Patchouli Essential Oil-infused Butters ~ Nature's Hair Care & Body Care

GROCERY SHOPPING FOR ORGANIC PRODUCE:
Raw / Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Price Look-Up Stickers

An easy way to determine how your fruit or vegetable has been grown is to look at the Price Look-Up code sticker (a.k.a PLU code, PLU number or PLU) sticker stuck on the fruit or vegetable.

Price Look-Up codes are identification numbers affixed to produce and other products in grocery stores and supermarkets to make check-out and inventory control easier, faster, and more accurate.

The PLU code is a four or five-digit number, identifying the type of bulk produce, usually including the variety.

ORGANIC produce (fruit and vegetables)is denoted by a five-digit number whose first digit is '9' (e.g. 94011 for organic yellow bananas)
GENETICALLY-MODIFIED food (GMO) is denoted by a five-digit number whose first digit is an '8'.

You can visit Fruit Sticker to view sticker codes for Organic, Conventional and Genetically modified foods. Also, at this site you can enter PLU numbers to see what type of produce they represent..

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Patchouli Essential Oil-infused Butters

Hello, Everyone! It's good to be back with you all, again. Thank-you for stopping by to 'visit' with me via this blog from time to time. I hope August was another amazing month of really good accomplishments and positive activity, for you!

Today, I'm featuring patchouli essential oil and patchouli combined with essential butters and other essential oils. Many of you may have already discovered that essential butters labeled as 'body butter' can be used as hair moisturizers/conditioners. Patchouli essential oil has a glorious aroma and is a great fragrance for a hair product. It has been stated that patchouli essential oil stimulates the growth of healthy hair. Below, are a few more details about patchouli essential oil, with featured patchouli essential oil suppliers and patchouli-infused essential butters you may like.

"Patchouli (Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth; also patchouly or pachouli) is a species from the genus Pogostemon and a bushy herb of the mint family, with erect stems, reaching two or three feet (about 0.75 metre) in height and bearing small pale pink-white flowers. The plant is native to tropical regions of Asia and is now extensively cultivated in Caribbean countries, China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mauritius, Philippines, West Africa and Vietnam.

The scent of patchouli is heavy and strong. It has been used for centuries in perfumes and continues to be so today. The word derives from the Tamil patchai (Tamil: பச்சை) (green), ellai (Tamil: இலை) (leaf). In Assamese it is known as xukloti.
Pogostemon cablin, P. commosum, P. hortensis, P. heyneasus and P. plectranthoides are all cultivated for their oils and all are known as 'patchouli' oil, but P. cablin is considered superior.

Extraction of the Essential Oil

Extraction of the essential oil is by steam distillation, requiring the cell walls of the leaves to be first ruptured. This can be achieved by steam scalding, light fermentation, or by drying.
Leaves are harvested several times a year, and where dried may be exported for distillation of the oil. Sources disagree over how to obtain the best quality oil. Some claim the highest quality oil is usually
produced from fresh leaves, distilled close to the plantation,[1] while others claim baling the dried leaves and allowing them to ferment a little is best." ~ Wikipedia

Patchouli Essential Oil