Commercial Floriculture

Extraction of jasmine concrete

• Jasmine concrete obtained from Jasminum grandiflorum (Jathi Malli/Pitchi) – is a wax like substance containing the natural flower perfume together with some plant waxes, albumin and colouring matter.
• The natural perfume is available in very small quantity (0.25%) in jasmine flowers in the form of volatile oil.
• The usual and simple method of steam distillation for the extraction of the volatile oil could not be adopted in this case as jasmines do not yield the perfume oil on steam distillation.
• Hence, the solvent extraction method is practiced in which the principle is that the odoriferous substances of the flower are allowed to be absorbed by a highly volatile solvent and then the solvent is evaporated leaving the odoriferous principles.