|
Note: All prices in US Dollars
|
|
ESSENTIAL OILS - From Wikipedia
An essential oil is any concentrated, hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants, which are called aromatic herbs or aromatic plants. They are also known as volatile or ethereal oils, or simply as the "oil of" the plant material from which they were extracted, such as oil of clove. The term essential indicates that the oil carries distinctive scent (essence) of the plant, not that it is an especially important or fundamental substance. Essential oils do not as a group need to have any specific chemical properties in common, beyond conveying characteristic fragrances. They are not to be confused with essential fatty acids.
Essential oils are generally extracted by distillation. Other processes include expression, or solvent extraction. They are used in perfumes and cosmetics, for flavoring food and drink, and for scenting incense and household cleaning products.
Various essential oils have been used medicinally at different periods in history. Medical applications proposed by those who sell medicinal oils range from skin treatments to remedies for cancer, and are often based on historical use of these oils for these purposes. Such claims are now subject to regulation in most countries, and have grown correspondingly more vague, to stay within these regulations.
Interest in essential oils has revived in recent decades, with the popularity of aromatherapy, a branch of alternative medicine which claims that the specific aromas carried by essential oils have curative effects. Oils are volatilized or diluted in a carrier oil and used in massage, or burned as incense, for example.
SHEA BUTTER - from Wikipedia
Shea nut butter is a slightly greenish or ivory-colored natural fat extracted from fruit of the shea tree by crushing and boiling. Shea butter is widely used in cosmetics as a moisturizer and an emollient. Shea butter is also edible. It is used as a cooking oil in West Africa, as well as sometimes being used in the chocolate industry as a substitute for cocoa butter.
The shea or karite tree, formerly Butryospermum paradoxum, is now called Vitellaria paradoxa. It produces its first fruit (which resemble large plums) when it is about 20 years old and reaches its full production when the tree is about 45 years old. It produces nuts for up to 200 years after reaching maturity. Many vernacular names are used for Vitellaria, which is a reflection of its extensive range of occurrence – nearly 5,000km from Senegal (west) to Uganda (east) across the African Continent. The nomenclature history and synonymy of the shea tree followed a very tortuous evolution since the oldest specimen was first collected by Mungo Park on May 26, 1797 before eventually arriving at the name vitellaria with subspecies paradoxa and nilotica. It usually grows to an average height of about 15m with profuse branches and a thick waxy and deeply fissured bark that makes it fire resistant. The shea tree grows naturally in the wild in the dry Savannah belt of West Africa from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east, and onto the foothills of the Ethiopian highlands. It occurs in 19 countries across the African continent, namely Benin, Ghana, Chad, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Cote D’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo Uganda, Zaire and Guinea.
In Ghana (FAO, 1988a), it occurs extensively in the Guinea savannah and less abundantly in the Sudan Savannah. The shea tree occurs over almost the entire area of Northern Ghana, over about 77,670 square kilometers in Western Dagomba, Southern Mamprusi, Western Gonja, Lawra, Tumu, Wa and Nanumba with Eastern Gonja having the densest stands. There is sparse shea tree cover found in Brong-Ahafo, Ashanti, and the Eastern and Volta regions in the south of the country.
Shea butter is known especially for its cosmetic properties as a moisturizer and emollient. It is also a known anti-inflammatory agent. Shea butter is marketed as being effective at treating the following conditions: fading scars, eczema, burns, rashes, acne, severely dry skin, blemishes, dark spots, skin discolorations, chapped lips, stretchmarks, wrinkles and in lessening the irritation of psoriasis. Shea butter provides natural UV sun protection, although the level of protection is extremely variable, ranging from none at all to approximately SPF 6. Sun-sensitive persons should not rely on shea butter for protection. Shea butter absorbs rapidly into the skin without leaving a greasy feeling.
Uses
Shea butter can be found in many high end moisturizing skin products. Shea butter is known for its skin softening effect. It is also used in hair conditioners to add and maintain moisture in dry brittle hair, in addition to revitalizing and preventing breakage.
Shea butter is in some indigenous ceremonies. Followers of the Holy Spirit Movement rebel group of Uganda smeared their bodies with shea butter in the belief that it would stop bullets.
Handcrafted shea butter is used in Togo, West Africa for ceremonies among the Fulani ethnic group.
Many carvers of djembe shells and other African drum shells use shea butter to condition the wood. Shea butter is also used to condition the goat or cow skin heads of these drums.
