Expressed Lime Oil

#### Lime Oil, expressed. A much smaller item than the distilled lime oil is the oil that is expressed by hand or machine from the peel of unripe, green limes. Only a very limited amount of this type of lime oil is produced, and the production is mainly carried out in the West Indies where Grenada, Montserrat and other islands specialize in expressed lime oil. The uneven and very small size of lime fruits make machine expression of the oil a difficult operation. As a sort of a “happy medium” between hand pressing and distilling, the Mexican lime oil is often produced by centrifuging the liquid (pulp and oil) from the entire fruit in modern, high-speed centrifuges, the oil thus being separated quickly from the acid juice. This oil is obviously distinctly different from hand-pressed “ecuelled” oil since it has been in contact with large amounts of an acid liquid. These two types of cold-processing of lime oil give lower yields of oil than does the distillation process. Accordingly, expressed lime oils are more expensive than distilled lime oils. Hand- or machine-pressed lime oil is a yellowish green, olive-green or dark green mobile liquid of intensely fresh, rich and sweet, peel-like odor, perhaps more lemon-like than the odor of distilled lime oil, but also mellower and somewhat “perfumery”. Thus, it does not reproduce the odor of the lime juice, and this may be the reason why many people think that the distilled oil bears a closer resemblance to the odor of lime than does the cold-processed, expressed oils. In perfumes, where the cost is of minor importance since the concentration of lime oil always will be very low, the expressed oil is generally preferred. It gives interesting modifications to neroli in cologne bases, chypre bases, etc. and it lends a delightful topnote to modern aldehydic perfumes, etc. The author finds it particularly interesting in combination with cyclamal, lilial or similar floral aldehydes. It blends well not only with all other citrus oils, but also with citronella oil and its derivatives, lavender, lavandin, rosemary, sage clary, etc. In general, it is a fine top- note ingredient for “over-sweet” perfume types. In ambre bases, it produces quite intriguing notes which, in spite of their remoteness from the ambre type, lend a pleasant effect. The tenacity of the fragrance of expressed lime oil is quite outstanding. It exceeds by far that of the distilled lime oil and it is even superior to that of terpeneless, sesquiterpeneless lime oil. The natural fixatives in the oil are derivatives of coumarin, and their spicy herbaceous and sweet-balsamic odor is distinctly perceptible in the dryout of expressed lime oil even after several days on a perfume blotter. The **Expressed Lime Oil **is rarely used in flavors, although it has the typical peel flavor. It has also excellent masking effect on protein- or garlic-like food odors. Anyone who has enjoyed “Paw-Paw with lime” in British colonies, or the Islam specialty “samoussa” along with a quarter-section of an unpeeled green lime fruit, will admit that the peel flavor in combination with the acid juice has a tremendous masking effect in food where either bland taste (the paw-paw, also called papaya) or unpleasant flavor notes from cooked, chopped meat with garlic and spices (the “samoussa”) profit from the refreshing addition of lime peel-and-juice flavor. The effect is similar to that of **Lemon Oil **with its acid juice being used as a masking flavor for off-flavors in seafood (see **Lemon Oil).** **Expressed Lime Oil **blends particularly well with **Lemon Oil **in flavor compositions. The combination of the two flavors has become one of the most popular flavors in carbonated beverages and sherbet ice, hard candy, etc. In general, lime oil is a good modifier for lemon oil and vice versa. This use of a related flavor as a modifier resembles the use of spearmint oil in peppermint flavors (and vice versa). The author suggests a use level of 0.60 to 2.50 mg% for **Expressed Lime Oil**. The **Minimum**** ****Perceptible **is about 0.10 to 0.20 mg%. These figures show, that the oil is not a very powerful flavor material and that the superior perfume effect of Expressed Lime Oil as compared to terpeneless and sesquiterpeneless lime oil is not reflected in the flavor effect of expressed lime oil. Expressed lime oil is rarely processed into a terpeneless oil, although it would seem reasonable to do so in view of the much lower content of “residue” in expressed oil as compared to distilled oil. But the annual production of expressed oil remains very low, perhaps only a few tons. Expressed lime oil may be adulterated with additions of distilled lime oil, lemon oil, terpenes from lime oil or other citrus oils and, rarely, with turpentine, pine oil fractions, dipentene, etc. The small amounts of anthranilates in expressed lime oils give these oils a comparatively high specific gravity which is easily lowered by the addition of monoterpenes. Unfortunately, modern instrumental analysis has made it possible to perform an even more skilful adulteration of lime oil, but a thorough organoleptic evaluation will usually tell the buyer when he has a good and natural oil. The numerous varieties of lime fruits on the market indicate that wide variations must be expected in the types of lime oils offered. Lime oil is now the main product (economically); previously, it was only a by-product. Consequently, more attention is paid to the quality of lime oil, and it is beyond doubt that the quality has improved significantly during the past decades. Production of lime juice offers many problems, and the waste is enormous due to the fermentation of the sugar-and-acid-containing juice in the tropical climates. **Expressed Lime Oil **represents a comparatively rare example of natural occurrence of anthranilates and aldehydes in the same oil. This combination is often avoided in perfumery because of the color-intensification and odor-change by the formation of the so-called “Schiff’s bases”.