This is an anecdote about a man you’ve probably never heard of — named Kannan. In his early twenties, he started exploring the wildness in Kurathi Viduthi Estate, which is 70 acres of beautiful cardamom estate in the Western Ghats in Southern India. It’s truly a wild food forest, with cardamom growing wild alongside pepper vines, the occasional accidental coffee bush, and lots of wild greens, butterflies and bees everywhere.

As a planter of cardamom, before he switched to essential oil when he realised its growing importance in manufacturing, Kannan began to explore the possibilities of farming year-round. He found the perfect place to begin work on a new farm and distillery — raw, dense, and untouched jungle on the edge of the remote town. He grew up farming and living off Mother Nature’s bounties, which gave him a tremendous advantage in his life’s path. He invested 32 years and running in the research and discovery of essential oils.

“His adventures are an open book, and he eagerly shared his discoveries with those who would listen and benefit from his knowledge and experience.”

His mistakes were numerous, but they all taught him more about life and what works and doesn’t work. He was misled and deceived, which taught him greater understanding and perhaps tolerance. His life with pain and suffering taught him endurance and persistence.

Spending over 30 years farming aromatic plants, learning distillation and analytical evaluation in his study of essential oils, he designed and built eight large distillation facilities with others in the planning stages. No other company has the history of unique research and development of essential oils in the areas of production, usage, and education as him.

With his farming background, Kannan has a particular interest in the growing, harvesting, and distillation of oils from aromatic plants. This curiosity led him to learn about the wildest tulsi plant and about the essential oil that comes from this beautiful plant — and it never ends. His journey continues, and now he is the leading manufacturer of Tulsi essential oil.