Absolutes are solvent extracted products. They produced by a multi-step process which involves first extracting the flower (or other biomass) with a non-polar solvent such as hexane. After the hexane is evaporated a waxy product is obtained called the concrete. The concrete is then extracted using a polar solvent such as ethanol. The polarity of ethanol will allow extraction of the volatile aromatics from the concrete while leaving behind the non-polar plant waxes which don’t dissolve well in ethanol. Finally, the ethanol is evaporated to leave behind the absolute which will typically have 1-5% ethanol remaining in it and sometimes a trace of hexane, depending on the method used. There are certain exceptions to this process such as with our wild crafted Vanilla absolute from Madagascar which uses a proprietary procedure involving only natural, food-grade, grain alcohol for the entire extraction process thus no hexane will be found in this vanilla absolute which is used in many flavor, fragrance and aromatherapy applications.
