Bgg Licorice Extracts
Licorice extract is a preparation of the root and stolon of Glycyrrhiza glabra, Glycyrrhiza uralensis or Glycyrrhiza inflata, perennial legumes of the Fabaceae family grown across the Mediterranean, Central Asia and northern China. The trade covers two quite different product families drawn from the same root, and a specification is meaningless without saying which is meant.
The first is the sweet fraction, based on glycyrrhizic acid, a triterpene saponin whose ammonium and monoammonium salts are many times sweeter than sucrose with a slow onset and a long, lingering, faintly salty finish. This fraction is used as a sweetener and flavour modifier and is the reason licorice appears in confectionery, tobacco and savoury seasoning work. The second is the flavonoid fraction, containing glabridin, licochalcone A, liquiritin and isoliquiritigenin, which carries no sweetness and is sold for antioxidant and skin brightening applications.
Products range from a dark brown to black hard block or paste in the traditional presentations, through free flowing spray dried powders, to off white purified salts. Glycyrrhizin and its salts are freely water soluble and stable to heat and to the acid conditions of a beverage, while the flavonoid grades are lipophilic and are dispersed in oil or with a solubiliser.
We source bulk Bgg Licorice Extracts from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Beijing. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
Please send the grade you need, the volume and your destination port, and we will come back with a solution and a price.
or call +86-21-6858 0751
- Function
- Plant extract
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Light brown to dark brown free flowing powder |
| Botanical Source | Glycyrrhiza glabra or Glycyrrhiza uralensis root and stolon |
| Odour and Taste | Characteristic licorice odour, persistently sweet |
| Identification | HPLC retention matching glycyrrhizic acid reference |
| Glycyrrhizic Acid | ≥ 20.0% (HPLC) |
| Water Soluble Matter | ≥ 95.0% |
| Particle Size | ≥ 95% through 80 mesh |
| Loss on Drying | ≤ 6.0% |
| Total Ash | ≤ 10.0% |
| pH (1% solution) | 4.5 to 6.5 |
| Residual Ethanol | ≤ 0.5% |
| Lead | ≤ 2.0 mg/kg |
| Arsenic | ≤ 1.0 mg/kg |
| Cadmium | ≤ 1.0 mg/kg |
| Total Plate Count | ≤ 10,000 cfu/g |
| Yeast and Mould | ≤ 500 cfu/g |
| Escherichia coli | Negative in 1 g |
| Salmonella | Negative in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
The sweet grades are quoted on glycyrrhizic acid by HPLC. Crude block extract sits around 8 to 15 percent, spray dried powder extract at 10 to 25 percent, and purified monoammonium glycyrrhizinate at 98 percent and above. Deglycyrrhizinated licorice, in which the saponin has been removed to leave the flavonoid and polysaccharide fraction, is a separate item traded on its residual glycyrrhizin limit rather than on a sweetness figure.
The flavonoid grades are quoted on glabridin, typically at 10, 20, 40 and 90 percent, or on licochalcone A where Glycyrrhiza inflata is the source. These are cosmetic and supplement items, produced by solvent extraction and chromatography rather than by the aqueous route used for the saponin. Alongside both families the trade offers licorice flavour concentrates and fluid extracts for beverage and confectionery use, specified on solids and glycyrrhizin rather than on a single marker. Organic certified root is available, and the botanical species is stated because glabridin is essentially confined to Glycyrrhiza glabra.
Applications
- Confectionery, where the sweet fraction supplies both the characteristic licorice flavour and part of the sweetness in pastilles and chews
- Savoury seasoning and soy sauce style systems, where glycyrrhizin rounds salt perception and extends sweetness
- Sugar reduced beverages, in which the salts modify the profile of high intensity sweeteners and mask their metallic finish
- Herbal infusion and instant tea blends, contributing sweetness without added sugar
- Throat lozenges and cough preparations, reflecting the root's long standing use for the upper respiratory tract
- Traditional Chinese formula preparations, in which licorice is the most frequently included harmonising herb
- Digestive supplements, using the deglycyrrhizinated grade where the saponin is to be avoided
- Skin brightening serums and creams, formulated around the glabridin standardised grades
- Tobacco casing and smokeless products, a long established outlet for the block and paste grades
China Manufacturers of Bgg Licorice Extracts
Top Bgg Licorice Extracts manufacturers in China.
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
In the United States, licorice and licorice derivatives, including glycyrrhiza extract, ammoniated glycyrrhizin and monoammonium glycyrrhizinate, are affirmed as generally recognised as safe under 21 CFR 184.1408 for use as flavouring agents, flavour enhancers and surface active agents in specified food categories, with defined maximum use levels by category. They are also recognised as flavouring materials by the Flavour and Extract Manufacturers Association. The Food and Drug Administration has issued consumer advice on black licorice consumption because of the effect of glycyrrhizin on potassium balance.
In the European Union licorice extract is used as a flavouring under the flavourings regulation rather than as a food additive, so it carries no E number. Union labelling rules require confectionery and beverages containing glycyrrhizic acid or its ammonium salt above defined thresholds to carry a statement identifying the presence of liquorice and, at higher levels, advising that people with high blood pressure avoid excessive consumption. Codex includes licorice among flavouring substances considered by JECFA, which has evaluated glycyrrhizinic acid, and Codex commodity standards reference licorice only through its use as a flavouring.
Manufacturing Process
Dried root and stolon are washed, cut and milled, then extracted with hot water in a counter current or multi stage batch system, which recovers glycyrrhizic acid, sugars and polysaccharide. The liquor is separated from the marc by pressing and decanting, screened and filtered. For the traditional block and paste grades the filtrate is concentrated in vacuum evaporators to a heavy syrup and either cast into blocks and cooled or spray dried to a powder, with no further purification.
Purified salts take the concentrate further. Acidifying the liquor precipitates crude glycyrrhizic acid, which is filtered off, washed, redissolved in ammoniacal ethanol and recrystallised, sometimes twice, to give monoammonium glycyrrhizinate. Deglycyrrhizinated licorice is made by removing the saponin from the aqueous extract on an adsorption resin or by repeated precipitation, then drying the remaining fraction. The flavonoid grades follow a different route entirely, extracting milled root with ethanol or ethyl acetate, concentrating, and purifying on a macroporous resin or by preparative chromatography before crystallisation and vacuum drying.
