By Brad Haire
University of Georgia
TIFTON, Ga. — A cousin of camellias may become an alternative
crop for Georgia farmers who are strapped by the prices of more
conventional row crops, says a University of Georgia expert.
The plant is Camellia oleifera Abel. A woody cousin of a
favorite garden flower, it can be used to produce healthy
cooking oils, livestock feed, makeup and other products.
Tea Oil
“It’s more commonly known in other parts of the world, namely
China, as ‘tea oil camellia,’” said John Ruter, a UGA College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences horticulturist who has
been experimenting with the plant.
It grows into a large bush with white flowers, he said. Native
to China, it has been used there for more than a thousand years.
It’s been commercially grown there on large plantations since
1949. Chinese farmers keep them pruned to about 8 feet.
The crop is harvested in October and November. It requires a lot
of labor to pick the fruit, Ruter said. But Georgia farmers grow
other labor-intensive crops — vegetables, for instance.
About 14 percent of the Chinese population uses tea oil for
cooking. The oil is derived from the marble-sized seed the plant
produces. The seed’s oil content is about 50 percent.
Healthy and Tasty
“The oil can be compared to, and has a lot of the
characteristics of, olive oil,” Ruter said.
It tastes much like olive oil, maybe a little sweeter. The oil
is high in oleic acid. This healthy acid has been shown to
reduce cholesterol. Tea oil has a higher smoke-out temperature
than olive oil. Home and commercial cooks will like this, he
said.
You can do more than cook with it, though, Ruter said. From the
seed hulls, you can extract saponin, which is used to make
detergent and the foam for fire extinguishers. Triterpenoid
saponin from the camellia can improve the immune functions in
humans and animals, too.
Soaps, hair oil, rustproof oil, paint, lipstick, antiwrinkle
creams and fertilizer can all be made from extracts of the
camellia.
Most of the research on tea oil camellias comes from Chinese
sources. But Ruter is looking to change that. Due to funding
problems, China ended most of its tea oil research in 1990.
Last month, Ruter went to China to visit with tea oil experts
and scientists to learn how they grow the crop. The plant grows
in soils very much like those of the southeastern United States,
particularly Georgia.
“It should be very much adaptable to this area,” he said.
But finding the right species to do research on in the United
States proved to be a challenge.
Best Selection
Ruter found two plants at the U.S. National Arboretum in
Washington, D.C. He had another sent to him from a camellia
expert in North Carolina. And believe or not, he found another
growing in the backyard of a camellia enthusiast in Valdosta,
Ga.
Ruter is selecting plants from these four original seed sources
at the UGA Bamboo Farm and Coastal Gardens in Savannah, Ga., and
with a nursery grower in middle Georgia. He’s looking to develop
the best types of tea oil camellias to grow for this area of the
world.
But the process takes time. “We’re starting at ground zero,” he
said.
Ruter can see tea oil being sold on grocery store shelves along
with other oils.
A new oilseed cooperative has started in Georgia. It plans to
build a $55 million oil crushing and processing facility in
Claxton, Ga.
Through this facility, Georgia farmers could develop and market
their own Georgia-grown tea oil, Ruter said. And that could be
just the start for this multitalented crop in Georgia.
