doTERRA Co-Impact Sourcing: Tulsi (Holy Basil)

<<0>> - We're here in Tamil Nadu to visit the

<<2>> Tulsi or Holy Basil production.

<<5>> This is Kannan. He's a distiller and the

<<10>> manager of the operation here.

<<19>> Can you tell us a little bit about why

<<21>> did you start distilling holy basil?

<<23>> - Very good. It returns from distillation.

<<27>> That is the main reason.

<<30>> - He's been distilling Holy Basil for

<<31>> almost 40, 42 years now.

<<35>> He's been really good to the community

<<36>> where they're based,

<<37>> and the women are really

<<38>> happy to be working with him,

<<40>> as are the men.

<<41>> He works with about 50 men

<<43>> during the harvest season,

<<44>> which is end of December

<<46>> through January, and 100 women.

<<50>> - Many workers get the

<<51>> opportunities for income.

<<55>> Very good to income,

<<56>> double and even triple,

<<59>> they get the salary.

<<63>> If he weren't doing this work, the women

<<66>> and the men wouldn't

<<67>> do it with someone else.

<<69>> That's how much they trust him and have

<<71>> worked with him, again,

<<72>> some of them for over 30 years.

<<74>> And it's an important plant.

<<75>> Holy Basil is sacred for the Hindu

<<78>> culture and it's exciting to be a part of

<<81>> that in its own way.

<<84>> So, Holy Basil is a

<<86>> pretty low yielding oil.

<<87>> So, they distill in 2,000 kilo

<<90>> distillation units and they'll

<<92>> get about 4 kilos on average.

<<94>> So, rather than using wood, the boilers

<<97>> here are fired by the spent biomass.

<<100>> So, once it's distilled, they lay out,

<<102>> they pull out and extract

<<103>> the biomass from the still.

<<106>> They let it dry and then it can be used

<<109>> to fire the boilers.