Essential aromatics from plants

1. Essential aromatics from plants dogmouth.net/photos/thailand/doi-suthep/ www.buiga.com/images/vanilla%20Beans.jpg

2. Cloves • Chinese breath sweetener • Used in many food, drugs, cigarettes • Myrtaceae • Spice Islands • Dutch destroyed many plantations to drive up the price (1700’s) • Unopened flower buds

3. Active ingredients from cloves • Clove oil contains.. • Eugenol • mixed with zinc oxide and used for dental cement • derivatives used as analgesics, a variety of other things • can be used to make vanilla • Methyleugenol is carcinogenic • Found in many spices • Eliminated quickly from the body?

4. Cinnamon • Cinnomomum verum (zeylandicum) • True cinnamon • Native to Sri Lanka • Lauraceae family • Confusion with other Cinnamomum species • C. cassia has a stronger flavor • both can be called cinnamon in the US • C. camphora used for camphor

5. Trees are coppiced to make lots of shoots

6. Bark is stripped; only the inner bark is used

7. Chemicals in cinnamon • About 90% of the essential oil is cinnamaldehyde • Eugenol, other compound also in cinnamon and cassia eugenol

8. Cinnamaldehyde • Toxic in large quantities, not a carcinogen • Can be used as an insecticide, fungicide • Can be synthesized, but it’s cheaper to extract it from the bark

9. Nutmeg tree • Myristicafragrans; in a family related to cinnamon, star anise (Magnoliales) • Native to Indonesia • Later than cloves—reported from Constantinople by 800 AD • Portuguese controlled from 1514 until about 1600 • Dutch took over for two centuries • French started a plantation in Mauritius in 1770

10. Myristica fragrans • A dioecious species • Fruits dried and eaten locally • Like dried ginger, also made into jam

11. Nutmeg and mace • From one plant • Outer part of seed makes mace, inner part makes nutmeg (musky nut, Arabic mesk) • Nutmeg aroma and flavor volatilizes quickly, hence the grater

12. Constituents • Essential oils (pressed from seed) used in a variety of cosmetics and foods, including Coca-cola (perhaps) • Myristicin is the main odor-flavor compound • Also found in parsley family • A hallucinogen • Used in insecticides, acaricides

13. Mustard seed • Several species, today mostly Sinapis alba (white or yellow mustard) and Brassica juncea (brown or Chinese mustard) • Crucifer (mustard) family • Cheapest of spices • Ancient important European and Mediterranean spice • Mustard powder not developed until 1720, “made mustard” only until then

14. Mustard taste comes from sulfur glycosides (sinigrin and sinalbin) • When seed is broken, enzyme thioglycosidase breaks down the sulfur glycoside, releasing the sharp smelling sulfur compound • Maximum taste in 10 minutes • Heat or acid (vinegar) will preserve the flavor

15. Dijon mustard • First commercial factory • Brown mustard, juice of unripened grapes, wine vinegar • English mustard • Really hot, has spices and tumeric • Chinese mustard • Made from powder, lasts about an hour • American mustard • White mustard, it’s yellow because of tumeric, very mild

16. Tumeric • Curcuma longa, in the ginger family • Long history in India • Color and flavor • Contains volatile oil curcumin • Recent interest in medicinal use

17. Horseradish • Armoracia lapathifolia and A. rusticana • Also old, European also in the mustard family • Contains sinigrin, releases mustard oil-type compound when crushed

18. Wasabi • Eutrema wasabi (used to be called Wasabia japonica) • Ground root • Not related to horseradish, but it is a mustard

19. Also contains sulfur compounds Wasabi farm in Japan

20. How do these mustard oils work? Jordt SE, Bautista DM, Chuang HH, McKemy DD, Zygmunt PM, Hogestatt ED, Meng ID, Julius D.Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology University of California, San Francisco, California 94143-2140, USA.Wasabi, horseradish and mustard owe their pungency to isothiocyanate compounds. Topical application of mustard oil (allyl isothiocyanate) to the skin activates underlying sensory nerve endings, thereby producing pain, inflammation and robust hypersensitivity to thermal and mechanical stimuli. Despite their widespread use in both the kitchen and the laboratory, the molecular mechanism through which isothiocyanates mediate their effects remains unknown. Here we show that mustard oil depolarizes a subpopulation of primary sensory neurons that are also activated by capsaicin, the pungent ingredient in chilli peppers, and by Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of marijuana. Both allyl isothiocyanate and THC mediate their excitatory effects by activating ANKTM1, a member of the TRP ion channel family recently implicated in the detection of noxious cold. These findings identify a cellular and molecular target for the pungent action of mustard oils and support an emerging role for TRP channels as ionotropic cannabinoid receptors.

21. Fennel • Foeniculum vulgare • Parsley family • Called marathon in ancient Greek • European, seed and stalk, three kinds! • Sweet fennel most common for seed

22. Anethole is active ingredient • Also found in anise, star anise • Closely related to compounds found in tarragon and basil

23. Star anise • Tree called Illicium verum • Primitive family, related to Magnoliaceae • Not known in wild, assumed to be from China • Mainly used in Chinese cooking • Main commercial source of anethole http://www.boga.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/html/Illicium_verum_Foto2.html

24. Star anise • Also a source of shikimic acid • Used to make Tamiflu • Shikimic acid can also be made by genetically engineered bacteria

25. Allspice • Pimenta dioica • Called “pimento” in much of the world • Dried unripe berry • Still grown mainly in Jamaica • Myrtle family (like cloves) • Contains eugenol, some other components also found in cloves

26. Allspice • Never had the same importance as cinnamon and cloves • Used in cooking • Found in men’s cosmetics

27. Vanilla orchid • Vanilla planifolia • New world (Mexico) • Wasn’t commercial until artificial pollination discovered

28. The other pepper • Capsicum annuum and others • Discovered by Columbus • Important part of Mexican diet • At least 9000 yrs old • Many varieties • Fruits very high in vitamin C • Birds not sensitive • Heat measure in Scoville units

29. Capsaicin • Interacts with a receptor called the vanilloid receptor subtype 1 • An ion channel receptor, provides sensitivity to heat, cold • Not very volatile at all; extremely stable Can be used as a pain reliever, for neuralgia, other types of pain

30. Trigeminal nerve receptors • Cranial nerves in tongue, oral cavity • Respond to hot, cold, tingling • It’s a warning system • “Irritant” sensation • Detects “pain” messages meant to deter animals • Ion channel receptor • Why do we like to eat this stuff?

31. Licorice • Glycyrrhiza glabra • Root of a legume • Taste similar to anise seed and fennel • Mediterranean plant, though there is an American relative

32. Active ingredient is glycyrrhizin • Used as a flavoring agent in candies, drugs • Much sweeter than sugar, but not used as a sweetener in US (can be used in Japan) • Using too much can cause hypertension