North American Sassafras Oil

#### Sassafras Oil. ##### "North American Sassafras Oil": The true **Sassafras Oil **is steam distilled from the roots or rootbark of **Sassafras Albidum**, a medium-sized North American tree. The tree is a native of the eastern United States and the southern midwestern states where it grows wild and in abundance, often like a weed in mountainous areas and on poor soil. The tree has been known since the very first landings of the Spaniards in Florida early in the 16th century. The tree is practically unknown beyond the limits of southeastern Canada and northern Mexico. The essential oil from the root has been known for more than 300 years. Distillation takes place mainly in the southeastern states where fairly modern installations now are at hand. The essential oil exists in the root-bark tissue right beneath the cork, but the root-wood itself also contains some oil. The roots or stumps are comminuted into chips and steam distilled. The oil is heavier than water and, to a significant degree, soluble in the water. The oil solidifies at about 4 to 5°C. It must be completely melted and stirred prior to use or transfer from one container to another. **Sassafras**** ****Oil**** **is a yellowish to pale brownish yellow oily liquid of sweet-spicy, fresh and slightly camphoraceous odor with a long-lasting, woody-floral and very sweet undertone. A short, fresh-peppery topnote is characteristic of the odor of this oil. The flavor is sweet, somewhat woody, usually described as "root-beer"-like; this description refers to the use of sassafras oil (and other components of root-beer), and therefore is a poor terminology. Due to the high content of **Safrole**, a phenolether closely related to myristicin, the sassafras oil may some day in the future be removed (banned) from all food products. Many physicians consider that safrole is so toxic and hazardous that its use should be prohibited by law. Up to now, however, safrole and sassafras oil (as well as other safrole-bearing oils) have been used as the main constituents of most root-beer flavors for candy, carbonated and non-carbonated drinks, toothpastes, mouthwashes, etc. There are no substitutes for safrole as a flavor material at present (apart from dihydrosafrole, isosafrole and similar closely related chemicals). The suggested use level for sassafras oil in finished goods is about 0.30 to 0.50 mg%, while the **Minimum Perceptible **is 0.03 to 0.08 mg%. The water solubility of this oil prevents it from showing its apparent strength. In perfumery, the cheaper oils of camphor and ocotea pretiosa (see these monographs) have substituted for sassafras oil for a long time. The two oils are richer in safrole than is the sassafras oil. Ocotea pretiosa oil lacks the peppery topnote and the camphoraceous freshness, while camphor oil (or fractions thereof) usually presents a more pronounced camphoraceous note, no fresh peppery topnote, and a more woody bodynote than the North American sassafras oil. **North**** ****American**** ****Sassafras**** ****Oil**** **is frequently adulterated with the Brazilian oil of ocotea pretiosa or with fractions of camphor oil. The two oils are cheaper and are produced in far larger quantities than the sassafras oil. The Brazilian oil can be identified by simple instrumental means, while detection of adulteration with camphor oil usually requires an organoleptic test. Due to the above facts, North American sassafras oil has lost much of its importance and, if safrole is banned as a flavor material, it is very conceivable that true sassafras oil will completely vanish from the market. The present production of North American sassafras oil is about 50 metric tons per year, or less than 3% of the world production of the two other safrole-bearing oils.