Oleoresins

Natural Oleoresins of aromatic plants for use in aromatherapy and natural perfumery. Oleoresins are literally "oily resins" that are derived from plant materials. Arctander says that they are typically a mixture of an essential oil and a resin. Sometimes they are further refined by solvent extraction to make an absolute and other times they are distilled to obtain the essential oil. Langenheim characterizes oleoresins as being terpenoids that are a mixture of both volatile and non-volatile components. When they have less volatility they may be called a "balsam." In terms of both perfumery and aromatherapy it may not make much sense to differentiate oleoresins from other forms of materials because they can have the characteristics of other forms.