It's actually the alcohol which breaks up the oil and the acid softens the seed coat - in my experience it shaves about 4 - 6 months off germination time particularly for stubborn passiflora. In the 'wild' it's months and months even years of rain with snow melt plus the freezing and thawing that leeches out the inhibitors and softens the seed coat before they will germinate. An interesting thing with some hard coat seeds, if planted immediately after ripening they come up quickly but start the dormancy cycle within a week or so producing the inhibitors. The Tacca genus is a good example.
