Your web browser is out of date

For the best experience, please upgrade. Learn more

How Can Aging Helichrysum and Other Essential Oils Make Them Better?

Why would we want to age an essential oil? In short, some oils just plain get better with age. And Helichrysum is one of our owners favorite oils. He uses it more than any other – and knows that Helichrysum that’s been sitting around for a while smells better than that which has just been [...]

September 11 2017

Aged helichrysum essential oil

Helichrysum is a profoundly healing oil that gets better with age. Aromatically it becomes smoother, fuller, with a hint of honey. Chemically, italidiones and curcumene levels increase, leading to a higher therapeutic potential. Our Special Aged Helichrysum and ALL our ‘special aged oils’ were very-well received at the Alliance of International Aromatherapists conference this year!

Why would we want to age an essential oil?

In short, some oils just plain get better with age. And Helichrysum is one of our owners favorite oils. He uses it more than any other – and knows that Helichrysum that’s been sitting around for a while smells better than that which has just been distilled.

In fact, many oils traditionally go through some sort of aging process. Even Lavender is held by the distillers until it “airs out” a bit before shipping it off to companies like The Ananda Apothecary.

Oils that are made from resins, wood, or generally have a primary ‘bottom’ note aroma make for great candidates to “get better” with age. It is well known that Patchouli gets better with age – just storing it away for several years brings out it’s treasured musty aroma (and significantly increases its price) through an increase in the amount of a compound called patchouli alcohol. (We’ve actually aged Helichrysum, Patchouli, Cedarwood, Sacred Frankincense, and Sandalwood – see them all here).

As noted above, from many years of experience, we also knew that Helichrysum essential oil got better the longer it was in stock – the aroma improved significantly over time. So we decided to run an experiment to see if we could make a superior Helichrysum by adding some aging factors – and guess what? It got better, both aromatically, and therapeutically as well!

What makes a “good” Helichrysum?

What people think about when they think of helichrysum specifically are a few key compounds: curcumenes (alpha and gamma), neryl acetate, and italidiones. The curcumenes and italidiones are thought to play a crucial role in the regenerative properties of helichrysum. These  compounds along with some monoterpenes (alpha pinene) and sesquiterpenes (italicene) that help with antimicrobial behaviors of the oil.

Below are the results of a GC/MS of the same helichrysum both before and after our organic aging process:

 

Helichrysum Comparison aged vs unagedWhat we discovered, and why we now really like the aged oils: we actually began to grow the italidione and curcumene levels as we age the oil! The neryl acetate drops only slightly (0.5%), but the italidiones increase overall by 1.77% and the gamma curcumene levels increase by 1.28%. This result suggests that we are indeed increasing the levels of the therapeutic components of the oil and we are indeed making a better helichrysum with our proprietary physical aging process.

This process only acts through physical processes. No extract compounds, chemicals, or metals are added to increase reactivity we are just gently aging the oil naturally.

We made some more aged products, which all have incredible aromas and therapeutic properties. 

  • Cedarwood, Atlas Essential Oil (Organic) – Special Aged. This is the finest cedarwood essential oil we’ve ever had the pleasure to try, and was appreciated by the most discerning connoisseurs at the Alliance of International Aromatherapists conference this year.
  • Frankincense, Sacra (Wildgrown) – Special Aged. The aging process has made this a warm, full bodied oil, particularly worthwhile for Frankincense lovers. Sacra direct from the distiller had always had a little higher note, and this is now more rich in middle notes.
  • Patchouli, Dark (Organic) – Special Aged. Wow! Every patchouli lover who’s tried this LOVES the oil. They say things like “this is the REAL patchouli you could get in the 70’s!”. It has a full range of notes, with the deeper tones only found in well-aged patchoulis, at a fraction of the cost!
  • Sandalwood, Indian (Wildgrown) – Special Aged. This is a very rare oil, and the aging process gives it significant benefits. We once had someone offer us 20 year old Sandalwood. It wasn’t enough for us to carry, but it sure smelled wonderful. The aroma of this oil is fantastic, and the aging process has increased the amount of the potentially-therapeutic alpha-santalol (santalols make up the majority of the constituents of Sandalwood essential oil, and in research have been pointed to as the “potentially-active” therapeutic agent.

These oils are available for a limited time only! When they’re gone, they’re gone! For the oil connoisseur, they really are a must-try just for their aromas, but for any aromatherapy practitioner, they really deserve a special place in your collection.

