Ylang Ylang Oil

If you define essential oils as a mimic on a child face, a warm, happy and innocent smile would go for Ylang Ylang oil definitely! 

Warm, soft, relax and divine are some of the expressions come to my mind when I sniff deep the scent of Ylang Ylang oil.


YLang Ylang oil is another essential ingredients in fragrance industry. 
It is used to provide depth to the heart of the perfumes along with sweet and floral accords, yet a bit earthy, peppery and creaminess. 
When you check the iconic best seller floral perfumes in fragrance history, you always see Ylang Ylang oil on top of the formula. 
Such as Chanel No.5, Valentino, Poison, L'air du Temps, Diorrissimo ... 

It is so pure, smooth and full of passion that you can feel nature's femininity in this beautiful oil. 

Ylang ylang  originated in the Philippines and name comes from Filipino word Alang-Ilang, which means  the lightness and the mobility of the flower to the least breath of wind... WOoOooW right!!   

However many people believes that the meaning of its name is flower of flowers

Ylang ylang oil is obtained by steam distillation of flowers of Cananga Odorata tree which belongs to Annonaceae family.

Cananga odorata is a fast growing tree that can reach up to 30 mt height in its 25 years of flower-producing life. Lucky for us that blooming is all year round and the tree yields a large amount of flowers. 
That much active tree is needed to be under control of course ✋ Hence extensive pruning is very essential to restrict this fast growing and also leads tree to produce more flowers. 

A tree that is more than 5 years old gives 20-25 kg of flowers per year!!
To produce 1-1,5 Kg Ylang Ylang oil, 50 kg of flower is needed to be distilled.. 

So if you have 2 Cananga Odorata trees in your backyard and a little distillation unit at home, you can have 1 kg of Ylang Ylang oil per year by only following its flowering period. AWESOME!!

To stand under a ylang ylang tree is to inhale peace and serenity

So what about this flower 

which gives us the most valuable thing it has.. 

Star-Shaped flowers are so delicate and shy that they must be collected by hand at dawn and sent to the distillation immediately !! (in 2 hours max).

Harvesting in very early morning is necessary as the flowers accumulate the maximum amount of essential oil during the night. On the contrary during the day with open sun oil rapidly diminishes. 

The best flower is long and narrow six petals with a fresh and alive greenish yellow color and a pinkish red center 

The main flowering seasons are immediately after rain and during the dry season
• Low flowering periods in December - March and July – September
• High flowering in April - July and in October - December. 

A picker, the ones should be taken care of and deeply appreciated, can collect 20-25 kg of flowers per day. 

WHERE

Madagascar, Mayotte and Comoros are the main supplier of YLang Ylang oil. Comoros with 55-65 MT capacity is the dominant global source of this oil especially on little island called Anjouan where homes of more than 350 small distillers. 

Due to high labor cost in Mayotte, Ylang Ylang oil production has dropped dramatically in recent years and shifted to Madagascar. 
Remember! Early picking is necessary thus labor force is quite hard thing to supply and in many towns it is very expensive. 
   

Annual global production is around 90-110 MT and we can order geographically as follows:

  Comoros     55-65 MT

Madagascar  30-35 MT

Mayotte     1-5 MT

TEChNIC

Ok let me blow your mind with some super-boring yet helpful Technics about Ylang Ylang Oil .) 

But warning! It takes some time to read and not very fun as above, so before starting just click this to turn some music on..

Ok here we go!

Ylang-ylang essential oil production has the particularity of relying on a fractionation, based on distillation times, resulting in four to five grades of oil that have different commercial applications. (💥 I can see your face after this sentence)

Which means that YLang YLang oil has 4-5 different grades (depending on the distiller) with different qualities comes from different fractions of the steam distillation. 

We can see table below the fractions of Ylang Ylang Oil according to fraction times; 

Super Extra Ylang First half hour
Extra Ylang                    1st hour
Premiere   (Ylang – 1) 3rd hour
Deuxieme (Ylang – 2) Up to 5th hour
Troisieme  (Ylang – 3) 8 to 15 hour


These grades are also determined by the Spesific Density (SG) of the oil. 

