WHITE THYME ESSENTIAL OIL – Aromatic, fresh, camphorated essential oil with a hint of medicinal herbs, dry wood, and light pine.

A fresh, aromatic scent with herbal nuances. In the perfume and flavoring industries, two types of thyme oil are distinguished: red and white. Only the former is a natural distillate. Red thyme oil is obtained by steam and water distillation from partially dried wild thyme, Thymus zygis, or related species, which grows primarily in Spain. The plant grows abundantly in Spain, Morocco, Turkey, Israel, Russia, China, and, to a lesser extent, in Italy, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Syria, France, and various parts of Central Europe.

This plant is cultivated throughout Central Europe and many other countries for use as a dried raw material for cooking. Distillation is mainly carried out in Spain and Israel. Moroccan oils were distinguished by the fact that they were obtained by steam distillation of floral raw materials. Therefore, they were sweeter but less herbaceous in aroma and flavor.

Red thyme oil is a reddish-brown, reddish-orange, or grayish-brown liquid, dense and rich, sweet, with a warm, herbaceous, slightly spicy, and decidedly aromatic scent. The flavor is equally warm, slightly astringent, but without bitterness or resin. The intense, long-lasting sensation in the mouth is accompanied by a spicy-herbaceous flavor and an extraordinary richness of aroma. In lower-grade oils, bitter-phenolic, incense-like, or resinous notes should not be noted, but higher terpene notes similar to cymene may be present. The recommended dosage ranges from 0.50 to 1.00 mg%, while the minimum permissible dosage is 0.05 to 0.10 mg%. The oil is widely used to flavor food products, in sauces, dressings, marinades, meat preserves, and more. In the preparation of pharmaceutical products, the oil's excellent bactericidal properties are exploited in mouthwashes, toothpastes, and numerous disinfectants. Cough syrups, lozenges, and other products often contain thyme oil combined with peppermint, eucalyptus, and other essential oils. In perfumery, the oil is used to some extent in soapmaking, where its strength and freshness can introduce medicinal notes that are often desirable in certain types of soaps or detergents. The oil has an excellent masking effect on resinous odors and is therefore a perfect example of the "distracting" effect of aroma. Added in small quantities to body lotions or colognes, thyme oil can impart a lively, sweet freshness to lavender, floral, citrus, spicy colognes, and aftershaves. The oil is of great interest as a flavoring material. Due to its phenol content (solid phenol, thymol), it bleaches rapidly when in contact with iron, even at trace amounts found in other essential oils. Higher concentrations of thyme oil in soap fragrances may also hinder its use in white soaps.

Oregano oil or fractions of other essential oils from Spain are sometimes added to the oil. Commercial batches of oregano oil may be sold under the name of thyme oil due to the seller's lack of knowledge. In the main producing regions, red thyme oil is produced in varying volumes, from 40 to 100 tons per year.

White thyme oil, when properly produced and natural, is a pale yellow liquid with a scent similar to red thyme, but slightly sweeter and less astringent or pungent. It also contains fewer herbaceous notes. In reality, it should be red thyme oil obtained by repeated distillation. However, commercial white thyme oil is often a mixture of fractions of pine oil, terpinol, rosemary, eucalyptus, red thyme, para-cymol, pinene, limonene, caryophyllene, oregano oil, etc. The thymol content in commercial batches of so-called white thyme oil ranges from 20% to 60% or more. Red thyme oil obtained by distillation typically contains about 60% thymol.