CHINCHONA
A few years ago, I drew attention through my blog about how we consume.
At first, I wanted to highlight some of the irregularities. The latter sometimes stemmed from our lack of information, but also shortcuts on some products that we consume.
Having myself, unconsciously participated in these irregularities, I humbly wanted to share these warnings;
Whether it is about sugar and its "laternatives", whether on the use and purchase of rosewood, or cedar oil, the consequence of the massive use of palm oil, our way to consume inescapably consequences on the other side of the planet without us necessarily being aware of it.
Today, another subject leads me to raise the alarm signal on the risk of disappearance of a plant species:
:
DO YOU KNOW THE QUINQUINA TREE?
In this article, we will discuss the discovery and the massive exploitation of Quinquina, the phytotherapeutic virtues of Quinquina, the dangers and threats and the Quinquina in France.
All those who have traveled to Africa or tropical countries will see the parallelism with this medication that is prescribed to you, namely the QUININE.
The QUININE is indeed supposed to protect you against malaria and malaria fevers (you know these mosquitoes that sting you and transmit their disease causing fevers and diarrhea ... Yes I know, it's disgusting but call a cat, a cat ).
Well, quinine comes from this tree, QUINQUINA.
In fact, LE QUINQUINA refers not only to the tree and the bark. But we know Cinchona mainly for its bark.
It grows naturally in Peru, in the Andes cordillera in highland forests (1800 to 3000m) and at present, it is grown in Indonesia in Africa and South America.
If the pre-Columbian peoples of Peru, Colombia and Ecuador today were the first to use its bark to relieve fevers and pains, Europe, but more specifically the Jesuit missionaries, (The Jesuits named it besides "The powder of the Jesuits") discovered its virtues in 1631.
At that time, the success of QUINQUINA lies in the therapeutic qualities of its useful bark powder against malaria.
But a superficial approach and an approximate knowledge of this plant (the tree, its origin, its contents in actives, the modes of preparation of the bark and its commercial circuit) by all the European botanists do not allow an effective exploitation of its potentialities.
In the 17th century wild Quinquina was found exclusively in the Spanish colonies, such as PERU, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia.
It was not until the 18th century that expeditions were launched and allowed to recover some samples of cinchona. It will, therefore, be studied with more precision. In 1817, two French pharmacists were able to isolate quinine for the first time from barks of red cinchona. From then on, the quinine will be manufactured and sold around 1830 and will acquire all its fame.
To supply themselves in Quinquina, the Europeans draw mainly in the forests of Loja (Country of Ecuador but currently Peru). But growing demand contributed to the impoverishment of forests.
A statement already evoked by the Jesuits but which took even greater magnitude once, assets discovered and isolated.
The "Cascarilleros" (Indian bosses of the bark in the pay of companies or speculators) did not care much or were not yet sensitized to the renewal of resources.
Once again, the Jesuits try to sound the alarm and to counteract this scarcity, decree that for 1 cut tree, 5 cross-shaped shrubs should be planted. Although the idea was honorable, they never had the opportunity to put it into practice since they were expelled.
It was in 1882 that his exploitation reached such a level that we began to speak of over-exploitation.
Since the 19th century, Quinquina being already a very rare commodity and very expensive, the expeditions gave place to all sorts of Traffic and in anachronistic way, the traceability of the product left to be desired.
The plant, from its course of the Andean forests, to the shops of doctors or apothecaries, brought in several intermediaries and at the same time, many fraudsters, because of its rarity and its dearness.
1882 was the sad year when the number of 10,000 tons was reached, and inevitable corollary, the scarcity of this plant material, forced the Europeans to plant these trees in other parts of the world
We then went from wild cinchona to plantation quinquina.
England then the Netherlands develop large plantations of cinchona tree in their colonies of India and Java:
England introduced the red cinchona (Cinchona succiruba) successfully to Ceylon. Then the Dutch succeeded in supplanting English production by cultivating in Java yellow cinchona (known at the time as Cinchona ledgeriana) whose bark is very rich in quinine.
The French tried to implant the culture of cinchona in Indochina. From 1925, we began to plant cinchona in Congo.
Unfortunately, apart from its original region, cinchona produced much less quinine.
