Tansy Oil

#### Tansy Oil. The essential oil, steam distilled from the flowering herb of **Tanacetum Vulgare**, is at present of little or no interest to the flavorist. The perfumer may still use it occasionally, and it deserves some attention for its peculiar odor characteristics. The plant is a very common wild-growing perennial, probably originating in Central Europe, and brought to the United States by the European immigrants. It is found in almost every temperate and cold-temperate zone in the world. It is cultivated for the purpose of harvesting the herb (pharmaceutical purposes); the oil is distilled in France, Germany, Hungary, Poland and the midwestern U.S.A. **Tansy**** ****Oil**** **is a yellowish to orange-olive colored liquid with a warm, almost sharp and spicy, dry and herbaceous odor. The taste is very sharp, pungent and bitter at high concentrations. Due to the high content of **Thujone**** **(a toxic ketone) in the oil, it should not be used in flavors or any food preparations, although it has been used for a long time as an important ingredient in bitter- flavors for alcoholic beverages, etc. Earlier, the oil was used as an anthelminthicum in pharmaceutical preparations. In this respect too, it is related to wormwood oil (see this monograph) which is the flavor principle of the old type of "absinth". Tansy Oil can add interesting notes to perfumes of the fantasy type, chypres, fougères, etc. where it may appear as a topnote of good tenacity and original effect. It is not infrequently adulterated with cedarleaf oil or Dalmatian sage oil. Tansy oil is far less stable than these materials, and has never achieved the wide application of the two other oils. It will undoubtedly remain a minor item on the perfumer's shelf, turning dark and viscous before the bottle is empty. See also **Balsamite**. **Tea**** ****Leaf**** ****Absolute. **See also **Maté**. Certain perfumery materials which are sold under the name of **Tea**** ****Absolute**, etc. are obtained from the cured, dried leaves of various forms of the true tea-tree, **Thea Sinensis **(or **Camellia**** ****Sinensis**). By hydrocarbon solvent extraction of the leaves, a concrète is obtained which in turn yields an absolute by alcohol extraction. Such extractions are performed in France and the U. S. A. However, the best known extracts are those which are molecularly distilled or co-distilled from the direct extraction product (first extract). These products are known as **Anhydrols **(L. Givaudan & Cie.) or **Resinoines Incolores **(P. Robertet & Cie.), etc. True absolutes are also available, but they are usually strongly colored. The distilled products are viscous, amber-colored liquids of a faint, but rich and delicately dry, somewhat herbaceous, yet sweet and woody odor. On dilution, the odor becomes slightly reminiscent of the odor of dry and cured tealeaves. **Tea**** ****Leaf**** ****Absolute**** **(or Anhydrol or Resinoine incolore, etc.) are used in perfumery to produce sweet-herbaceous notes in certain floral perfumes, e.g. jasmin, orange blossom, gardenia, sweet pea, freesia, and to produce new effects in woody or aldehydic perfumes of non-floral type in general. As an intensifier of clary sage, melaleuca bracteata, michelia leaf oil, or other tea-like fragrances, it is unsurpassed in naturalness. Artificial "tea" bases are available, but they represent the perfumer's conception of a tea-perfume, rather than the fragrance of the tea itself. Being of comparatively low flavor strength, the alcoholic tea leaf absolute finds very little use in flavors. Occasionally, aqueous extracts of tea are used, and they are certainly much cheaper. An essential oil has been produced by steam distillation of the tea leaves, and this oil has been thoroughly investigated by the worldwide tea industry. However, the oil is not produced commercially, and may not be of any perfume or flavor interest. There is ample literature on the subject of the flavoring principles in tea leaves.