Aromas, Scents and Flavors: Understanding Botanical Terpenes and their Benefits

Posted by Karina Aldredge on

Lavender scented laundry soap, pine tree cleaner, mint flavored chewing gum, citrus room spray, we enjoy botanical terpenes every day of our lives! 

Plant medicines like lavender, rosemary, peppermint and holy basil (tulsi) create aromas to protect themselves and to attract pollinators. These same compounds deter pests like mosquitos as we cover in our previous blog post, at the same time as attracting beneficials. Isn't nature incredible?!

 

Plants like lavender, rosemary, peppermint and holy basil (tulsi) create aromas to protect themselves from harmful insects and to attract pollinators. These same compounds deter pests at the same time as attracting beneficials.

That's why we infuse these same, highly potent, terpene rich herbs into our Sacred Leaf Tonic, not only to attract pollinators and defend plants from disease and combat pests.

How do we harness the terpene benefits?

These aromas are often extracted by steam distillation, in the same way flavors are gathered for beverages like seltzers and sparkling water. This method involves boiling plant material in water until the steam carries the essential oils (including terpenes). This extracted steam is then trapped, condensed and cooled.

 

Make your own all purpose cleaner:
Pine scented all purpose cleaner:
Gather ingredients:

  • 16 ounce amber spray bottle or repurpose a plastic spray bottle

  • 3 handfuls pine needles, dry to the touch

  • 1 1/4 cup water

  • 1 1/4 cup white vinegar

  • 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol

  • one large glass jar

1. First remove needles from woody branches, be sure they are dry, then pack tightly into a glass jar with tight fitting lid.
2. Next, pour vinegar into the jar, covering all the pine needles and place in a sunny window for one week. This is when the magic happens! The vinegar works to extract the pine oils with all those anti-microbial properties
3. After seven days, strain out the pine needles and fill the 16 ounce spray bottle with pine and vinegar extraction
4. Add ¼ cup rubbing alcohol to pine extraction inside the spray bottle, then fill the remainder of the bottle up with water, seal and enjoy the benefits of cleaning your kitchen, bathroom and surfaces with terpene rich all purpose cleaner

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