Pimento

EUGENOL In very large amounts in bay, cinnamon, clove and pimento oils. In goodly amounts in basil, eucalyptus and tejpat. Lots of trace amounts in many other oils. 

METHYLEUGENOL Up to 60% in various parts of the basil plant. Around 45% in snakeroot oil. In decent amounts in calamus, cas-sie, myrtle, pimento, pistacia, pteronia and some forms of tarragon. 

Essential oils are isolated from various plant parts, such as leaves (patchouH), fmit (mandarin), bark (cinnamon), root (ginger), grass (citroneUa), wood (amyris), heartwood (cedar), gum (myrrh oil), balsam (tolu balsam oil), berries (pimento), seeds (diU), flowers (rose), twigs and leaves (thuja oil), and buds (cloves). 

Pimento Berry Oil. The pimento or allspice tree, Pimenta dioca L. (syn. P. officinalis, Liadl.), a native of the West Indies and Central America, yields two essential oils of commercial importance pimento berry oil and pimenta leaf oil. The leaf oil finds some use ia perfumery for its resemblance to clove leaf and cinnamon leaf oils as a result of its high content of eugenol. Pimento berry oil is an item of commerce with extensive appHcation by the flavor industry ia food products such as meat sauces, sausages, and pickles, and moderate use ia perfumery, where it is used primarily as a modifier ia the modem spicy types of men s fragrances. The oil is steam-distilled from dried, cmshed, fully grown but unripe fmits. It is a pale yellow Hquid with a warm-spicy, sweet odor with a fresh, clean topnote, a tenacious, sweet-balsamic-spicy body, and a tea-like undertone. A comparative analysis of the headspace volatiles of ripe pimento berries and a commercial oil has been performed and differences are shown ia Table 52 (95). 

Table 52. Comparative Analysis of the Headspace Volatiles of Ripe Pimento Berries and a Commercial Oil ...

This sesquiterpene, or mixture of sesquiterpenes, is found to a considerable extent in nature, especially in clove oil, pimento oil, pepper oil, cinnamon oil, betel oil, copaiba oil, and numerous other essential oils. As isolated from these oils the sesquiterpene has the following characters —... 

Eugenol, Cj5Hi202, is the characteristic constituent of the oUs of cloves, cinnamon leaf, bay and pimento, and is also found in numerous other essential oils. It is a liquid of powerful clove odour, having the following characters —... 

Mode-, fancy, fashionable, -farbe, /. fashionable color or shade, -gewiirz, n. allspice, pimento. 

Nelke,/. clove pink (the flower). Nelken-gewachse, n.pl. (Boi.) Caryophylla-ceae. -kassie, /. clove cassia, -ol, n. clove oil, oil of cloves, -pfeffer, m. allspice, pimento, -pfefferwasser, n. (Pharm.) pimento water, -rinde, /. clove cassia, -s ure, /. eugenol caryophyllic acid, -stein, m. iolite. -wurzel, /. avens root. -zim(m)t, m. clove cinnamon, clove cassia. 

It lost the pimento like a college marriage and makes appearances in fancy food emporiums, hand-stuffed with chipotle peppers, blue cheese or garlic. It strikes marketing deals with the big vodka houses like Finlandia and Skyy, which package olives with liquor in promotions. 

Eugenol is a natural product available from a variety of essential oils (cinnamon-tree or pimentos leaves). Its isomerization (Eq. 49) into isoeugenol, the starting material for synthetic vanillin, is rather difficult and proceeds in modest yields under relatively harsh conditions. It can, however, be very efficiently prepared by use of 2.2 molar equivalents of base and catalytic (5 %) amounts of Aliquat in the absence of solvent. 

Pimento oils (allspice oil) are derived from pimento fruits and leaves. Pimento berry oil is obtained by steam distillation of the dried, fully grown, unripe, berrylike fruits of the pimento shrub, Pimenta dioica (L.) Merrill. (Myrtaceae), growing in the islands of the West Indies and Central America. It is a pale yellow to brown liquid with a spicy odor, reminiscent of eugenol. 

The major components of pimento berry oil are eugenol (up to 75%), 1,8-cineole, and caryophyllene [708 712]. Distillation of the leaves gives an oil that has an even higher content of eugenol (80 90%). Aimual production of leaf oil is ca. 501, which exceeds that of the berry oil. 

Pimento oils, like the spice itself, are used mainly in the food industry, as well as in perfume compositions for creating spicy, clovelike notes. FCT 1974 (12) p.971, 1979 (17) p.381 [8006-77-7]. 

D.A. Moyler, CO2 extraction of essential oils Part III. pimento berry, coriander and celery seed oil, In Flavors and off-flavors, Developments in food science 24 (ed. G. Charalambous), Elsevier, Amsterdam, (1990) 263. 

Detection of Pungent Substances.—The presence of pungent substances (pepper, pimento, mustard, etc.) in vinegar is detected by neutralising 50 c.c. exactly, evaporating, and tasting the residue. To obtain more certain indications, the residue is extracted with ether, the ethereal solution evaporated and the residue then left tasted. 

With volatile oils containing eugenol (clove bud or stem, cinnamon, pimento or bay oil), 3% sodium hydroxide solution must be employed With clove stem oil it is well to heat for 10 minutes on a water-bath... 

The dominant woody aspect of the perfume is made up of Vertofix (12%), vetiver notes, cedryl acetate, and sandalwood, with guaiacwood supporting the rose. The mossy character comes from oakmoss and a complex based on isobutyl quinoline reminiscent of Mousse de Saxe. There is also a small amount of a spicy carnation note including one of the sweet spices such as clove or pimento. The wonderful richness of the perfume suggests the addition of numerous other materials in very small amounts, and it is probable that in the creation of a perfume such as this tinctures of musk, ambergris, and civet would also have been used. 

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