The collection of lac from the host plant is known as harvesting. Harvesting may be done before swarming (immature) or after swarming (mature). Immature harvesting produces ‘Ari lac’ whereas mature harvesting produces the mature lac. Lac cut from the host plant is called ‘Stick lac’.
The lac present on the twig is scraped and collected. After grinding, the unnecessary materials like dusts and fine particles are removed. The resultant lac is called ‘seed lac’. The seed lac is sun dried and then melted to produce ‘shellac’.
