Volatile Oil Crops

Volatile (essential) oil crops yield a wide range of products -
fresh and dried herbs, oils and oil components and various
oleoresins. Changing lifestyles in developed countries have led to
dramatic increases in demand for these products, particularly over
the last decade. More varied use has been made of oils and herbs in
cooking, and oil components are now being regarded as safe
alternatives to synthetic food additives and crop protection
substances.

The surge in demand for these produces has encouraged a number
of temperate and mediterranean countries to evaluate a range of
volatile oil-bearing species as alternative crops. This has
resulted in a rapid expansion in the scientific and technical
literature on culinary and medicinal herbs.

Volatile Oil Crops draws much of this literature together
for the first time. It reviews the basic botany, physiology and
biochemistry of the major species and then analyses the genetics of
oil composition. The effects of oils on a wide range of organisms
are discussed and the book surveys the biotechnological methods
which can be employed in the laboratory production of oils. It
concludes with a full analysis of the world trade in the products
of volatile oils.