Specific density can be a parameter that shows the quality of Ylang Ylang Oil. First fractions has bigger SG where the late fractions have smaller value. 

But what makes SG bigger? Another saying is what gives Ylang Ylang oil value? Answer is simple; Soil quality, climate, raining periods, wind, sun, water etc. which is basically Nature!

As we mentioned previously that Comoros is the dominant main supplier of the world, also Comoros is the dominant supplier of PREMIER quality of Ylang Ylang Oil thanks to its Nature.

Ok check this out. You will see better with this table. 
Here is a list for Grades(quality) x Specific Density x Origin 

                                     SG              Comoros % Madagascar %
Extra & Extra Super 950 – 970                 24                  3
Premiere                   935 – 945                 10                  20
Deuxieme                  920 – 935                 8                   17
Troisieme                  900 – 920                58                  60

As you see in the table, you get 24% Extra and Super extra quality of Ylang oil during the first fraction in Comoros where you get only 3% in Madagascar. That’s why Comoros is quite important for little island for high end perfumery industry.  

Ok lets go deeper!! 👍

These grades of Ylang Ylang Oil has different odor type comes from different chemical compositions of course, the first fraction being richer in very volatile compounds like esters, aldehydes or alcohols, while the last fractions are richer in less volatile compounds like sesquiterpenes. 

DEEPER, DEEPER!!

First fractions of Ylang Ylang Oil (Super Extra and Extra quality) is rich in the characteristic components of Ylang Ylang which can be listed as p-Cresyl Methyl Ether, Methyl Benzoate, Linalool, Benzyl Acetate and Geranyl Acetate.
When the fraction continuous (Ylang-1, 2 or 3) contents of these components significantly reduce. 

For example, you find around 9% of p-cresyl methyl ether in Ylang Ylang Extra quality where you find only 0,5% in Ylang -3 or Linalool around 11% in Ylang Extra but around 2% in YLang - 3 

As you see fractions has completely different odor types due to different chemical compositions. 

If you still have energy to read more, I have more things to write! Camon lets go deeper!!..
With music of course. :)

Lets have a look at the components and their odor effect on Ylang Ylang Oil;

Esters 

This class of chemicals is very important to the odor of Ylang. 
Methyl benzoate is without a doubt the most characteristic chemical and is responsible for the odor most identical as Ylang. 
Benzyl Acetate and Geranyl Acetate provide the fruity floral body of Ylang.
Methyl Salicylate and Benzyl Salicylate are phenol esters and provide firstly a bright floral medicinal note and in the later a long lasting floral body. 

Ethers 

The major component in this class is p-cresyl methyl ether. It is responsible for the very diffusive and penetrating medicinal character of Ylang.

Alcohols 

The major alcohol in this group is Linalool. 
The character of Iinalool is giving bright, splash citrus and floral notes. 
While there are other familiar floral alcohols, such as Benzyl alcohol, Alpha terpineol, Geraniol, Farnesol and Nerolidol, however their part in the overall odor of Ylang is minor.

Phenols

This class of chemicals almost always plays an important part in the odor profile of any natural products!! Usually they are in trace quantities, their presence is felt from top note to base note. Ylang is a perfect example of how these phenols, such as p-Cresol, Eugenol, Isoeugenol and 2-methoxy-4-methyl phenol, make their presence felt in just that way. 
They are responsible for the spicy, warm balsamic effect for which Ylang is so well known.

Aldehydes 

Benzaldehyde and Furfural are two very important aldehydes with very characteristic odors. They contribute to the fruity character of Ylang.

Hydrocarbons

The sesquiterpene hydrocarbons comprise approximately 40% of Ylang!! 
Ups, Helloouuu… The sesquiterpenes as a class, specifically Caryophyllene and Cadinene, can generally be described as woody and more or less peppery note supplyer to our valuable Ylang Oil. 

That’s it! Done! Enough technics I assume!!

Mother Nature loves us, and it shows in many ways. For me, Ylang Ylang Oil is one of the way that shows perfectly how she offer and share the most beautiful treasure of her generously. 

Please Care and Respect Nature and Love Ylang Ylang oil 😊

No it is Just a smile :)