Black Box and Orange Oils

Eucalyptus Largiflorens is not a well known Australian Eucalyptus oil but to us here living on the Murray River it is well known, and we call it Black Box. Im not sure how these trees got the name Box? There are many Box Eucalypts on the farm; Yellow Box, Gray Box and essential oil can be made from them all.

Black Box is a slow growing, long living tree that grows on the riverbed plains. The essential oil is sweeter and more gentle than the river redgum and is extracted from the long grey green leaves.

The current batch that I am making is from the flowering Black Box. Winter is flowering times for box trees. The bees are a buzz as we pick the leaves and the winters chill makes for a wonderful harvest.

The rains are coming and we so need them. 

Citrus Aurantium or the bitter seville orange has come to an end of season and I put a few hundred through the still to make the most delightful essential oil.

Orange oil is commonly pressed and is often a by product of juicing, but here at Wild Crafted we put the whole orange in the water and hydrodistill the fruit. The oil is different from the cold pressed versions and we love the joyful happy essential oil that arrives. 

​Debate on whether to cut up the citrus and to open the cell membranes is worth mentioning. The photo at the bottom shows clearly that even though the fruit was not cut up, the cell membranes that hold the essential oil in the fruit were completely obliterated by the hydro distillation.

So here we are ready for winter with our Black Box oil to fend off the winter greeblies and our distilled orange oil to make life that little bit more joyous.
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