Essential oils from the south of Serbia – A real treasure of thyme and lemon balm

In the village of Vilandrica, which is located at the foot of three mountains Suva planina, Selicevica and Babicka gora, 6 km from Gadzin Han and 23 km from Nis, there are plantations of medicinal plants.

This wealth of southeastern Serbia was recognized by Jovana and her husband Siniša Milutinović, who with the intention of using the best of nature, founded the company Promontis in March this year, to produce essential and cold pressed oils and the sale of aromatherapy equipment, so-called Aroma Diffusers.

Promontis currently offers oils of lemon balm, Roman chamomile, aroma diffusers, and by the end of October this year, the company’s portfolio will also include oils of thyme, geranium, lavender, as well as cold-pressed oils of plum and apricot kernels.

– Since we want to offer our customers a top product, we decided to plant the plantations by hand without any chemicals and thus provide our own quality raw materials. We planted a hectare of medicinal herbs of thyme and thyme, procured essential oil of Roman chamomile, and imported aromatherapy equipment from abroad, which hit the foundations of our business – Jovana Milutinović begins the story for our portal.

Although the work is still pending, the wind in their backs gives them an approved loan approved by the Development Fund of the Republic of Serbia for the purchase of equipment for oil production.

– We have completely adapted and reconstructed the economic facility of 150 square meters, in which, through the realization of the loan, equipment for obtaining essential and cold-pressed oil will be placed. We will start production as soon as we receive the machines from our suppliers, I hope at the beginning of September. The raw material for cold-pressed oils has already been agreed, and in October we expect the first mowing of plants from our plantations to produce essential oil. We plan to do the distillation of essential oils as a service to our subcontractors, who also have plantations of medicinal plants – says Jovana.

As this is the first year of business, Promontis is starting with smaller production capacities, and it is planned to process four tons of vegetable mass for essential oil and two tons of various seeds for cold-pressed oils.

– Next year we expect full yield from our plantations, and we also plan to buy plants from other planters, so the plan is to process 15 tons of plants for essential oils and 5 tons for cold pressed.

Until just a year and a half ago, Jovana Milutinović, a graduated pharmacist by profession, worked for a world-famous pharmaceutical company. In the meantime, she lost her job and completely dedicated herself to starting a private business, while her husband, who has his own agency for financial consulting and accounting, made a rough five-year plan.

— A year and a half ago, my husband and I set out in search of buying a field in the vicinity of Nis, where we wanted to plant medicinal plants as an additional activity in addition to our regular business.

In search of the land at the foot of Suva Planina, we visited the whole region and fell in love with Zaplanje, as this fairytale part of southern Serbia is called. In the end, we came from the field to the entire property with a house, building and fields – a story for eKapija Jovana.

Since she didn’t know much about agriculture, she started learning from books, but also looking for people who grow herbs.