CANDLES - from Wikipedia
A close-up image of a candle showing the wick and the various regions of the flame. Note the truncated wick being consumed at the lower-right edge of the flame.
A candle is a light source that usually has an internal wick rising through the center of a column of solid fuel.
Prior to the mid 19th century, candles were frequently made from tallow (a byproduct of beef-fat rendering). Nowadays, fuel is nearly always some form of wax, with paraffin wax being the most common. Candles made from gel, soy, beeswax, and vegetable products are also available.
A candle manufacturer is traditionally known as a chandler. Various devices have been invented to secure candles into place, from simple tabletop candle holders, to elaborate chandeliers.
Prior to the candle being ignited, the wick is saturated with the fuel in its solid form. The heat of the match or other flame being used to light the candle first melts and then vaporizes a small amount of the fuel. Once vaporized, the fuel combines with oxygen in the atmosphere to form a flame. This flame then provides sufficient heat to keep the candle burning via a self-sustaining chain of events: the heat of the flame melts the top of the mass of solid fuel, the liquified fuel then moves upward through the wick via capillary action, and the liquified fuel is then vaporized to burn within the candle's flame.
The burning of the fuel takes place in several distinct regions (as evidenced by the various colors that can be seen within the candle's flame). Within the bluer, hot regions, hydrogen is being separated from the fuel and burned to form water vapor. The brighter, hotter, yellower part of the flame is the remaining carbon being oxidized to form carbon dioxide.
As the mass of the solid fuel is melted and consumed, the candle grows shorter. Portions of the wick that are not evaporating the liquid fuel are, ideally, consumed in the flame, limiting the exposed length of the wick and keeping the temperature and rate of fuel consumption even. Some wicks require manual trimming with scissors or a wick trimmer for even burning.
ALPHA-HYDROXY ACID - from Wikipedia
α-hydroxy acids, or alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs), are a class of chemical compounds that consist of a carboxylic acid substituted with a hydroxy group on the adjacent carbon. They may be either naturally occurring or synthetic. AHAs are well-known for their use in the cosmetics industry. They are often found in products claiming to reduce wrinkles or the signs of aging, and improve the overall look and feel of the skin. They are also used as chemical peels available in a dermatologist's office, beauty and health spas and home kits, which usually contain a lower concentration. Their effectiveness is documented. Several common AHAs include:
- Glycolic acid is the most widely used of out of the group and is usually manufactured from sugar cane. It is fairly well known and considered the most effective of the AHAs.
- Lactic acid, derived primarily from milk is considered to be milder and less irritating than glycolic acid, and is therefore considered ideal for those with sensitive skin. Its origins can be traced back to Cleopatra, who purportedly used sour milk on her skin.
- Citric acid from citrus fruits, malic acid from apples and pears and tartaric acid from grapes are not as common and their effectiveness is still not clear.
AHAs are generally safe when used on the skin as a cosmetic agent using the recommended dosage. The most common side-effects are mild skin irritations, redness and flaking. The severity usually depends on the pH and the concentration of the acid used. Chemical peels tend to have more severe side-effects including blistering, burning and skin discoloration, although they are usually mild and go away a day or two after treatment.
The FDA has also warned consumers that care should be taken when using AHAs after an industry-sponsored study found that they can increase photosensitivity to the sun.
THE ART OF AROMATHERAPY
For more than 6,000 years, The Greeks, Romans, and Ancient Egyptians have been using Essential oils for bathing, body massages, and for embalming their dead.
The modern era of aromatherapy started in 1930 when French chemist Rene Maurice Gattefosse used the term aromatherapy for the therapeutic use of essential oils. Fascinated by the benefits of Lavender oil, Gattefosse used it on his burned hand leaving it with no scars. Gattefosse then started studying other essential oils for their psychotherapeutic benefits. Later, during World War ll French army surgeon Dr. Jean Valnet used essential oils as antiseptics. Madame Marguerite Maury elevated aromatherapy as a holistic therapy. She started prescribing essential oils as a remedy for her patients. She also was credited with the modern use of essential oils in massage.
Essential Oils are aromatic essences extracted from plants, flowers, trees, fruits, bark, grasses and seeds with distinctive therapeutic, psychological, and physiological properties which improve and prevent illness. Today there more than 300 essential oils. Most of these oils have antiseptic properties; and antiviral, anti-inflammatory, pain-relieving, antidepressant and expectorant properties. Other aromatherapy oils are used for their stimulation, relaxation, improving digestion and diuretic properties. To benefit from these oils they should be pure, natural made from raw materials. Synthetically made oils do not share the same benefits.
