How to Determine the Quality of Essential Oils, Part 3: Honing Your Senses

Reader Contribution by Jade Shutes and East-West School For Herbal And Aromatic Studies
Published on April 20, 2021
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Photo by Adobestock/andreypopov 

It is a given that the vast majority of aromatherapy practitioners, and perhaps even lay practitioners (home users), are seeking genuine and authentic, plant-derived, preferably organic or wild crafted, unadulterated essential oils. This is how I personally would define “therapeutic grade,” although like Harris, I dislike the term (see Part 1 and Part 2 of this series for more information on terminology and certification).

Finding them and knowing what to look for is a challenge, particularly given the power of marketing. What do we mean by the terms genuine, authentic, plant-derived and unadulterated anyways?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the terms genuine and authentic as follows: Genuine (adj.) 1 truly what it is said to be; authentic. 2 sincere; honest; Authentic (adj.) of undisputed origin; genuine.

To my knowledge, Kurt Schnaubelt was the first to use the terms “genuine” and “authentic” in relation to essential oils. According to Schnaubelt (2004), a genuine essential oil means it is completely unaltered and an authentic essential oil means it is from a specified plant only.

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