Smell Testing an Essential Oil
To smell test an oil, you open the bottle and waft it at about waist level. See what you can smell. Bring it a little higher, and waft it back and forth again. See how many different smells reach the nose.
Bring it up again, and smell again. Do this several times until you're at the chin, and then smell with one nostril, then the other, then both together.
While this smell test is not fool proof (some owner's of essential oils companies (not Young Living) are tricked by an oil produced in a lab, thinking it was a real, and a decent oil) it's a reasonable test.
What you're looking for is a rich bouquet of smells. If it smells the same as you move it all the way up the body, it doesn't have much in it as far as a variety of molecules.
When you smell one nostril, and then the second, the odors should be a little different. When you smell with both nostrils, it should smell like a rich bouquet of both smells. If it has synthetic chemicals in it, you can often smell them when you smell with both nostrils together.
Frankincense is an oil with the most noticeable and dramatic differences between a good one and a poor quality one. Wafting the bottle slowly up the body and smelling, a poor quality oil smells pretty much the same all the way up. With the YL frankincense, it has delightfully different smells at each level.
I choose Young Living Essential Oils because I, personally, know the extent they go to in order to sell pure oils. I don't know of any other company who uses organic seeds, soil nurtured with enzymes and organic fertilizers, waters with spring water (city water has too many chemicals), weeds the plant fields by hand, harvests on the right day, at the right time, gets the peppermint (for example) to the distiller within 15 minutes of harvest or someone loses their job, distills with low pressure and temperature, for an extended period of time to maximize, not the yield, but the molecules found in the oil. This company and their product are amazing.
To get pure, organic, therapeutic-grade essential oils click on this link...
Visit my website: The Very Essence
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Basil & Thyme Essential Oil's Combat Food Bacteria
The antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant and anti-carcinogenic properties attibuted to essential oils can be used as natural additives in a range of foods. New research into basil and thyme essential oils reveals their ability to curb Shigella, a harmful foodborne bacteria.
Previous research has shown that thyme and basil have antimicrobial potential. Building on this research, scientists at Ghent University in Belgium opted to investigate the antimicrobial impact of thyme and basil essential oil and their major constituents towards Shigella.
According to the researchers who published their findings in the February issue of Food Microbiology, thyme essential oil and its major constituents thymol and carvacrol decontaminated Shigella inoculated lettuce.
They also found that thyme and basil essential oil, and their major compounds thymol, estragol, carvacrol, linalool and p-cymene, inhibited Shigella in an agar diffusion method.
The researchers determined the antimicrobial effect of basil and thyme essential oil and its major constituents thymol, p-cymene, estragol, linalool, and carvacrol by using an agar well diffusion assay.
Thyme essential oil, thymol and carvacrol showed inhibition of Shigella sp. in the agar diffusion method. The potential of thyme essential oil, thymol and carvacrol at 0.5 per cent and 1 per cent v/v for decontamination of lettuce was evaluated.
According to the findings, the researchers noted a decrease of the shigellae after washing with 0.5 per cent while at 1 per cent Shigella numbers dropped below the detection limit. The antimicrobial effect on a subsequent lettuce sample in the same decontamination solution was significantly decreased. In addition, application of thyme essential oil or thymol or carvacrol for decontamination is hampered by sensoric properties of the lettuce (browning, strong odour), note the researchers.
"In this study, it was shown that essential oils and their compounds have potential to be used for decontamination of minimally processed vegetables," write the authors of the paper.
More research into the use of essential oils as food preservatives is needed, concluded the scientits.
Used since antiquity for their antimicrobial potential, herbs and spices have played a role in food protection for thousands of years.
According to the researchers, in recent years, two consumer-driven demands have arisen in the food industry. The first is the provision of fresh, natural foods requiring minimal preparation and the second is the control of food safety. But only a few studies have evaluated the potential role of essential oils and their components as food preservatives.
With the natural trend still on a steep, upward curve, the recent findings from Belgium suggest that the food industry should start to invest more time and money into discovering the full potential essential oils could play in food preservation.
Full findings are published in the February issue (Volume 21, Issue 1, February 2004, Pages 33-42) of Food Microbiology.
To purchase pure, organic, therapeutic-grade essential oils click on this link... Visit my website: The Very Essence
Previous research has shown that thyme and basil have antimicrobial potential. Building on this research, scientists at Ghent University in Belgium opted to investigate the antimicrobial impact of thyme and basil essential oil and their major constituents towards Shigella.
According to the researchers who published their findings in the February issue of Food Microbiology, thyme essential oil and its major constituents thymol and carvacrol decontaminated Shigella inoculated lettuce.
They also found that thyme and basil essential oil, and their major compounds thymol, estragol, carvacrol, linalool and p-cymene, inhibited Shigella in an agar diffusion method.
The researchers determined the antimicrobial effect of basil and thyme essential oil and its major constituents thymol, p-cymene, estragol, linalool, and carvacrol by using an agar well diffusion assay.
Thyme essential oil, thymol and carvacrol showed inhibition of Shigella sp. in the agar diffusion method. The potential of thyme essential oil, thymol and carvacrol at 0.5 per cent and 1 per cent v/v for decontamination of lettuce was evaluated.
According to the findings, the researchers noted a decrease of the shigellae after washing with 0.5 per cent while at 1 per cent Shigella numbers dropped below the detection limit. The antimicrobial effect on a subsequent lettuce sample in the same decontamination solution was significantly decreased. In addition, application of thyme essential oil or thymol or carvacrol for decontamination is hampered by sensoric properties of the lettuce (browning, strong odour), note the researchers.
"In this study, it was shown that essential oils and their compounds have potential to be used for decontamination of minimally processed vegetables," write the authors of the paper.
More research into the use of essential oils as food preservatives is needed, concluded the scientits.
Used since antiquity for their antimicrobial potential, herbs and spices have played a role in food protection for thousands of years.
According to the researchers, in recent years, two consumer-driven demands have arisen in the food industry. The first is the provision of fresh, natural foods requiring minimal preparation and the second is the control of food safety. But only a few studies have evaluated the potential role of essential oils and their components as food preservatives.
With the natural trend still on a steep, upward curve, the recent findings from Belgium suggest that the food industry should start to invest more time and money into discovering the full potential essential oils could play in food preservation.
Full findings are published in the February issue (Volume 21, Issue 1, February 2004, Pages 33-42) of Food Microbiology.
To purchase pure, organic, therapeutic-grade essential oils click on this link... Visit my website: The Very Essence
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