Aromatherapy is one of the fastest growing fields in alternative medicine. Widely used in clinics, homes and hospitals for relief of pain and rehabilitation. Not only used for pain relief, Essential Oils also have a healing effect on mind and spirit. Once inhaled or applied to the skin, Essential Oils can promote calmness, hormonal balance, stress relief, rejuvenation and much more.
Please note: While we consider all of these statements to be true we do not claim to have medical knowledge and are not doctors. We make no claims at all as to the effects of essential oils used by anyone. Don’t apply the pure oils directly to the skin. They are much gentler mixed with a carrier oil. Please do not take internally without a doctor’s advice.
| The term saponification is the name given to the chemical reaction that occurs when a vegetable oil or animal fat is mixed with a strong alkali. The products of the reaction are two: soap and glycerin. Water is also present, but it does not enter into the chemical reaction. The water is only a vehicle for the alkali, which is otherwise a dry powder.
The name saponification literally means "soap making". The root word, "sapo", is Latin for soap. The Italian word for soap is sapone. Soap making as an art has its origins in ancient Babylon around 2500 - 2800 BC.
The oils used in modern handmade soap are carefully chosen by the soap maker for the character they impart to the final soap. Coconut oil creates lots of glycerin, makes big bubbly lather, and is very stable. Olive oil has natural antioxidants and its soap makes a creamier lather. Tallow, or rendered beef fat, makes a white, stately bar that is firm and creates abundant lather. Many other oils can be used, each one for a specific reason. Your soap maker will be glad to tell you which oils are used to make her or his soap.
The alkali used in modern soap is either potassium hydroxide, which is used to make soft soap or liquid soap because of its greater solubility, or sodium hydroxide, which is used to make bar soap. The common term for the alkali became simply "lye", which curiously is not short for alkali, but originated in the Anglo-Saxon language.
Soap made in cottages and on farms in earlier American times became known as "lye soap". That term is now pejorative and derogatory and denotes a harsh soap that would irritate your skin. The old soap got a bad name because it had an excessive amount of caustic. Weighing and measuring techniques were crude, and knowledge of soap chemistry was elementary or non-existent.
The true fact is that modern handcrafted soap, though necessarily made with lye to get true soap, has no lye in the final product. It has all been reacted with the oils to form soap and glycerin.
A curious fact about modern soap is that most common soap found in the grocery store made in mass-produced factories does have a small amount of excess alkali in it. Also, it has had all of its naturally-occurring glycerin removed so it can be sold as a separate commodity. Why? Greater profit. An important difference between most commercial soap and our Real Handmade soap is that the glycerin is left in Real Handmade Soap and thus it retains its natural moisturizing property.
~~Richard Hamner
|
SOYBEAN - from Wikipedia
The soybean (U.S.) or soya bean (UK) (Glycine max) is a species of legume native to East Asia. It is an annual plant that may vary in growth, habit, and height. It may grow prostrate, not growing higher than 20 cm (7.8 inches), or even up to 2 meters (6.5 feet) in height. The pods, stems, and leaves are covered with fine brown or gray pubescence. The leaves are trifoliolate, having 3 leaflets per leaf, and the leaflets are 6–15 cm (2–6 inches) long and 2–7 cm (1–3 inches) broad. The leaves fall before the seeds are mature. The small, inconspicuous, self-fertile flowers are borne in the axil of the leaf and are white, pink or purple. The fruit is a hairy pod that grows in clusters of 3–5, with each pod 3–8 cm (1–3 inches) long and usually containing 2–4 (rarely more) seeds 5–11 mm in diameter. Beans are classed as pulses whereas soybeans are classed as oilseeds. It is a versatile bean, having a diverse range of uses.Soybeans occur in various sizes, and in several hull or seed coat colors, including black, brown, blue, yellow, and mottled. The hull of the mature bean is hard, water resistant, and protects the cotyledon and hypocotyl (or "germ") from damage. If the seed coat is cracked the seed will not germinate. The scar, visible on the seed coat, is called the hilum (colors include black, brown, buff, gray and yellow) and at one end of the hilum is the micropyle, or small opening in the seed coat which can allow the absorption of water.Remarkably, seeds such as soybeans containing very high levels of protein can undergo desiccation yet survive and revive after water absorption. A. Carl Leopold, son of Aldo Leopold, began studying this capability at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell University in the mid 1980s. He found soybeans and corn to have a range of soluble carbohydrates protecting the seed's cell viability. Patents were awarded to him in the early 1990s on techniques for protecting "biological membranes" and proteins in the dry state. The oil and protein