A birch oil distillery in Kane, which opened in April, is getting ready to roll out its essential oils internationally.
Woodside Oils is an essential oil distillery owned and operated by dōTERRA, a multi-level marketing company.
Royce Novosel-Johnson is the procurement specialist at Woodside Oils. He said their birch oil is made from birch bark, unlike others on the market made with synthetic materials.
“It has to come directly from the black birch tree and only the black birch tree, which is more abundant in Pennsylvania than pretty much any other state out there,” Novosel-Johnson said. “We are now the first mass production facility of birch essential oil in the world. It's 100% unadulterated - comes straight from the black birch.”
Novosel-Johnson said the process used to make birch oil promotes forest growth and uses a part of the tree that would otherwise be wasted.
“We're not cutting trees that weren't already going to be cut. Birch has always been cut, it just hasn't been utilized fully in the way we do it. The bark itself has always been a byproduct that has just been a waste,” Novosel-Johnson said.
Novosel-Johnson said there are several uses for birch oil. He said it can be used on the skin for joint pain and arthritis or through a diffuser to make a minty scent.
Novosel-Johnson said dōTERRA will formally announce the product during its convention this week in Salt Lake City, Utah.
