Shelf Life - Origanums and Tea Tree

[Guest guest]

Hey C-M,

 

> Thanks Butch and Martin, for your excellent review and suggestions...

> I am glad you mentioned how fast tea tree can be effected by

> deterioration, as there are too many people out there who still buy

> into the theory of it being the cure all for everything and of course

> 'neat'..

 

Tea Tree and Lavender have long been considered a pretty general cure

all in certain areas of the world and its only been in the last 2-3

years that attention was given to the cases of sensitization caused by

neat use of both .. granted, the number of cases are not large but

still they do occur .. and the number can be cut down a lot by simply

avoiding neat use .. plus there is no reason to use either of them

neat. But sure as cats got kittens .. won't be long afore we see a

new person come on list and proclaim that neat use of both is

perfectly safe. Its difficult to rid this industry of the rumors and

misinformation.

 

> Butch, you sell a lot of oregano EO...

 

Yes ma'am .. matter of fact that is. ;-)

 

> The only one that I will use internally, of course diluted with

olive oil.

> BUT, I do not use it daily just when I feel a bug coming on.

> Which means it's usually sitting in my fridge and some is getting

aged...

> What's your word on that??

 

First .. lemme (for the record) say that because I am not a medical

doctor I can't (and don't) recommend ingestion of any essential oil.

Howsomeever, I do think that one can greatly improve the flavor of a

good lentil or other soup by adding a drop or three of Origanum or

Rosemary, Cineole essential oil. ;-) Them that decide they want to

take a tad or so in Olive Oil or otherwise .. they are on their own ..

just as I am when I take mine with Olive Oil. ;-)

 

Because I lost my customer files in the big PC crash I can't look back

and see when you first purchased Origanum from me .. but I know you

have been a customer since 1999 so I believe the odds of any Oregano

you have will not be past a safe use date .. nor do I even know what

range that date would be.

 

An assistant professor at the Medicinal and Aromatic Plant and Drug

Research Center here in Turkey used to periodically test the same oil

to determine the degree of deterioration .. if any. I recall that she

once tested an eight year old Origanum onites and compared the results

with the test of the same oil when it was new .. there was no evidence

of deterioration!

 

> Is it to follow your nose advice or is there a time limit?

 

Like I said .. I don't know. Folks who buy Origanum from me buy often

and I can't recall when you purchased last .. but I had fresh oils for

the last few years .. 2004, 2005 and 2006 productions .. so if you

bought during those years you are definitely in good shape .. but even

if you bought prior to that you'll be OK because I've never had an

Origanum older than two seasons.

 

Refrigerating Origanum will not (I think) increase the shelf life. I

can't imagine what would cause deterioration in an Origanum other than

oxidation. All the Carvacrol rich Origanums have ferocious Big Bug

Butt Kicking capabilities. They also are destroyers of fungus, etc.,

so they appear to be capable of self protection. I had (temporarily

lost) studies on research on the preservation of cattle feed using

Origanum .. pretty impressive. But any chemical(s) can deteriorate if

exposed to sunlight or oxygen .. its oxidation that makes chemicals

and human critters old. ;-)

 

> It always makes me want to growl, how YL gets around any of those

> questions of age, storage etc. by just saying he has the 'pure' oils,

> nothing could ever happen to them and how people 'buy' into that.

> C-M

 

People who are willing to buy into the hype and unsafe practices put

out by YL are generally not educated on essential oils in the first

place and even if they were .. they would probably be willing to

overlook any suspicious data if their gurus said it was not important.

 

Y'all keep smiling. :-) Butch http://www.AV-AT.com