Ben oil is pressed from the seeds of the ''
Moringa oleifera
''Moringa oleifera'' is a fast-growing, drought-resistant tree of the family Moringaceae, native to the Indian subcontinent. Common names include moringa, drumstick tree (from the long, slender, triangular seed-pods), horseradish tree (from th ...
'', known variously as the horseradish tree, ben oil tree, or drumstick tree. The oil is characterized by an unusually long shelf life and a mild, but pleasant taste. The name of the oil is derived from the presence of
behenic acid
Behenic acid (also docosanoic acid) is a carboxylic acid, the saturated fatty acid with formula C21H43COOH. In appearance, it consists of white solid although impure samples appear yellowish.
Sources
At 9%, it is a major component of ben oil (or ...
. The oil's components are:
![Ben Oil](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Ben_Oil.jpg)
Seeds offer a relatively high yield of 22-38% oil. Ben oil has been used for thousands of years as a perfume base, and continues to be used in that capacity today. The oil can also be used as a fuel. Burkill reports:
:''It burns with a clear light and without smoke. It is an excellent salad oil, and gives a good soap... It can be used for oiling machinery, and indeed has a reputation for this purpose as watch oil, but is now superseded by sperm oil.''
History
Greece
The ancient
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
manufactured ben oil and other herbal oils.
Theophrastos
Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routledg ...
, in the fourth century BC, had very strong opinions about which oils to use to make perfumes, and ben oil was firmly at the top of the list.
Rome
In
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, around 70 AD,
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...
described the tree and its fruits under the name ''myrobalanum'' after the Greek word ''myron'' meaning "ointment". Around the same time
Dioscorides
Pedanius Dioscorides ( grc-gre, Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης, ; 40–90 AD), “the father of pharmacognosy”, was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of ''De materia medica'' (, On Medical Material) —a 5-vol ...
described the fruit as ''balanos myrepsike'' (roughly "acorn-shaped fruit well-suited for preparation of fragrant ointments"). He observed that "grinding the kernels, like bitter
almonds, produces a liquid which is used instead of oil to prepare precious ointments." Dioscorides' recommendation was influential in promoting the "balanos" fruits and their oil for medicinal purposes.
Alexandria
During the same era,
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
had become the predominant center for the production of perfumes. This was still true when the
Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...
captured the city in 642
AD and became familiar with both the fruits and the oil. The
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
word for myrobola included not merely the fruit, but also the oil and the herbal oils extracted from it. That Arabic herbal oils usually included
myrrh resin, Indian
cardamom
Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indonesia. They are r ...
, and other types of cardamom lead to a common misunderstanding: Portuguese botanists who started exploring the Far East in the 16th century wasted years trying to find the tree that produced the fragrant myrobalan oil before they realized that it was just an extract of a plant which they already knew.
Europe
Another misunderstanding arose when a new Malaysian fruit reached
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
through the Arabs. The Europeans confused it with myrobalum and called the new fruits "myrobalans". The problem was only solved by simply renaming the old fruit, borrowing the Arabic ''bân'' for the new name. It was enough to separate the two products, but confusion was still common for several hundred years since both were used in medicines. Naturally the ben fruits of antiquity were not the same as the ben fruits of modern times.
Jamaica
Interest in ben oil in
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
began in the first half of the 19th century. The oil had a reputation for being extremely durable and was often used to lubricate fine mechanics (clocks, for example). In 1848, the oil was analyzed for the first time and a new type of saturated
fatty acid
In chemistry, particularly in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an unbranched chain of an even number of carbon atoms, ...
was found and was given the name
behenic acid
Behenic acid (also docosanoic acid) is a carboxylic acid, the saturated fatty acid with formula C21H43COOH. In appearance, it consists of white solid although impure samples appear yellowish.
Sources
At 9%, it is a major component of ben oil (or ...
.
Grasse
At the perfume manufactury in
Grasse
Grasse (; Provençal oc, Grassa in classical norm or in Mistralian norm ; traditional it, Grassa) is the only subprefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region on the French Riviera. In 2017, the c ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, ben oil was used as a maceration oil for herbal oil until it was replaced by cheaper types of oil, alcohol and newly invented solvent agents in the 1870s. In the 1930s it was again put to use, but was then again forgotten as a component of perfume making, probably mostly due to political turmoil in many European colonies. Ben oil was forgotten for much of the rest of the 20th century as a watch oil.
Modern use
Use in cosmetic skin care
The early 21st century has seen a resurgence in demand for ben oil, in large part due to its increasing use as a cosmetic oil or "beauty oil".
In the context of a currently increasing global demand for ben oil, a number of African and Caribbean countries with climates suitable to moringa cultivation have begun to produce the oil for export.
See also
*
Vegetable oil
Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or f ...
*
List of vegetable oils
Vegetable oils are triglycerides extracted from plants. Some of these oils have been part of human culture for millennia. Edible vegetable oils are used in food, both in cooking and as supplements. Many oils, edible and otherwise, are burned as ...
References
{{nofootnotes, date=March 2019
* Burkill, J. H. 1966. ''A Dictionary of Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula''. Art Printing Works, Kuala Lumpur. 2 vols.
* Duke, James A. 1983
''Handbook of Energy Crops'', ''Moringa oleifera''* Charles Knight. 1833. ''
The Library of Entertaining Knowledge
The ''Library of Entertaining Knowledge'' was founded by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge
The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK) was founded in London in 1826, mainly at the instigation of Whig MP Henry Brou ...
; Vegetable Substances: materials of manufactures''. 22, Ludgate Street, and 13, Pall-Mall East, London.
Cooking oils
Vegetable oils