Pioneering project hopes to unlock new uses for lemon verbena
Nutraceuticals company Monteloeder, which creates beauty-from-within ingredients and supplements such as Nutraingredients Awards’ finalist Zeropollution, is part of a pioneering new project to “move lemon verbena into a new phase of research, innovation and green initiatives.”
The Spanish company, which is part of Suannutra, has joined La Vera Campo Arañuelo Hub – an initiative that will bring the cultivation and production of its flagship botanical lemon verbena to Cáceres in Spain.
Here the botanical will serve as a key ingredient for research and agricultural innovation and will also replace the tobacco plants that were previously grown there, according to the business.
Revitalising the Spanish countryside
Lemon verbena – a South American plant that has been used for its multitude of benefits since ancient Inca times – has an extensive profile of bioactive compounds, including flavonoids, essential oils, triterpenes, and vitamins and minerals.
Monteloeder is one of seven companies taking part in the La Vera Campo Arañuelo Hub agronomical research campaign.
The business has been allocated a space for growing lemon verbena in the hub’s 1.6 hectares (4 acres) of land in the Cáceres countryside, which was previously used as tobacco fields.
The lemon verbena is set to grow alongside 14 other botanicals, including sage, hops, and lemon balm.
According to technical & operations director at Monteloeder, Fran Cremades, the project is “designed to both revitalise this strip of Spanish countryside and to foster the transition from cultivating tobacco to more functional medicinal plants.”
Cremades said it also will boost the surrounding communities by driving economic and rural development, adding: “We will work closely with the local farmers and share our specialised methods for sustainably cultivating organic verbena.”
Advancing scientific research into botanicals
The hub is designed to help agro-botanical companies join forces in advancing scientific research into the functional and medical properties of botanicals.
Under the programme, Monteloeder said it will explore new agricultural techniques, such as precision agriculture, to optimise cultivation practices.
It also plans to enhance its understanding of the agronomical and environmental conditions that are best for maximising yields, assessing factors such as humidity, pH, soil quality, irrigation levels.
Monteloeder has spent two decades working closely with lemon verbena to uncover its myriad benefits for wellbeing and determine the optimal methods for extraction. The company began studying the botanical in the early 2000’s during a research collaboration with a Spanish University.
Until now it has predominantly relied on sourcing it from small farmers in South America while supporting their local economies through sustainable agricultural practices. With this new project, it will establish a new cultivation source for the plant in Spain to bring the production closer to its HQ.
Under this project, it also hopes to “identify the parameters impacting leaf active content to develop strategies for ensuring maximum potency of its lemon verbena extracts.”
Cremades shared that the initiative will adopt environmentally responsible farming practices, such as avoiding fertilisers and pesticides, optimising water usage, and enhancing the soil health through carbon and mineral content recovery.
Monteloeder already uses a proprietary method of hydroalcoholic extraction of selected lemon verbena leaves, which it said "guarantees a rich and pure concentration of active compounds."
“Our goal is to keep unlocking new attributes of lemon verbena. For example, we will explore its capabilities as prebiotic, its contribution to glucose management, promotion of scalp health, mitigation of fatty liver, and more,” shared marketing director at Suannutra Ángeles Gutiérrez.
