Properties and potential of agarwood hydrosol as a drink: a review

Agarwood is resinous valuable heartwood of Aquilaria tree resulting from self–defence mechanism towards injuries or damages exerted on the tree. Agarwood essential oil is usually extracted through a process of hydrodistillation or steam distillation which is beneficial for commercial purposes such as perfumeries and cosmetics. Hydrosol, a byproduct of the process produced in abundance and underutilized particularly in the agarwood industry. Hydrosol of agarwood is an aromatic compound that is believed to have chemical properties similar to essential oils that consist of positive antioxidant activity and positive biological activity for living cells. Several studies on properties of hydrosol of agarwood show that it contained zero nutrient but varied with minerals in the appropriate proportion that safe for human consumption. Thus, this review was aimed to discuss the agarwood hydrosol processing methods, characteristics, antioxidants properties and its comparisons to other plants hydrosol that have been commercially used as human consumption as in flavoured and non-flavoured beverages