content together account for about 60% of dry soybeans by weight; protein at 40% and oil at 20%. The remainder consists of 35% carbohydrate and about 5% ash. Soybean cultivars comprise approximately 8% seed coat or hull, 90% cotyledons and 2% hypocotyl axis or germ.The majority of soy protein is a relatively heat-stable storage protein. This heat stability enables soy food products requiring high temperature cooking, such as tofu, soymilk and textured vegetable protein (soy flour) to be made.Since soluble soy carbohydrates are found mainly in the whey and are broken down during fermentation, soy concentrate, soy protein isolates, tofu, soy sauce, and sprouted soybeans are without flatus activity. On the other hand, there may be some beneficial effects to ingesting oligosaccharides such as raffinose and stachyose, namely, encouraging indigenous bifidobacteria in the colon against putrefactive bacteria. The insoluble carbohydrates in soybeans consist of the complex polysaccharides cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin. The majority of soybean carbohydrates can be classed as belonging to dietary fiber. Soybeans are an important global crop, providing oil and protein. The bulk of the crop is solvent-extracted for vegetable oil and then defatted soy meal is used for animal feed. A small proportion of the crop is consumed directly by humans. Soybean products do appear in a large variety of processed foods.Soybeans were a crucial crop in eastern Asia long before written records, and they remain a major crop in China, Japan, and Korea . Prior to fermented products such as soy sauce, tempeh, natto, and miso, soy was considered sacred for its use in crop rotation as a method of fixing nitrogen. The plants would be plowed under to clear the field for food crops Soy was first introduced to Europe in the early 1700s and the United States in 1765, where it was first grown for hay. Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter in 1770 mentioning sending soybeans home from England. Soybeans did not become an important crop outside of Asia until about 1910. In America, soy was considered an industrial product only and not utilized as a food prior to the 1920s. Soy was introduced in Africa from China in the late 19th Century and is now widespread across the continent.Cultivation is successful in climates with hot summers, with optimum growing conditions in mean temperatures of 20 °C to 30 °C (68°F to 86°F); temperatures of below 20 °C and over 40 °C (68 °F, 104 °F) retard growth significantly. They can grow in a wide range of soils, with optimum growth in moist alluvial soils with a good organic content. Modern crop cultivars generally reach a height of around 1 m (3 ft), and take 80–120 days from seeding to cultivation.
Environmental groups, such as Greenpeace and the WWF, have reported that both soybean cultivation and the probability of increased soybean cultivation in Brazil, has destroyed huge areas of Amazon rainforest and is encouraging further deforestation. American soil scientist Dr. Andrew McClung, who first showed that the infertile Cerrado region of Brazil could grow soybeans, was awarded the 2006 World Food Prize on October 19, 2006. The first research on soybeans in the United States was conducted by George Washington Carver at Tuskegee, Alabama, but he decided it was too exotic a crop for the poor black farmers of the South so he turned his attention to peanuts. According to the ancient Chinese, in 2853 BC the legendary Emperor Shennong of China named five sacred plants – soybeans, rice, wheat, barley, and millet. The origins of the soybean plant are obscure, but many botanists believe it to have derived from glycine ussuriensis, a legume native to central China.The soybean has been used in China for 5,000 years as a food and a component of medicines. Cultivation of the soybean, long confined chiefly to China, gradually spread to other countries. According to other sources, the earliest preserved soybeans were unearthed from archaeological sites in Korea. AMS radiocarbon dating on soybean recovered through flotation during excavations at the Early Mumun Period Okbang site in Korea indicates that soybean was cultivated as a food crop in ca. 1000–900 BC. The best current evidence on the Japanese Archipelago suggests that soybean cultivation occurred in the early Yayoi period.From about the first century AD to the Age of Discovery (15-16th century), soybeans were introduced into several countries such as Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Burma, Nepal and India. The spread of the soybean was due to the establishment of sea and land trade routes. The earliest Japanese textual reference to the soybean is in the classic Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters) which was completed in 712 AD.During World War II, soybeans became important in both North America and Europe chiefly as substitutes for other protein foods and as a source of edible oil. In the United States they are now a leading crop, and Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay also are significant soybean-exporting nations.Many people have claimed that soybeans in Asia, prior to modern times, were only used after a fermentation process, which alters the high