 

See all our rare and wonderful aged products here

 

Share Share

Discover how to enhance your life with Mother Nature’s remedies

We’ve got the blueprints for health, beauty, spirituality, and more..

Start Quiz

In Eternal Memory of  Eric Cech, Ananda’s Founder 

    In Eternal Memory of Eric Cech, Ananda’s Founder “The best business model I can hope for is one that will run out of business.” – Eric Cech Eric’s business mindset was otherworldly. He admitted in casual conversation to his wife Anita one day: “The best business model I can hope for is one that […]

Thank You for Your Incredible Support

It Comes with the Greatest Pleasure To let You Know… that…Because of YOU Ananda has Managed to Survive one of the Most Uncertain Times of its Tenure  ~ We can not thank you enough for your enormous patience, understanding and support. From your incoming calls, comments on social media, direct messages across various channels, emails […]

CUSTOMER HEARTFELT RESPONSES

Here are a small fraction of the heartfelt responses we have received following the notice of our business closure and liquidation sale. We offer all of you a deserved shout out for being the improbable,  most essential, significant, factor in creating the Dream you are voicing to us: Hope for a Sustainable Future and Provider […]

Thank You For your Support

Thank You For your Support Since 2004 The Ananda Apothecary is Closing Business   SAD BUT TRUE As previously disclosed, The Ananda Apothecary has been greatly affected by to the global health situation. Bottom line is, we were increasing growing slim on product with no resupply any time soon. We are unable to get goods […]

Spring Cleaning Special

* SPRING CLEANING SPECIAL * *OFFERS VALID APRIL 24 – MAY 2, OR UNTIL SUPPLIES LAST. SOME RESTRICTIONS APPLY. WE’RE GIVING OILS AWAY Get Yours Today! WITH ANY PURCHASE THAT FITS YOUR BUDGET GET UP TO THREE OF YOUR ALL TIME FAVORITE OILS FREE *We have limited supplies due to overseas shipping restrictions. Order now while supplies last. ALSO […]

Reduce Anxiety with These Essential Oils Daily

There’s tons of research on Lavender helping sleep and anxiety (see this post) but what does the science say about other daily-use oils. For those who’d love to try something different, there’s a great many other essential oils have been shown to have anxiety and depression-reducing properties in laboratory studies.* Sweet Orange has been the […]

Ananda Apothecary 100% pure and genuine
×

What aspect of your life are you looking to improve?

quiz icon

Pain & Mobility
quiz icon

Sleep & Stress
quiz icon

Spirituality & Meditation
quiz icon

Something Else

How long have you been trying to find a solution for this problem?

quiz icon

Months
quiz icon

Months
quiz icon

Months
quiz icon

Longer than 1 year

How much do you know about essential oils?

quiz icon

Nothing, I'm a blank slate!
quiz icon

I know a few things, but not very much
quiz icon

I've had success using essential oils to improve my health
quiz icon

I'm an expert or professional aromatherapist

Where do we send your results?

