Last April (2019) I decided to see how different varieties of frankincense behaved when added to fractionated coconut. I tested 3 different species of frankincense: hojari, neglecta and frereana. I also did a separate experiment of Royal Green Hojari (boswellia sacra/boswellia carterii), ground and whole in meadowfoam seed oil and 95% organic ethanol.

Whole Frankincense Extracts

Preparing the Extracts

This was simple to do. I made a 10% extract by simply weighing 3g of frankincense and topping up with 27g of capric caprylic triglycerides. I then left them on my south facing window sill for around 4 months. The Hojari was started around mid september, 4 months after the other two.

Within a number of weeks both the frereana and neglecta had disintegrated. After just under 4 months the hojari has dissolved slightly. When shaken the neglecta seemed to contain a lot of particulates and will need straining at some point but the frereana looked to be thicker with little to no floating particles. You can see that neither of these types of frankincense need heat to extract or dissolve the resin, but they will need straining.

Hojari in Fractionated Coconut and Meadowfoam Seed Oil

Of the two mediums, it appears that the fractionated coconut extracted more of the resin than meadowfoam did and the scent was stronger. You can see from the images that the small pieces of resin seem to have got whiter and smoother in the MCT extract and there are small pieces of resin resting at the bottom of the bottle. There is less sediment in the meadowfoam sample.

Conclusion

I wanted to see how these resins dissolved and whether you could potentially sell the whole resin (uncrushed) in oil without it dissolving. The answer is that if you want a more uniformed extract you would need to grind, extract with heat and then filter well. However, if you wanted to sell the whole resin in oil (as it is quite pretty) then this can be done but you would need to ensure you test each resin in your chosen oil. From the three resins tested, Hojari in meadowfoam seemed to be the most robust.