increase in phytoestrogens found in the raw plant. However, this appears to be incorrect: Terms similar to "soy milk" have been in use since 82 AD, and there is evidence of tofu consumption that dates to 220 AD.Soybeans can be broadly classified as "vegetable" (garden) or field (oil) types. Vegetable types cook more easily, have a mild nutty flavor, better texture, are larger in size, higher in protein, and lower in oil than field types. Tofu and soymilk producers prefer the higher protein cultivars bred from vegetable soybeans originally brought to the United States in the late 1930s. The "garden" cultivars are generally not suitable for mechanical combine harvesting because they have a tendency for the pods to shatter on reaching maturity.Among the legumes, the soybean, also classed as an oilseed, is pre-eminent for its high (38–45%) protein content as well as its high (20%) oil content. Soybeans are the leading agricultural export in the United States. The bulk of the soybean crop is grown for oil production, with the high-protein defatted and "toasted" soy meal used as livestock feed. A smaller percentage of soybeans are used directly for human consumption.Immature soybeans may be boiled whole in their green pod and served with salt, under the Japanese name edamame. Soybeans prepared this way are a popular local snack in Hawaii, and are becoming increasingly popular in the continental United States. Because of the proclaimed health benefits of soy, edamame has been featured as an ideal snack alternative in fitness and healthy living magazines. Edamame is sold in the frozen vegetable section at some larger grocery stores, and as ready-to-eat snackfood in many Asian delis.The beans can be processed in a variety of ways. Common forms of soy (or soya) include soy meal, soy flour, soy milk, tofu, textured vegetable protein (TVP, which is made into a wide variety of vegetarian foods, some of them intended to imitate meat), tempeh, soy lecithin and soybean oil. Soybeans are also the primary ingredient involved in the productin of soy sauce.
In processing soybeans for oil extraction and subsequent soy flour production, selection of high quality, sound, clean, dehulled yellow soybeans is very important. Soybeans having a dark colored seed coat, or even beans with a dark hilum will inadvertently leave dark specks in the flour, are undesirable for use in commercial food products. All commercial soybeans in the United States are yellow or yellow brown.To produce soybean oil, the soybeans are cracked, adjusted for moisture content, rolled into flakes and solvent-extracted with commercial hexane. The oil is then refined, blended for different applications, and sometimes hydrogenated. Soybean oils, both liquid and partially hydrogenated, are exported abroad, sold as "vegetable oil," or end up in a wide variety of processed foods. The remaining soybean husks are used mainly as animal feed.Soybean oil has also been found effective as an insect repellent in some studies. The commercial product Bite Blocker contains soybean oil as one active ingredient. Processed soybeans are the primary ingredient in many imitation foods, including dairy products (e.g., margarine, soy ice cream, soy milk, soy yogurt, soy cheese and soy cream cheese), as well as Crisco, soybean oil, tofu, veggie burgers, soy crisps, among others. These products are derived from extensive processing to produce a texture and appearance similar to conventional foods (e.g., butter, ice cream, milk, yogurt, cheese, lard, olive oil, ground beef, potato chips, etc.) and are readily available in most supermarkets. Soy milk does not contain significant amounts of calcium, since the high calcium content of soybeans is bound to the insoluble constituents and remains in the pulp. Many manufacturers of soy milk now sell calcium-enriched products as well.Soybeans are also used in industrial products including oils, soap, cosmetics, resins, plastics, inks, crayons, solvents, clothing, and biodiesel. Soybeans are also used as fermenting stock to make a brand of vodka.Henry Ford promoted the soybean, helping to develop uses for it both in food and in industrial products, even demonstrating auto body panels made of soy-based plastics. Ford's interest led to two bushels of soybeans being used in each Ford car as well as products like the first commercial soy milk, ice cream and all-vegetable non-dairy whipped topping. The Ford development of so-called soy-based plastics was based on the addition of soybean flour and wood flour to phenolformaldehyde plastics. In 1931, Ford hired chemists Robert Boyer and Frank Calvert to produce artificial silk. They succeeded in making a textile fiber of spun soy protein fibers, hardened or tanned in a formaldehyde bath which was given the name Azlon by the Federal Trade Commission. Pilot production of Azlon reached 5000 pounds per day in 1940, but never reached the commercial market.Today, very high quality textile fibers are made commercially from "okara" (soy pulp), a by-product of tofu production.
|
|
Specials
|
|
![Testimonial](/account/images/quote.img?version=1"e.text=Testimonial&begin.fill.color=97ECAD"e.fill.color=575F5E&begin.font.size=150"e.font.size=18"e.text.wrappingwidth=130&stage.width.max=130&pid=1267815810358)
