Sandal oil

Among the incredibly extensive list of essential oils, sandalwood oil, which has been considered since time immemorial, is considered especially elite. Sandal is mentioned in ancient Chinese texts and Sanskrit, and in Chinese medicine it is still used today. In India, sandal oil has also been used for more than one thousand years - in aromatherapy, Vedic medicine and religious rites.

It is noteworthy that the most expensive sandal oil is extracted from Indian trees, the wood of which has a special aroma. This smell is characterized as enchanting, refined, warm and sweet. At the same time, the unusually persistent aroma of sandal oil is surprisingly well combined with the aromas of many other similar oils.

Manufacturers of cosmetics and perfumes gladly add sandal oil to many products: soaps, lotions, perfumes, deodorants, creams. In addition, the distinctive property of sandal oil is its ability to act as a basis for almost any composition - without interrupting, it combines the aromas of other oils, holding them for a long time and preventing them from weathering.

In addition, sandal oil can sometimes be used for culinary purposes. Lovers of this warm aroma add sandalwood oil to the composition of hot drinks, thereby giving them subtle woody notes. Some desserts and sweet dishes also take on an incomparable enchanting flavour if you add just a little natural sandalwood oil to them.

Sandal essential oil is usually extracted from the core of the trunks of these trees, which have reached the age of thirty. The composition of this substance is rich and at the same time quite complex, while the greater amount of santalol in it. This substance belongs to the category of sesquiterpene alcohols. Externally, sandalwood oil is a viscous and thick light liquid of a yellowish shade, but often it can be quite dark - a saturated brown color.

Today, essential oil is in great demand, and therefore trees are mercilessly cut down even at a young age. New plants do not have time to reach adulthood, so there is not enough raw materials to obtain sandal oil. All these facts determine the high cost of this product, so many manufacturers are increasingly starting to simply fake natural sandalwood oil. So, chemicals are often added to the elite sandal oil. In addition, it can be mixed with other oils obtained from cheaper trees.

The most valuable part of the tree is the core, however, even higher quality essential oil can be obtained from the core of the roots. True, unfortunately, when poachers cut down trees, the roots often remain in the ground, after which they undergo rotting processes, and the most valuable raw materials simply disappear.