[Sca-cooks] Aloeswood substitution

[Sayyeda al-Kaslaania]

Thank for that tidbit!

I found an article from the University of Minnesota discussing ways to 
make sustainable aloeswood, because most is not. That's actually a 
larger motivation for me to find a substitution. I did write to the lead 
researcher on that project, though, and asked if he knew a resource for 
sustainable food-grade aloeswood. I'll share what I learn.

Sayyeda al-Kaslaania

On 4/7/2011 1:43 PM, galefridus at optimum.net wrote:
> I've done some preliminary investigations into aloeswood as well -- I could not find an adequate description of the scent, but I found that the major components of aoeswood essential oil are a class of chemicals called sesquiterpenes.  For juniper berries, on the other hand, the major component is a monoterpene.  Thus, it seems that the chemical differences are significant enough to make it unlikely that juniper -- berries or gin -- would be a good substitute.
>
> But I could be wrong -- given the unbelievably high price of aloeswood (it could give saffron a run for the money), it would definitely be worth locating a substitute of some sort.
>
> -- Galefridus