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What a contrast! Long, warm, balmy, days over; nights drawing in; and the rain and hail beating a brisk tattoo on the roof.
With the passing of summer somnolence has come a renewed urgency, as we plan for the new academic year. Still no new price list! Where does time go? It has been half written for months, but something else always seems to come up to delay that final push.
The past month has been much occupied by our endeavours to formulate our plan for the next two years. Yes, believe it or not, we do try to think that far forward. Of course, we are not always successful!
The past few years have seen a rapid growth in the interest for aromatherapy, but there always remains that niggling question ... will it last? At present, all seems set fair but, as essential oil suppliers, we have to be aware constantly of the changing market needs. Such rapid growth has created a proliferation of newcomers to the industry, all striving for their market share. It is no longer sufficient to rely upon historic laurels, we have both to educate and be better educated; to maintain and improve quality of both product and service; and, through it all, keep smiling!
In truth, and thanks to your tremendous support, we have done well which has enabled us to maintain prices and yet grow at the same time. Simultaneously, however, it does mean that credit control becomes increasingly important. In the past, I have tended to be rather lax in this connection but, if we are to maintain prices, I must insist that INVOICES ARE PAID WITHIN THIRTY DAYS OF RECEIPT.
No doubt some of you have recently received either telephone calls or letters from TIM VAUGHAN, who is acting as our Credit Controller. Tim, a classicist and movie buff, was at Oxford with Justin and has kindly agreed to help us out whilst JUSTIN goes on to yet more education - four years reading Economics and Spanish - at St.Andrews University. Will it ever finish, I ask myself, fearing that he so enjoys University life that he will be there until he is 50!
Also heading for academic pastures is JANNY, who has decided to go for it as an Occupational Therapist and so is in the throes of 'turning back the clock' as she grapples with rudimentary sociology and mathematics before proceeding to Brookes University.
Thank goodness neither Jan nor I have such ambitions, but it does bring the need for automated bottling ever closer! Meanwhile, PAT BURTON has returned to the fold and so we are not totally without assistance and, hopefully, Justin and Janny will fill in when time allows.
Returning briefly to our plans for the future, we have been considering carefully a diversification into WHOLEFOODS, i.e. dried fruits, rice, nuts, etc. You will appreciate that several of our overseas suppliers are always keen to ship goods other than just essential oils. Whilst such a suggestion is perhaps more applicable to our retail customers, such as Health Food Shops, I should be most interested to hear your comments on such an idea.
Of course, such business would be conducted through an entirely separate company but, for some months now, we have been successfully supplying such products to High Street names and should like to transfer some of the benefits of such bulk purchasing to our individual customers. After all, this is how we started supplying essential oils to aromatherapists ten years ago - we were growers and bulk shippers of Tea Tree Oil until someone asked us for lOml of Lavender! Maybe some of you have a particular penchant for cashews or pistachios, or even dried figs or sun dried tomatoes! Certainly Justin has warmed to the idea and devoured my samples of pistachios! LET ME KNOW!
Speaking of people asking for things, I was requested last month for several items which we had not previously stocked. Do you find that people always ask for what you have not got. Most frustrating! In fact, I rather enjoy it as it stirs me into frenzied activity as I thrash around trying to learn more.
A case in point is CUBEBS (Piper cubeba). Occasionally, it appears on suppliers' lists but, apart from knowing that it was a member of the pepper family, I had little knowledge of this Indonesian plant. Sifting through the ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF ESSENTIAL OILS revealed that "it has traditionally been used for treating genito-urinary infections, such as gonorrhoea, cystitis, urethritis, abcess of the prostrate gland and leucorrhoea. It is also used for digestive upsets and respiratory problems such as chronic bronchitis."
I never cease to wonder at how many more essential oils there are that I know so little about! Still, a few faxes later, and the usual five hours at Heathrow, and I had our first consignment of CUBEBS and, what is more, with a signed declaration that it was NOT adulterated in any way! Apparently, it frequently is.
However, in my next quest, JULIA LAWLESS could not assist me or, at least, I could find no reference to it - NEEM OIL (Azadirachta indica). Fortunately, I did recollect that there had been some talk about growing and harvesting it in Australia, but that was years ago. Often, whenever I am unable to find information in the traditional aromatherapy literature, I reach for POTTER'S New Cyclopaedia of Botanical Drugs and Preparations. Eureka! Neem, Nim, Margosa, Indian Lilac, the seed oil is used in India for the treatment of skin diseases and an extract of the leaves and bark has been found to have significant anti-inflammatory and antipyretic activity. A close relative, Melia azadirach, has similar properties, but there are unsubstantiated reports of renal toxicity in human patients who have treated themselves for malaria with this plant. Chemically, it is most interesting and I believe that we shall hear much more about this oil. For the time being I have sourced a supply, which has already been approved for agricultural and veterinary use, and await more information about human applications.
I have just received the first GC analyses of NEW ZEALAND grown Tea Tree. Most interesting but, for the time being, a trifle disappointing. Whilst cineole levels are satisfactorily below the maximum allowed by the Australian Standard specification, the terpinen-4-ol level barely reaches the required level. However, a pre-cursor of terpinen-4-ol is present at significant levels and, with improved distillation techniques, we hope that this will convert into the terpinene/terpineol compounds.
Having been so vitally involved in the re-birth of Australian Tea Tree during the mid 1970s, I am delighted to have the opportunity to participate in developments in the 1990s, particularly in countries as diverse as Ecuador and Zimbabwe which are also trying to grow prime quality Tea Tree.
Recently, I have become reacquainted with two old favourites - NIAOULI (Melaleuca quinquenervia) and the island of New Caledonia. When we used to spend happy weekends in Noumea, away from the less vibrant Vanuatu, it was a pleasurable task to distinguish the two chemical
forms of NIAOULI (one rich in cineole and the other in nerolidol and linalool) by rubbing a leaf between the fingers; the nerolidol-linalool form has an almost floral odour; the cineole form is reminiscent of eucalyptus oil. We have some New Caledonian Niaouli on the way! One small point, however: I note that several (including Julia Lawless in her Encyclopaedia) botanically define Niaouli as Melaleuca viridiflora. I believe that this is not correct as M. viridiflora is a separate, and distinct, botanical species.
Sticking with members of the Myrtaceae, I was delighted to receive a copy of 'AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE ANTIMICROBIAL PROPERTIES OF MANUKA AND KANUKA OIL' by the Cawthron Institute in New Zealand. Matched against Australian Tea Tree, the results are quite an eye opener!
- MANUKA (Leptospermum scoparium) is TWENTY times stronger than Tea Tree in its activity against gram positive organisms. KANUKA (leptospermum ericoides) compares favourably with Tea Tree.
- For gram negative organisms both Manuka and Kanuka are very similar in activity but overall not as good as Tea Tree by a factor of 2 or 3 times.
- Results for yeasts and moulds are good but variable depending on organism. Of particular interest is Manuka's high activity against skin and ringwork fungi.
Unlike Tea Tree, Manuka is a very complex blend of many components and does not seem to have any major component. However, considering its high activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Ringworm fungi, if the active chemicals are only present at low concentrations then they must be very potent. They could be almost as active as any antibiotics presently known but, of course, this is speculative at the moment.
Finally, for those interested in FLOWER ESSENCES (about which I know nothing), may I recommend AUSTRALIAN BUSH FLOWER ESSENCES by Ian White. Beautifully illustrated, and sympathetically written, I have enjoyed this book for its succinct and perceptive pastiches of a variety of Australian bush flowers.