window.cfields = {"1":"quiz_score"}; window._show_thank_you = function(id, message, trackcmp_url) { var form = document.getElementById('_form_' + id + '_'), thank_you = form.querySelector('._form-thank-you'); form.querySelector('._form-content').style.display = 'none'; thank_you.innerHTML = message; thank_you.style.display = 'block'; if (typeof(trackcmp_url) != 'undefined' && trackcmp_url) { // Site tracking URL to use after inline form submission. _load_script(trackcmp_url); } if (typeof window._form_callback !== 'undefined') window._form_callback(id); }; window._show_error = function(id, message, html) { var form = document.getElementById('_form_' + id + '_'), err = document.createElement('div'), button = form.querySelector('button'), old_error = form.querySelector('._form_error'); if (old_error) old_error.parentNode.removeChild(old_error); err.innerHTML = message; err.className = '_error-inner _form_error _no_arrow'; var wrapper = document.createElement('div'); wrapper.className = '_form-inner'; wrapper.appendChild(err); button.parentNode.insertBefore(wrapper, button); document.querySelector('[id^="_form"][id$="_submit"]').disabled = false; if (html) { var div = document.createElement('div'); div.className = '_error-html'; div.innerHTML = html; err.appendChild(div); } }; window._load_script = function(url, callback) { var head = document.querySelector('head'), script = document.createElement('script'), r = false; script.type = 'text/javascript'; script.charset = 'utf-8'; script.src = url; if (callback) { script.onload = script.onreadystatechange = function() { if (!r && (!this.readyState || this.readyState == 'complete')) { r = true; callback(); } }; } head.appendChild(script); }; (function() { if (window.location.search.search("excludeform") !== -1) return false; var getCookie = function(name) { var match = document.cookie.match(new RegExp('(^|; )' + name + '=([^;]+)')); return match ? match[2] : null; } var setCookie = function(name, value) { var now = new Date(); var time = now.getTime(); var expireTime = time + 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24 * 365; now.setTime(expireTime); document.cookie = name + '=' + value + '; expires=' + now + ';path=/'; } var addEvent = function(element, event, func) { if (element.addEventListener) { element.addEventListener(event, func); } else { var oldFunc = element['on' + event]; element['on' + event] = function() { oldFunc.apply(this, arguments); func.apply(this, arguments); }; } } var _removed = false; var form_to_submit = document.getElementById('_form_3_'); var allInputs = form_to_submit.querySelectorAll('input, select, textarea'), tooltips = [], submitted = false; var getUrlParam = function(name) { var regexStr = '[\?&]' + name + '=([^&#]*)'; var results = new RegExp(regexStr, 'i').exec(window.location.href); return results != undefined ? decodeURIComponent(results[1]) : false; }; for (var i = 0; i < allInputs.length; i++) { var regexStr = "field\\[(\\d+)\\]"; var results = new RegExp(regexStr).exec(allInputs[i].name); if (results != undefined) { allInputs[i].dataset.name = window.cfields[results[1]]; } else { allInputs[i].dataset.name = allInputs[i].name; } var fieldVal = getUrlParam(allInputs[i].dataset.name); if (fieldVal) { if (allInputs[i].type == "radio" || allInputs[i].type == "checkbox") { if (allInputs[i].value == fieldVal) { allInputs[i].checked = true; } } else { allInputs[i].value = fieldVal; } } } var remove_tooltips = function() { for (var i = 0; i < tooltips.length; i++) { tooltips[i].tip.parentNode.removeChild(tooltips[i].tip); } tooltips = []; }; var remove_tooltip = function(elem) { for (var i = 0; i < tooltips.length; i++) { if (tooltips[i].elem === elem) { tooltips[i].tip.parentNode.removeChild(tooltips[i].tip); tooltips.splice(i, 1); return; } } }; var create_tooltip = function(elem, text) { var tooltip = document.createElement('div'), arrow = document.createElement('div'), inner = document.createElement('div'), new_tooltip = {}; if (elem.type != 'radio' && elem.type != 'checkbox') { tooltip.className = '_error'; arrow.className = '_error-arrow'; inner.className = '_error-inner'; inner.innerHTML = text; tooltip.appendChild(arrow); tooltip.appendChild(inner); elem.parentNode.appendChild(tooltip); } else { tooltip.className = '_error-inner _no_arrow'; tooltip.innerHTML = text; elem.parentNode.insertBefore(tooltip, elem); new_tooltip.no_arrow = true; } new_tooltip.tip = tooltip; new_tooltip.elem = elem; tooltips.push(new_tooltip); return new_tooltip; }; var resize_tooltip = function(tooltip) { var rect = tooltip.elem.getBoundingClientRect(); var doc = document.documentElement, scrollPosition = rect.top - ((window.pageYOffset || doc.scrollTop) - (doc.clientTop || 0)); if (scrollPosition < 40) { tooltip.tip.className = tooltip.tip.className.replace(/ ?(_above|_below) ?/g, '') + ' _below'; } else { tooltip.tip.className = tooltip.tip.className.replace(/ ?(_above|_below) ?