Essential Oils

NOTES

I had asked for help proof reading The Guide To Edible Plants.

sidd replied:
i notice that some of the plants are listed as being high in 'methyl' eg basil

but it cant be just methyl ... must be sumpn more (hopefully not methyl chloride or methyl ethyl ketone ... which are poisons...)

i responded:
heehe... not poison
but you are correct... the type of methyl depends on the type of basil (i'm growing about a dozen kinds)

here's an example of one type -- Volatile oils (up to 28 percent methyl cinnamate)

then i thought to ask:
ya know... i'd like to know more about this if you can find out some info... or interpret it for me?

what i gather is:
humans need these "essential oils"

they can be found in meats

but, only 2 families of plants have them...

from http://kingarthur.com/free/FoodForThought/lyrics/favorite_foods/Z42_Carrot.html

"The carrot gets its exceptional flavor from its seeds that contain essential oils, a feature that belongs to only two botanical families, the carrot family and the mint family. The seeds themselves are considered complete fruits."

also, from http://kingarthur.com/free/FoodForThought/lyrics/herb/Z08_Methyl.html

"Volatile oil (1% including estragol, linalool, linalool, eugenol, methyl chavicol and small quantities of methyl cinnamate, cineole, and other terpenes)"

soooo... how many essential oils are there?

and, i'm having a hard time finding their "content" in food... nutritional information required by the gov't on labels doesn't seem to cover this?

and, how is it measured... not in units... but as a % of the food's weight?

oh yeah
something else i should mention that adds to my confusion about methyl and essential oils

it seems... that certain plants when dried... such as thyme... increase and change the types of methyl they contain

that is to say... the methyl types and % of content do not appear to be the same in fresh vs dried thyme

i'm comin' to the conclusion that one is not necessarily better for you than the other... but rather... the whole process is important

from planting the seed... to eating it as it grows... and smelling it... through the dryin' and eatin' stage

"all" of it

the "chaos" involved is very interesting to me...
for instance... that touching of thyme is an anti-septic and an anti-biotic... and smushin' it gets oils on your fingers... as well as releasing more into the air... that goes through your nose... all this... while you are just pickin' a sprig to eat... all the time just thinking of the benefits that start when it hits my mouth

these chemical change... and perhaps other physical changes... seem to have many variables... but when pulled back to take a look... you can see the pattern?

ooops sorry to get off subject...
here's yet another complication to givin' nut ritional info

listing all the parts of the plant... as well as all the subspecies gets to be very long and complamacted

the essential oils
well... like spearmint and oregano seeds... are very different than leaves, roots, etc

eat some spearmint seeds and see what i'm trying to say?

anyhoo... any scientific insight that you can lend would be swell

sidd replied:

soooo... how many essential oils are there?

probly millions more than anyone knows ...
but they are not 'essential' in the sense that a uman bean can probly survive on bread and water for months ....

from planting the seed... to eating it as it grows... and smelling it... through the dryin' and eatin' stage

"all" of it

the "chaos" involved is very interesting to me...
and smushin' it gets oils on your fingers... as well as releasing more into the air...

heehee
i am rite now tempting a cat with dried catnip buds... (priscilla, the fluffy white cat)
she loves fresh catnip...but she ignores the dried stuff until i crush it in my fingers .. then she is all over it ...
heehee

then rick asked:

"eat some spearmint seeds and see what i'm trying to say?"

And the reaction one should expect?

i reply:
heehe... well... how i discovered... is last year i grew and dried spearmint... the buds looked interesting to me so i hung them up to dry... not knowing that they were filled with seeds

i vacuum packed 'em... and put em away for later

in the winter... when my supply of fresh herbs had dwindled... i started chomping on the dried spearmint... and couldn't figure out why it was soooo potent

that's when i discovered that each one contained lots and lots of seeds... spearmint seeds are purdy darn small... so one might not even know they are eating them... except for the kick

the methyl oils are like a narcotic in many ways... i guess that's why they make mentholated cigarettes?

some people say it is similar to cocaine... a little bit can have a calming effect... but larger doses act as a stimulant

sooo... in a nutshell, i suppose you could say the reaction you can expect... is similar to sidd's cat... heeehe

ps WARNING! reactions can vary!!!

from what i can gather, these essential oils are also volatile oils

WINTERGREEN
(which i think is what i always called tea berry?)

wintergreen's active ingredient which is methyl salicylate

"Gaultheria spp. (Wintergreen) also exists as a glycoside. The properties of naturally derived salicylic acid are similar to those of aspirin, which basically involve the inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis by inactivation of COX1."

also when it comes to wintergreen,
one doesn't want to pull a michael jackson... and accidentally set their face on fire

The mint flavor one is commonly refereeing to is a wintergreen mint. There are a number of chemicals associated with the mint flavor. One in particularly is methyl salicylate and methanol.

The methyl salicylate is even known to give off sparks of light when you bites down on a candy containing it. For more info on that topic see - http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/dec99/945895598.Ch.r.html

(note: the methyl saliylate is just one of the "active" ingredients... it is combined with other "drugs" like glycoside. i was recently taught the affects of glycoside by a fella whose father was foresighted enough to plant 4 Balsam Poplars... that we happened to acquire. he's the one who educated me... that's how codeine is made. old wives use a bud to treat mouth ulcers, cankers, etc.)

later, as i thought about this,
2 things have come to mind:

prostaglandin synthesis by inactivation of COX1.

1... i may have forgotten to send out the research and lyrics on these cox1 and cox2 inhibitors

'tis funny to me that the red hot chili peppers rule
while the pharmaceutical companies are pullin' out o the cox2 market

"Pain Control
Capsaicin in cayenne pepper has very powerful pain-relieving properties when applied to the surface of the skin. Laboratory studies have found that capsaicin relieves pain by destroying a chemical known as substance P that normally carries pain messages to the brain. This appears to be true when applied topically for the following conditions...."

and from the US gov't:

In conclusion, vanilloids can modulate the expression of inflammatory iNOS and COX-2 genes in macrophages through interference with upstream signaling events of LPS and IFN-gamma. These findings provide new insights into the potential benefits of the active ingredient in hot chili peppers in inflammatory conditions.