European Pennyroyal Oil

#### Pennyroyal Oil, Moroccan. *Pennyroyal,** **Spanish** **and** **Moroccan:* Far more important than "American" penny- royal oil, is the so-called "European" pennyroyal oil. This oil is steam distilled from the wild growing, freshly harvested, slightly dried herb of **Mentha Pulegium**. Distillation is carried out near the growing areas in the south of Spain, in Morocco and Tunisia, to a lesser degree in Portugal, Italy, Yugoslavia and Turkey. The oil from Moroccan sources is distilled from a different variety of the same plant, but it yields a better oil in respect to **Pulegone**-content. For this reason, it is preferred by the producers of synthetic menthol and related materials. **"European" Pennyroyal Oil **is a pale yellow to almost colorless mobile liquid of very fresh, strong, herbaceous-minty, but not very bitter odor (in contrast to the "American" type). The flavor, however, is distinctly bitter, with a slightly coolminty and strongly herbaceous note. The oil is rarely, if ever, used in flavors. It finds some application in perfumery, e.g. in the reproduction of certain essential oils (geranium, etc.). Furthermore, it is used along with rosemary, lavandin, sage, sassafras, citronella, white camphor and other low-cost oils for industrial perfumes, fragrances for detergents and household products, etc. Its main use has been as a starting material for the production of "synthetic" menthol from Pulegone which is present at the rate of up to 96% in the Moroccan pennyroyal oil. Italian, Yugoslavian and Turkish oils contain about 50 to 60% pulegone. Spanish oils are often contaminated at the point of distillation since the wild- growing herb is not picked free from other plants, and because the maturity of the plant material is not uniform. In the early 1950's, the total production in Spain and Morocco surpassed 100 metric tons, but it has now fallen back to a more modest figure due to lack of interest from the menthol manufacturers.