Making Whitewood Oil

Whitewood oil, or “minyak kayu putih,” is a staple toiletry item in this country. It’s a relative of eucalyptus oil, and is used to treat headaches, colds, bloating and gas. Also, it’s standard practice to rub it on small children after their baths, to warm them up.

Over the past few months, I’ve had several chances to try my hand at harvesting whitewood leaves, which are then steamed to extract the oil.

One day my team-mate, Vanny, and I helped a local couple with their harvest, and then we went out twice more with some of the older school children.

The leaves are pulled off the branches (gloves come in handy!), then packed into sacks. As they fill their sacks, the harvesters periodically pound down their leaves with stout sticks, compressing them tightly. By the time they’re finished, if a sack tips over, no leaves will spill out!

The very full sacks are then carried down the mountainside to the oil distillery.

Here a hot fire is built in the earthen furnace, and water is added to a giant wok buried under the wooden steamer. The whitewood leaves are then dumped into the steamer and compressed tightly. The steamer is then covered, and the wooden cover weighted down with rocks.

The fire is tended all night long, and the steam from the wooden tank flows down the condensing pipe, which passes through a container of cold water. The condensed water and oil then drip into the waiting jug, where the water is later poured off.

A good harvest can produce 5 L or a little more from one batch of leaves.

Some of the oil is retained for personal use, but most is sold at the nearest market (about 1 ½ hour motorbike ride away) or down at the coast.

Whitewood oil is one of the cash crops of our area, along with cloves and cocoa beans.

A lot of work goes into making it -- it was a fun experience for a few hours, but I wouldn't want to do it day in and day out!