Basil Varieties

Included among a large number of different types of BasiI Oils are two which have become particularly common in perfumery and flavor work: 

1. The true Sweet Basil Oil is steam distilled from the flowering tops of the small plant Ocimum Basilicum in France and in the United States of America. Smaller quantities are produced in Italy, Hungary, and Spain.

2. The “Exotic” or so-called ‘Reunion” type of Basil Oil is produced in the Comoro Islands, Seychelles, and occasionally in Madagascar. 

The two oils can be distinguished by their odor characteristics in a brief description such as:

1. The Linalool-type

2. The Camphor-Estragole type

The former type also contains estragole, but this material is not typical of the odor of the Sweet Basil Oil. It does not contain camphor. The latter oil contains more estragole than No. 1), and the odor of the “Exotic” type is not covered up by the content of camphor in that oil. This type contains little or no linalool. In other words, the absence of camphoraceous notes and the presence of a perfect odor balance between linalool and estragole is characteristic of true Sweet Basil Oil.

Sweet Basil Oil

The oil is usually pale yellow or almost colorless. Its odor is sweet-spicy, slightly green, fresh, with a faint balsamic-woody undertone and a lasting sweetness. It is produced in very limited quantities (annual world production is less than one metric ton), and the oil ranks among the more expensive essential oils. However, its great strength makes it very useful and generally applicable in fine perfumery and in flavor work. In perfumes, Sweet Basil Oil has been a “classic” material in the “Origan” type of perfumes and bases for several decades. In chypres, crepe de chines and certain modern- aldehydic and “green” perfume types, the oil can introduce very interesting notes. It blends well with the most varied types of perfume material, e.g. opopanax or bergamot oil, isoeugenol or sage clary, methyl ionone, or cyclamal, lime oil or oakmoss, hydroxycitronellal, etc. Sweet Basil Oil finds some application in flavors, e.g. in the “chartreuse” type of liqueur, and in high-priced culinary seasonings, meat sauces, etc. The suggested use level is 0.30 to 1.00 mg%, and the Minimum Perceptible is 0.04 to 0.10 mg%.

“Reunion“ type Basil oil

This oil is usually yellow or greenish-yellow to pale green in color, Its odor is somewhat coarse-herbaceous, slightly camphoraceous in the initial notes, and displaying the intense sweetness of the estragole, a so-called “anisic” type of odor. The estragole, also known as methyl chavicol, is distinctly perceptible in the odor of “Exotic” Basil Oil. Although it has been claimed by authorities in the field that this “exotic” type of basil oil can be used “wherever the price of sweet basil oil prevents the use of this expensive oil”, the author of the present work can hardly consider the “exotic” type of basil oil as a replacement for the “French” type. The trade offers basil oils under a wealth of “exotic” and ‘French” names, and it is not uncommon that an “exotic” oil may be “doctored”, with e.g. 60~0 added linalool. This blend is then offered as “French” basil oil, occasionally with the addition of “pays” or some “provincial” name added on the label. This substitute is useful in soap perfumes or other low-cost perfumes as a fair replacement for the much more expensive sweet basil oil. It hardly pays, however, to substitute sophisticated exotic basil for sweet basil oil in flavor work. There are trace components in the true sweet basil oil that make this oil much more powerful than the above “theoretical” substitute oil. The author has found the approximate use level for “exotic” basi] oil to be 0.60 to 2.00 mg%. The Minimum Perceptible is about 0.08 to 0.20mg%. The sweet basil has at least twice the flavor strength compared to the exotic type. An addition of 60% of linalool to the exotic oil only lowers the flavor strength. “Exotic” Basil Oil is produced in a number of countries with a tropical or subtropical climate. The plant occurs in many varieties, one of which deserves more attention.

The “Methylcinnamate” type of Basil Oil

This oil is produced in West Africa, East Africa, India, Indonesia, the West Indies, the Balkan States, etc. The oil is of yellow or pale yellow color, and it is much sweeter in odor than the “exotic” basil oil. It is much more fruity and not at all as fresh-green as the “French” basil oil. Its main constituent is Methylcinnamate which is available as a synthetic material at a very low cost. The above oil could find some use in soap perfumery, e.g. for local production of soap perfumes, provided the oil becomes available in larger quantities. 

A fourth type is:

“Phenolic” type of basil oil

One of these is listed in the present work under the botanical name of the plant from which it is distilled: Ocimum Gratissimum.

From — perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin, S. Arctander (1961)

Photo by Yakov Leonov, Giorgi Iremadze, Marko Blažević on Unsplash