Take the 2-minute tour ×

First of, sorry of the question is not for here, but I can't seemk to find more proper place... My question is, how much lemons are needed to produce 1 kilogram pure essential oil, not the method with olive oil, but pure one, with only lemons?

share|improve this question
Might sound silly but it really depends on each lemon size and can't be predicted. –  Shadow Wizard Feb 16 at 15:04
@ShadowWizard it surely depends, but I think that even giving an interval is interesting here. Or an average value, even if it is known that it will vary a lot. Assuming lemons 5 cm in the equatorial diameter, do I need 50 kilos or 500 on average? –  rumtscho Feb 16 at 15:07
an answer in kilograms is also accepted –  Sartheris Stormhammer Feb 16 at 15:09
The problem with an answer in kilograms is that it still depends on the lemon size. You only use the peel for making essential oils, and small lemons a higher peel-to-lemon ratio by weight than large lemons. And even an answer in kilograms of peel will have a variation, because the "juiciness" of peel will differ between cultivars, climate conditions during growth, ripeness and so on. But I must say that the range between the two existing answers is much larger than I expected, 3000 lemons vs 3500 lbs of rind is strange. –  rumtscho Feb 16 at 17:38
I have fixed my coversion error - it's closer to 3300 than 3500... Still a large discrepancy, though. –  James McLeod Feb 16 at 17:45

2 Answers 2

up vote 1 down vote accepted

I haven't personally tried making lemon essential oil. But according to Young Living, an MD named Jean Valnet estimated that it takes 3,000 lemons to produce one kilo of Lemon essential oil. Here are some links to the estimations (keep in mind that a kilogram is roughly 2.2 lbs):

share|improve this answer
That blog says he estimated that - probably not a very high confidence number. –  Jefromi Feb 16 at 17:42
The problem is, given that lemons vary in size, I think the best one can get is an estimate. –  Trillian Feb 16 at 17:59
I never said you could get an exact number, but estimates are not all of equal quality. The phrasing on the blog makes it sound like the guy has never actually made the oil, making it a lot less confident of a number than an estimate from someone who has. –  Jefromi Feb 16 at 18:11
Fair enough; I added more links with similar estimations if it helps any. I think they all fall in line with the answer above, so I would say between 3000 - 3300 lemons is a fair number for around a kilogram of oil. –  Trillian Feb 16 at 18:18
What is a "2.2 lbs", I have traveled to four continents and never seen that :-) –  TFD Feb 16 at 23:28

I am not sure how definitive this is, but it states that the rinds of 1500 lemons are required to make one pound of lemon essential oil http://www.everygreenherb.com/lemon.html

For a kilogram, you would need the rinds of around to 3300 lemons.

share|improve this answer
Measuring by rind weight sounds a lot more accurate than by lemon weight or number, too. –  Jefromi Feb 16 at 17:43
Don't you mean: the peels/rinds of 3300 lemons? –  AntonH Feb 16 at 17:48
LOL yes, and I was just about to fix that. This may well remove the upvote, but deservedly so... –  James McLeod Feb 16 at 17:56
Dunno about removing it, but it means I can add mine :) –  AntonH Feb 16 at 18:02

Your Answer


