Spices oils from

Essential Oils. Volatile oils from plants are referred to as essential oils. The oils can be obtained through steam distillation, solvent extraction, or separation of the oils from pressed fmit. They consist of oxygenated compounds, terpenes, and sesquiterpenes. The primary flavor components of essential oils are oxygenated compounds. Terpenes contain some flavors but are often removed from the essential oil because they are easily oxidized (causiag off-flavors or odors) and are iasoluble. Essential oils are prepared from fmits, herbs, roots, and spices. 

The most common natural antioxidants are tocopherols, ascorbic acid and P-carotene (more often synthetic nature-identical compounds than natural products). Their changes were studied in detail in model systems, fats and oils, but experimental evidence is mainly lacking on more complicated systems, such as natural foods and ready dishes. Still less is known on different antioxidants from spices and from essential oils. These data will probably be obtained gradually. Very little is known about synergism of antioxidants in food products other than edible fats and oils or their regeneration from the respective free radicals and quinones. In mixtures, some antioxidants are preferentially destroyed and others are saved. Some data have already been published, but these complex changes should be studied in more detail. 

Z0127 Meena, M. R., and V. Sethi. Antimi Z0138 crobial activity of essential oils from spices. J Food Sci Technol 1994 ... 

People have always been interested in the odour and use of essential oils (from herbs and spices). This is probably attributable to their aromas, and also to the bacteriostatic and antiseptic properties of many of the aroma chemicals they contain. While the use of essential oils is associated with mankind s history, the beginning of perfumery is more difficult to define. 

The world of aroma compounds is becoming more and more complex. In the early days people used aromatic products like fruit juices or fruit juice concentrates which were relatively weak and still close to the related foodstulf. Later, with more knowledge of separation techniques, infusions, extracts, oleoresins and absolutes ranging from weak to strong impact were used to impart aroma. Essential oils such as spice oils already had a very strong impact. Modern analytical technologies allowed the evaluation of the chemical compositions of extracts and essential oils, so that isolates either as powerful mixtures or even as single compounds could be obtained. 

B. Simandi, J. Sawinsky, A. Deak, S. Kemeny, A. Kery, M. Then and E. Lemberkovics, Fractionated extraction of essential and fatty oils from spices with carbon dioxide, In Solvent extraction in the process industries, Proceedings of ISEC 93 (ed D.H. Logsdail and M.J. Slater), Elsevier, London, (1993) 676. 

This is a material that might be a contributing factor to the pharmacology of nutmeg. The major essential oil from that spice is myristicin, and it is the easiest source of MMDA. It has been reported that the passage of this oil through the liver... 

Baruah, A., Nath, S.C. and Hazarika, A.K. (2002) Essential oils of Cinnamomum sulphuratum Nees. A new chemotype source of spice value from Northeast India. Indian Perfumer 46, 89-92. 

Meena, M.R. and Sethi, V. (1 994) Antimicrobial activity of essential oils from spices. Journal of Food Science and Technology 31 (1), 68-70. 

Hashim, S., Aboobaker, V.S, Madhubala, R., Bhattacharya, R.K. and Rao, A.R. (1994) Modulatory effects of essential oils from spices on the formation of DNA adduct by aflatoxin B1 in vitro. Nutrition and Cancer 21,169-175. 

Detailed study of the coriander spice oil composition showed that the d-linalool content ranged from 60 to 70% and the hydrocarbon content was about 20%. a- and (3-pinenes, dipentene (limonene), p-cymene, a- and y-terpinenes, n-decanal, geraniol and 1-borneol were also identified as constituents of the spice oil. 

Essential oil from spice materials including cumin was investigated on sunflower oil, stored at 70°C and was found to possess excellent antioxidant effects, better than those of the synthetic antioxidant, butylated hydroxytoluene (Singh et al, 1998). 

A relatively simple apparatus was described by Lucchesi et al. (2004) for extracting essential oils from aromatic plant material by atmospheric solvent-free microwave extraction (SFME) without the addition of any solvent or water. The essential oils from spices like star anise extracted by SFME for 30 min and lh were similar to those obtained by conventional hydrodistillation (HD) for (respectively) 4 and 8 h. 

Lucchesi, M.E., Chemat, F. and Smadja, J. (2004) Solvent-free microwave extraction an innovative tool for rapid extraction of essential oil from aromatic herbs and spices. The Journal of Microwave Power and Electromagnetic Energy 39(3 4), 135-1 39. 

Embong, M.B., Hadziyev, D. and Molnar, S. (1977) Essential oils from spices grown in Alberta - anise oil (Pimpinella anisum). Canadian journal of Plant Science 57, 829-837. 

A number of other spices may be used for sources of other oils, shown in Table 16-1. It should be noted that the amount of collection of oils may vary depending upon the age of the spice. Older spices may have already lost most of their volatiles. If any of these oils are desired, prepare (extract) the oils from the spices using the activities listed in Section B. 

Identification The volatile oil distilled from an oleoresin is similar in its physical and chemical properties, including its infrared spectrum, to that distilled from the spice of the same origin. To obtain the volatile oil from the oleoresin, proceed as directed under Volatile Oil Content, Appendix VHI. Residual Solvent Chlorinated Hydrocarbons (total) Not more than 0.003% Acetone Not more than 0.003% Isopropanol Not more than 0.003% Methanol Not more than 0.005% Hexane Not more than 0.0025%. 

John W Parry University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, Oils from Herbs, Spices, and Fruit Seeds. 

Oils from Herbs, Spices, and Fruit Seeds... 

OILS FROM HERBS, SPICES, AND FRUIT SEEDS... 

Due to its unique characteristics and physicochemical properties such as being less toxic, nonflammable, and having the extraction power tuned by temperamre and pressure, SC CO2 can be used as a green solvent for extraction of substances especially from solid or liquid substrates. Such extraction has been carried out on commercial scale for more than two decades and applications like decaffeination of coffee beans and black tea leaves and hops extraction are involved in large-scale processes [17]. Other extractions such as extraction of flavors, spices, and essential oils from plant materials are under investigation. An overview of published data for different materials is given in the review of Marr and Gamse [18]. 

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