Sage Herb

Description and Distribution

Sage is the dried leaf of Salvia officinalis which is a memeber of the mint family. It grows and is cultivated in Yugoslavia, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus, England, Canada and the USA.

It is a hardy, variable sub-shrub, native of southern Europe, often cultivated as a spice and for medicinal purposes. It is also grown for ornament. Stems – shrubby, white woolly, 15-30 cm tall; leaves are aromatic, petiolate, oblong. The flowers are blue, purple or white in simple racemes. The cultivation of garden sage has been tried in Jammu for its essential oil which is now being imported for use in soap and perfumery industry. The plants are reported to have done well, the quality of the oil obtained being comparable with oils of foreign origin. It is also grown in vilgiris.

Young plants which have not reached the flowering or seeding stage, possess the finest aroma and contain the largest amount of oil. Harvesting is done by hand or by cutting the tops with a mower. Sometimes whole plants are cut by small sickles and dried. Sage is dried in the shade to retain as much of the natural colour and flavour as possible. The leaves and small tops are tied into small bundles or spread on screens and dried in a well-ventilated warm room away from direct sunlight. If the leaves are dusty or gritty, they are washed in cold water before drying. The dried bunches can be sold without further treatment or the leaves may be pulverised for the packeted herb trade.

Sage growing wild in the Dalmatian region of Yugoslavia is considered by the trade to be the best in quality and the product derived from cultivated plants in this region is rated next in preference. The odour is strong, fragrant and aromatic, and the taste aromatic, warm, somewhat astringent and a little bitter. Other products such as Spanish sage and Greek sage derived from other species of Salvia are used either as substitutes or adulterants of the genuine product.

Composition

Moisture : 5.7%, Protein: 10.2%, Fat: 14.1%, Crude fibre : 16.0%, Carbohydrates : 46.3%, Total ash: 7.7%, Calcium: 1.8%, Phosphorus: 0.09%, Iron: 0.03%, Sodium: 0.01%, Potassium: 1.0%, Vitamin-A: 2395 I.U./100gm, Vitamin B: 0.75mg/100gm, Vitamin B2: 0.34, Vitamin C: 39.8, Niacin: 5.7mg, Calorific value: 415 calories per 100gm.

Volatile Oil

On steam distillation, dry sage leaves yield an essential oil, 1.3-2.6% on the weight of dry leaves. The oil is produced commercially in Yugoslavia, Spain, Corfu, Syria, and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and sample from different sources show considerable variation in properties and constituents. By hydrodistillation, the following contents were found: Pipene, cineole, linalyl acetate, thujone, borneoil, bornyl acetate, farnesol and camphor. Linalyl acetate content of the oil is too low for the commercial exploitation of the oil for the ester. The quality of sage oil is determined on the basis of its thujone content; the higher the thujone content, the better the oil

In addition, the leaves contain 3% tannin, fumaric, malic, and ursolic acids, a bitter principle, picrosalvin, saponin, pentoses, a wax and potassium nitrate.

Uses

As Food Flavourant

Sage is the most popular herb for use in culinary preparations in the West. It is used in pork sausage and baked loaf. The colour of the dried herb is grey, tinged with green; the aroma is strong, fragrant and spicy. The taste is fragrant, spicy, warm, astringent and a little bitter. Sage is the most important herb in every kitchen for flavouring meat and fish dishes and in making poultry stuffings. It is used in poultry dressing, sausage, liver sausage and hamburger seasoning.

Sage has been extensively employed in the food industry as a standard spice in making stuffing for fowl, meats and sausage. It is one of the most important culinary herbs. Dried and powdered leaves are mixed with cooked vegetables and sprinkled on cheese dishes, cooked meats and other similar preparations. Fresh sage leaves are used in salads and sandwiches. The young leaves are pickled, and used for making tea. The apples or tumours on the sage caused as a result of puncturing by a species of Cynips are made into a conserve with honey.

Medicinal Uses

Sage is a mild tonic, astringent, and carminative. An infusion of the leaves is used as a gargle in the treatment of sore-throats. Hot infusion is said to be diaphoretic. Extracts of sage leaves are also reported to be antipyretic. A strong infusion of the herb is used to dry up the breast milk for weaning children. Sage has been prescribed to cure female disorders since ancient times and estrogenic substances are said to have been extracted from the dried leafy tops. Dried leaves are used as a fumitory. Leaves rubbed on teeth function as a good dentifrice. The herbs has been used in tooth and mouth washes, gargles, poultices, tooth powders, hair tonics and hair dressings.

Use in Perfumery

Sage oil finds use in perfumes as a deodorant, insecticidal preparations, for the treatment of thrush and gigivitis, and as carminative. The oil is used as a convulsant, and it resembles wormwood oil in action but less active.

Sage oil is used for adulterating rosemary and lavender oils. Sage oil itself is adulterated with American cedar leaf oil which also contains thujone.

Use as Antioxidant

Sage and sage oil exhibit antioxidant properties. Fixe antioxidant fractions with antioxidant indices between 8.8 and 10.0 have been isolated from the leaves of S. officinalis, one of which appears to be polyhydric phenol.

Use of Residue

After steam distillation, the residual plant material still contains constituents of considerable flavour value. Hot water extracts of the material on concentration yield an oleoresin, which is used in conjunction with the oil for flavouring foods.

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