.

Things You'll Need

• Boiling pot, 1 gallon
• Wire-mesh colander
• Ceramic coffee cup
• Small glass bowl
• Plastic wrap

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Instructions

• 1

  You can use the bark from a birch tree as a medicine for sore muscles.

  Fill the pot about halfway with tap water and place on the stove. Put a wire colander over the pot; make the colander stay in place. Put a ceramic coffee mug in the colander. Fill the area around the coffee cup with small chunks of pulverized birch bark. Do not let the bark touch the water -- only the steam should infuse the wood. Put on the cover of the pan in an inverted position. Place the handle of the cover directly over the coffee cup.

• 2

  Turn the stove on high and allow the water in the pot to boil, then turn down the heat so the bubbling of the water is at a minimum, yet still boiling. Inside the pot, the distillate oil will drip into the cup as it drips off the handle. This process may take 1/2 hour or longer, but don't leave the kitchen when distilling. Add hot water if the level gets too low in the bottom of the pan. Carefully lift the lid so as not to displace the valuable oil that may drip into the boiling water. Since water and oil do not mix, you can extract any oil that drips into the water.

• 3

  Turn off the stove and allow the pan to cool. Remove the lid and allow any remaining oil on the metal to drip to the cup inside. Do not throw out the water on the bottom of the pan. Place the pan and the cup into the refrigerator for an hour.

• 4

  Store the oil in a container with a lid in a cool, dry space or refrigerate.

  Check the pan and cup until you see a caked oily residue on top of the water and cup: This is the birch essential oil. Place the solidified oil into the glass bowl and cover it lightly, but do not seal with plastic wrap. Allow to reach room temperature to allow the oil to breathe and get rid of the still note. After 24 hours, seal the container and refrigerator until use.