Kanuka Hydrosol Research Project-preliminary findings

The initial results are in comparing 2 samples of kanuka hydrosol distilled from 2 locations in NZ. I will share a brief over here as the full results will be shared in a international aromatherapy journal shortly. Thanks to some crowd funding support via give a little page (now closed) and self funding I was able to get two samples analysed-one obtained from Waiheke island (supplied by Jill at Alembics NZ) and the other from a kind donor in the Nelson Lakes region. both samples were steam distilled in a copper alembic still with the essential oil not removed.

The analyses were completed at the Callaghan Institute-here is a summary of what they found. Aromatically, both samples differed significantly in detectable aroma, with the Waiheke sample being a lot stronger. It cannot be determined whether this is due to the process of distillation or some other factor as more samples would be needed. This is visually apparent in the two graphs below.

The key constituents identified are as follows:

neither sample contained pinenes (present in the essential oil) as these are not water soluble.

N.I Kanuka: linalol 17.9%, terpineol 28.4%, verbenone 6.6%,carveol 11.6%, spathulenol 3%, Viridiflorol 2.6%
S.I Kanuka: fewer components identified contains 67.9% eudesmol (present in eucalyptus, tumeric)

None of these identified constituents pose any safety hazards and suggest a lot of therapeutic uses for internal and external applications.

Whilst at Aromatica 15 recently at the Gold Coast (organised by the Aromatherapy Today Journal) I was able to hang out and relax with Robbi Zeck (from Aroma Tours)

one of these tours should be on every aromatic enthusiast's bucket list!
Yours aromatically Wendy (I am on the right)

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Lemon Verbena Harvest & Distillation December 2013

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