In the years between the wars, the latter will provide about 90% of the world production of cinchona bark.
In 1940, Nazi Germany destroyed the stocks during the bombing of Amsterdam.
In the years 1950-1960, a product of synthesis, chloroquine (nivaquine), with very low manufacturing cost, will replace the quinine of extraction in the developed countries.
Cultivation has continued in Indonesia and has been introduced in West Africa (Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Ivory Coast).
Today, the main producers and exporters of Quinquinas are Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Synthetic antimalarials supplant the extraction of quinine and many soft drinks with quinine are marketed as SCHWEPPES.
PHYTOTHERAPIC VIRTUES OF QUINQUINA:
It helps to treat wounds and various wounds: thanks to the tannins contained in the bark reduced to powder, it has an antiseptic and healing power.
It has anti-inflammatory and diuretic properties.
Fébrifuges properties
It is a very good tonic and a conditioner, it makes it more resistant to diseases.
It can help with hair care (against irritated scalp and dandruff).
It stimulates the body and increases appetite, it is recommended for sick people, even anorexic, etc.
Used as a gargle, Quinquina relieves irritation and throat infections
It relieves cramps and pains of arthritis
It is antimalarial.
Cf: The Quinquina of Australia comes from India and is called the Alstonia
SOME RECIPES
Cinchona wine against obesity: Take for 1 month, 1 day on 2, two hours before breakfast, 1 glass of wine with 1 tsp. coffee powder cinchona.
Cinchona wine: 20 g of bark to macerate for 3 days in 1 liter of sweet white wine. Skip and take ½ glass, 2 times a day before meals.
Aphrodisiac: Marinate 40 g of cinchona bark in 100 g of alcohol at 60 ° C for 1 day and 1 night. Then add the preparation to 1 liter of wine either white or red. Let macerate for 12 days, shaking each day. Filter. Drink 1 shot glass before each meal.
Infusion or maceration: 20 g for 1 liter of water, drink well sweet 1 half an hour before meals.
Washing of wounds: 20 to 40 g for 1 liter of water
AND TODAY ?
Peru has more than 20 to 29 species of Cinchona but only 3 are used
Quinquina gris (Cinchona officinalis): difficult to cultivate, due to deforestation, soil degradation, repeated burns to plant instead of coffee plantations or other crops. and agricultural pressure, it is still the best.
It is also this tree that appears on the national coat of arms thanks to Simon Bolivar
Red cinchona is often considered to be an invasive plant especially in the Caribbean. However, it is very rich in quinine and has other very interesting assets such as phenols and anthraquinones, reputed to be repellent to animals
Yellow cinchona is also rich in cinchona and easy to grow.
In Peru, QUINQUINA is part of ANGOSTURA, a particularly bitter but very famous alcohol in Peru as it is used to prepare the national cocktail, PISCO SOUR.
But to date, more has been done to protect, promote and study this plant.
One of the reasons for its extinction is that this tree is not evaluated at its fair value and unfortunately does not attract the interest of the Peruvian authorities to take the appropriate measures.
Despite the multiplication of calls from specialists to solicit funds from the various authorities to keep them, these calls remain a dead letter. After deforestation, overexploitation, lack of knowledge, burning techniques to integrate coffee plantations, disinterest seems to condemn this national tree of Peru to extinction.
AND FRENCH SIDE?
DUBONNET brand, does that tell you anything?
Although Dubonnet is now a forgotten drink, Dubonnet was invented to treat patients suffering from malaria in North Africa. It is the chemist Joseph Dubonnet (1818-1871) who composes this quinine-based drink made from cinchona.
If the drink is febrifuge and antimalarial it has a strong taste of bitterness which displeases strongly. To soften his taste, Dubonnet adds herbs and spices, making this vermouth a popular drink. It is no longer intended only for legionaries but is also served in bars and cafes. Nevertheless, Dubonnet has not been able to renew itself and tastes change. At the time of whiskeys and vodkas, vermouths no longer seem to have their place and if so, others have supplanted the mark of Dubonnet, like Martini.
Although Dubonnet was able to mark the spirits by his posters and his advertising, The latter did not know how to make his turn and has disappeared from the stalls and screens.
