Look at a natural ingredients price list and you will see the same flower sold several ways: jasmine absolute, jasmine concrete, sometimes jasmine “essential oil”. They are not interchangeable. The difference comes down to how the scent was taken out of the flower.
The short answer
An essential oil is extracted by distillation or pressing. A concrete is a waxy solid made by extracting flowers with a solvent such as hexane. An absolute is made by washing the concrete with alcohol to remove the waxes, then removing the alcohol. Absolutes are used for delicate flowers like jasmine and tuberose that cannot survive distillation, and they usually smell richer and closer to the fresh flower.
Essential oils
Essential oils are made by steam or hydro distillation, or by cold-pressing citrus peel. Heat and water work well for leaves, woods, grasses and many flowers, but delicate blossoms like jasmine lose much of their character or yield very little oil when distilled.
Concretes
- Fresh flowers are washed with a volatile solvent, traditionally hexane.
- The solvent dissolves the aromatic compounds, along with natural waxes and pigments.
- The solvent is evaporated off under low pressure and recovered.
- What remains is a waxy, solid or semi-solid mass: the concrete.
Concretes are fragrant and long-lasting, and are often used in solid perfumes and some attars. In India, jasmine concrete from Tamil Nadu is an important export.
Absolutes
- The concrete is mixed with alcohol (ethanol), which dissolves the aromatics but not most of the waxes.
- The mix is chilled and filtered to remove the waxes.
- The alcohol is evaporated, leaving a concentrated, fluid, highly aromatic absolute.
A note on residue: absolutes can contain trace amounts of solvent. Good producers keep residues within strict limits. This is one reason absolutes are used mainly in perfumery rather than in aromatherapy.
Comparison table
| Essential oil | Concrete | Absolute | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Method | Distillation or pressing | Solvent extraction | Concrete washed with alcohol |
| Form | Thin liquid | Waxy solid | Thick liquid |
| Scent | Can lose delicate notes | Rich, waxy | Richest, closest to the flower |
| Typical flowers | Rose, lavender, ylang-ylang | Jasmine, tuberose | Jasmine, tuberose, rose, mimosa |
| Main use | Perfumery, aromatherapy, personal care | Solid perfume, attars, further processing | Fine fragrance |
Which should you use?
- Fine fragrance: absolutes for rich floral hearts, essential oils for top notes and woods.
- Attars and solid perfumes: concretes and absolutes add depth and longevity.
- Aromatherapy and “natural” claims: essential oils are usually preferred.
- Cost-sensitive products: a fragrance oil may recreate a floral note more affordably. See fragrance oil vs essential oil.
Sourcing floral absolutes or concretes?
Frequently asked questions
Is an absolute stronger than an essential oil?
Usually, yes. Absolutes are highly concentrated and capture more of the flower’s heavier compounds, so they smell richer and more intense.
Why is jasmine sold as an absolute?
Jasmine flowers are too delicate for distillation, which gives very little oil and alters the scent. Solvent extraction captures the true jasmine character.
Can absolutes be used on the skin?
Only diluted, and within IFRA Standards for the product type. Absolutes are mainly used as ingredients in perfume rather than applied neat.
What is a concrete in perfumery?
A concrete is the waxy solid left after flowers are extracted with a solvent. It is either used as is, or processed further into an absolute.
Does Sawai produce absolutes?
Sawai runs floral solvent extraction and CO₂ extraction at our facility in Nilakkottai, Tamil Nadu. Contact us for available materials.
Natural materials, extracted in-house
From distillation to solvent and CO₂ extraction, Sawai produces naturals for perfumers, brands and manufacturers.
