Grant: Engage Grants Program

Summer savory (Satureja hortensis L) is a popular aromatic culinary herb widely used as an herbal ingredient and even as a food preservative in many parts of the world, particularly, Eastern Europe and America. Traditionally, summer savory has also been used in medicinal treatments of cardiovascular disease, thrombosis, muscle pain, stomach and intestinal disorders and as an anti-inflammatory agent for nasal infections. Farmer John Herbs Company, Canning, NS, grows and markets summer savory from their own John Lohr Farm as summer savory, spice blends and other products into some 150 stores in Atlantic Canada. Their objective and support for this project is to find alternate and marketable use for an estimated 60t/year of primary and secondary stem biomass which is annually discarded with a cost for disposal, but could be saved and used to develop new products that may make money for the company. The intent is to develop an essential oil extract and also a tisane-like value-added product from secondary stem material. An important benefit from summer savory leaf material is the presence of essential oils (notably carvacrol), with important phenolic compounds, monoterpenes and other components which have antibacterial, antioxidant and antifungal capacity. A high yielding, cost-effective extraction of essential oil from different parts of the summer savory plant may provide an important value-added product for the Company. This proposed project will determine the yield, composition, potential uses and marketability of essential oil and tisane-like new products derived from secondary stem material grown by Farmer John Herbs Company. A mass balance and cost benefit analysis will be conducted and information shared by networking with potential buyers and brokers in the Atlantic region. It is anticipated this project will bring additional economic benefit and promote the health impacts of summer savory to Canadian consumers.