Coriander Oil

#### Coriander Oil. **Coriander**** ****Oil**** **is steam distilled from the dried fully ripe fruits (seed) of **Coriandrum**** ****Sativum,**** **a small herb native to southeastern Europe. The fruits are crushed immediately prior to distillation. The coriander herb grows not only wild, but is cultivated extensively all over the world: U.S.S.R., Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Holland, France, Italy, Morocco, Spain, Yugoslavia, Roumania, Turkey, Norway, England, India, Mexico, Guatemala, Argentina, etc. Distillation takes place mainly in the U.S.S.R., Poland, Hungary, Holland, France, and England. Fruits from India and Morocco are distilled in the U.S.A. by a few companies which specialize in such work. Consequently, it is difficult to estimate the actual production of **Coriander**** ****Fruit**** ****Oil.**** **But with an annual production of more than 20,000 metric tons of coriander fruit, and an estimated use of 15% for distillation, a rough figure of 20 metric tons of annual world production of coriander fruit oil seems conceivable. It must be kept in mind that a tremendous amount of coriander seed (fruit) goes into certain classic spice blends, particularly those of the “Indian Curry” type, and this spice blend has not yet been replaced by any liquid essential oil mixture. The distillation of **Coriander**** ****Fruit**** ****Oil**** **presents at least two kinds of problems: a physical and a chemical problem: *Physical** **problem:** *The seed contains 0.7% essential oil if it is the correct quality of coriander. In addition, it contains 25% fixed oil (fatty, vegetable oil). In other words, the crushed mass of fruits in the still contains 25% oil, of which only 3% is volatile. The aromatic seed is rather bulky. One metric ton of crushed coriander in a 4500 litres (1200 U.S. gall.) still will yield 7 kilos (15 ½ lbs.) of coriander oil, and this amount of oil requires many thousand kilos of steam to be liberated. Furthermore, coriander oil is slightly soluble in water. *Chemical problem: *The principal constituent, dextro-linalool, is a tertiary terpene alcohol which also occurs as an acetate in the oil. Linalylacetate is easily hydrolyzed, and linalool readily undergoes a molecular rearrangement, particularly when exposed even to very weak acids. **Coriander Fruit Oil **is a colorless or pale yellow liquid with a pleasant sweet, somewhat woodyspicy, aromatic-candylike odor. The floral- balsamic undertone and peppery-woody, suave top- note are characteristic features of this delightful fragrance. The flavor of coriander fruit oil is mild, sweet and spicy-aromatic, yet somewhat warm, very slightly burning. In flavor compositions, it blends well with anise, cardamom, bergamot, clove, sage clary nutmeg, etc., or with sweet-fruity bases such as peach, cherry, plum, etc. The combination with bergamot oil is well known from hard candy flavors. The oil is used extensively in flavors for alcoholic beverages, candy, tobacco, pickles, meat sauces, seasonings, etc. A suggested use level would be around 0.30 to 1.00 mg%, and the **Minimum**** ****Perceptible**** **is 0.05 to 0.10 mg. These figures are based upon true and genuine, good coriander oils. Poor grade oils may easily show four times higher figures. In perfumery, its warm and sweet notes blend equally well with sage clary and bergamot in colognes, with floral notes in jasmin, lilac, apple blossom, honeysuckle, etc., and with olibanum and Ceylon cinnamon, it may produce highly interesting effects in perfumes of the “Oriental” type. The oil blends well with neroli, petitgrain, citronellol, nerol, sandalwood oil, cananga oil, calamus oil, ginger oil, cypress oil, pinus pumilio oil, decylalcohol, decylpropionate, aliphatic aldehydes, citral, etc. The use of coriander oil in tobacco flavors has also brought the oil into a position as an interesting modifier in “tabac” type perfumes. The main constituents of **Coriander Fruit Oil **are readily available as synthetic chemicals. Consequently, the oil is frequently adulterated. Certain essential oil houses even make it a rule to “cut” their coriander oil with 20% synthetic (or isolated) linalool prior to resale. Small amounts of bouquetting materials are added: decyl aldehyde, decyl alcohol, linalylacetate, phellandrene, limonene, etc. Only a thorough olfactory investigation and knowledge of the true oil (or of the botanical proper) will enable the perfumer to judge between true and false oils. An organoleptic test is particularly useful for the flavor chemist in detecting even minor additions of natural or unnatural constituents. The author has yet to see an artificial or adulterated coriander oil which displays a more powerful flavor (in respect to coriander flavor) than a true, good grade coriander oil. Adulteration with **Coriander Herb Oil **may occur, but since the pure herb oil consists almost entirely of **Decylaldehyde**, only small amounts can be used for the cutting of the fruit oil where this aldehyde occurs in traces. However, the herb oil could very likely find use in perfumery because of its interesting and powerful odor. But decylaldehyde is now produced synthetically at a very low price, and the herb oil cannot serve as an economical source of this perfume material.