/g, '') + ' _above'; } }; var resize_tooltips = function() { if (_removed) return; for (var i = 0; i < tooltips.length; i++) { if (!tooltips[i].no_arrow) resize_tooltip(tooltips[i]); } }; var validate_field = function(elem, remove) { var tooltip = null, value = elem.value, no_error = true; remove ? remove_tooltip(elem) : false; if (elem.type != 'checkbox') elem.className = elem.className.replace(/ ?_has_error ?/g, ''); if (elem.getAttribute('required') !== null) { if (elem.type == 'radio' || (elem.type == 'checkbox' && /any/.test(elem.className))) { var elems = form_to_submit.elements[elem.name]; if (!(elems instanceof NodeList || elems instanceof HTMLCollection) || elems.length <= 1) { no_error = elem.checked; } else { no_error = false; for (var i = 0; i < elems.length; i++) { if (elems[i].checked) no_error = true; } } if (!no_error) { tooltip = create_tooltip(elem, "Please select an option."); } } else if (elem.type =='checkbox') { var elems = form_to_submit.elements[elem.name], found = false, err = []; no_error = true; for (var i = 0; i < elems.length; i++) { if (elems[i].getAttribute('required') === null) continue; if (!found && elems[i] !== elem) return true; found = true; elems[i].className = elems[i].className.replace(/ ?_has_error ?/g, ''); if (!elems[i].checked) { no_error = false; elems[i].className = elems[i].className + ' _has_error'; err.push("Checking %s is required".replace("%s", elems[i].value)); } } if (!no_error) { tooltip = create_tooltip(elem, err.join('
')); } } else if (elem.tagName == 'SELECT') { var selected = true; if (elem.multiple) { selected = false; for (var i = 0; i < elem.options.length; i++) { if (elem.options[i].selected) { selected = true; break; } } } else { for (var i = 0; i < elem.options.length; i++) { if (elem.options[i].selected && !elem.options[i].value) { selected = false; } } } if (!selected) { elem.className = elem.className + ' _has_error'; no_error = false; tooltip = create_tooltip(elem, "Please select an option."); } } else if (value === undefined || value === null || value === '') { elem.className = elem.className + ' _has_error'; no_error = false; tooltip = create_tooltip(elem, "This field is required."); } } if (no_error && elem.name == 'email') { if (!value.match(/^[\+_a-z0-9-'&=]+(\.[\+_a-z0-9-']+)*@[a-z0-9-]+(\.[a-z0-9-]+)*(\.[a-z]{2,})$/i)) { elem.className = elem.className + ' _has_error'; no_error = false; tooltip = create_tooltip(elem, "Enter a valid email address."); } } if (no_error && /date_field/.test(elem.className)) { if (!value.match(/^\d\d\d\d-\d\d-\d\d$/)) { elem.className = elem.className + ' _has_error'; no_error = false; tooltip = create_tooltip(elem, "Enter a valid date."); } } tooltip ? resize_tooltip(tooltip) : false; return no_error; }; var needs_validate = function(el) { return el.name == 'email' || el.getAttribute('required') !== null; }; var validate_form = function(e) { var err = form_to_submit.querySelector('._form_error'), no_error = true; if (!submitted) { submitted = true; for (var i = 0, len = allInputs.length; i < len; i++) { var input = allInputs[i]; if (needs_validate(input)) { if (input.type == 'text') { addEvent(input, 'blur', function() { this.value = this.value.trim(); validate_field(this, true); }); addEvent(input, 'input', function() { validate_field(this, true); }); } else if (input.type == 'radio' || input.type == 'checkbox') { (function(el) { var radios = form_to_submit.elements[el.name]; for (var i = 0; i < radios.length; i++) { addEvent(radios[i], 'click', function() { validate_field(el, true); }); } })(input); } else if (input.tagName == 'SELECT') { addEvent(input, 'change', function() { validate_field(this, true); }); } else if (input.type == 'textarea'){ addEvent(input, 'input', function() { validate_field(this, true); }); } } } } remove_tooltips(); for (var i = 0, len = allInputs.length; i < len; i++) { var elem = allInputs[i]; if (needs_validate(elem)) { if (elem.tagName.toLowerCase() !== "select") { elem.value = elem.value.trim(); } validate_field(elem) ? true : no_error = false; } } if (!no_error && e) { e.preventDefault(); } resize_tooltips(); return no_error; }; addEvent(window, 'resize', resize_tooltips); addEvent(window, 'scroll', resize_tooltips); window._old_serialize = null; if (typeof serialize !== 'undefined') window._old_serialize = window.serialize; _load_script("//d3rxaij56vjege.cloudfront.net/form-serialize/0.3/serialize.min.js", function() { window._form_serialize = window.serialize; if (window._old_serialize) window.serialize = window._old_serialize; }); var form_submit = function(e) { e.preventDefault(); if (validate_form()) { // use this trick to get the submit button & disable it using plain javascript document.querySelector('#_form_3_submit').disabled = true; var serialized = _form_serialize(document.getElementById('_form_3_')); var err = form_to_submit.querySelector('._form_error'); err ? err.parentNode.removeChild(err) : false; _load_script('https://anandaapothecary.activehosted.com/proc.php?' + serialized + '&jsonp=true'); } return false; }; addEvent(form_to_submit, 'submit', form_submit); })();
You'll receive your quiz results along with occasional updates, news, and training from Ananda Apothecary. We promise to only send you things of real value!