Black Ginger Extract
Black ginger extract is a botanical concentrate prepared from the rhizome of Kaempferia parviflora, a member of the Zingiberaceae family native to Thailand, Laos and Myanmar and known in Thai as krachai dam. The plant is unrelated to common ginger in the culinary sense despite the shared family, and its rhizome flesh is a deep purple black, which gives the ingredient its name.
The characteristic constituents are methoxyflavones, a class rare among food plants. The compounds quantified in commerce are 5,7 dimethoxyflavone, 5,7,4' trimethoxyflavone and 3,5,7,3',4' pentamethoxyflavone, sometimes reported individually and sometimes as a total polymethoxyflavone figure. The methyl ethers make these flavones considerably more lipophilic than the glycosidic flavonoids of most botanicals, so the extract behaves like an oil soluble active rather than a water soluble one.
The commercial powder is brown to dark purplish brown with a warm, faintly spicy odour and a bitter taste. It disperses in water only as a suspension, dissolves in ethanol and in oils, and is stable to normal processing heat and to acid, the methoxy substitution making the flavones markedly more stable than their free hydroxyl counterparts. Where an aqueous product is required, the extract comes as a dispersion on a carrier or complexed with cyclodextrin.
We source bulk Black Ginger Extract from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Fujian. 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.
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- Function
- Plant extract
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Brown to dark purplish brown fine powder |
| Botanical Source | Kaempferia parviflora rhizome |
| Odour and Taste | Warm spicy odour, bitter |
| Identification | HPLC profile conforming to methoxyflavone reference |
| Total Methoxyflavones | ≥ 5.0% (HPLC) |
| 5,7-Dimethoxyflavone | ≥ 1.5% (HPLC) |
| Particle Size | ≥ 95% through 80 mesh |
| Loss on Drying | ≤ 5.0% |
| Total Ash | ≤ 5.0% |
| 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 trade quotes total methoxyflavones by HPLC, most commonly at 1.5, 2.5, 5 and 10 percent, with higher figures produced by additional purification and used where a small inclusion is needed. Ratio extracts at 10:1 and 20:1 without a marker claim sit below these and retain more of the rhizome's polysaccharide and pigment. A grade standardised specifically on 5,7 dimethoxyflavone is offered where that single compound is the formulation basis.
Beyond assay, lots divide on extraction solvent, since ethanol extracts carry a fuller methoxyflavone profile than water extracts, which recover very little of the lipophilic fraction. Powders are sold carrier free or on maltodextrin, at 80 mesh, with a water dispersible cyclodextrin complexed grade traded separately. Organic certified material is available from cultivated Thai supply. Because the genus contains several similar rhizomes and the purple flesh is the main visual identifier of an already milled material, buyers verify identity chromatographically rather than by appearance.
Applications
- Capsule and tablet supplements, the principal outlet, dosed on the declared methoxyflavone figure
- Sports and endurance products, where the extract is the differentiating botanical claim
- Male vitality formulations, reflecting the rhizome's traditional use in Thailand
- Energy and pre workout blends, combined with caffeine sources and amino acids
- Softgel and oil filled capsules, using the lipophilic character of the methoxyflavones
- Functional beverages and shots, using the cyclodextrin complexed grade so the actives stay dispersed
- Traditional Thai herbal preparations, including infusions and spirit macerations of the sliced rhizome
- Skin care formulations, added to the oil phase for its flavone content
- Weight management and metabolic support blends, formulated alongside green tea and capsicum extracts
China Manufacturers of Black Ginger Extract
Top Black Ginger Extract 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, Kaempferia parviflora rhizome and its extracts are marketed as dietary ingredients under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, with finished products manufactured under 21 CFR Part 111. Because the botanical was not widely present in the American food supply before 1994, suppliers have supported the ingredient with new dietary ingredient notifications, and specific black ginger extract preparations have also been the subject of generally recognised as safe determinations for defined food and beverage uses.
In the European Union the extract is not an authorised food additive, so no E number applies. Kaempferia parviflora has no established history of significant consumption within the Union before the novel food cut off date, which places the extract within the scope of the novel food regulation, and it requires authorisation before being placed on the Union market as a food or food supplement ingredient. Health claims for the species are unauthorised. Codex has no commodity standard for the ingredient and JECFA has issued no additive specification for it.
Manufacturing Process
Harvested rhizomes are washed free of soil, sliced and dried in warm air, then milled to a coarse powder that gives good solvent penetration. Extraction is by percolation or counter current contact with ethanol, typically at 70 to 95 percent, since the methoxyflavones are poorly recovered by water. Some producers use supercritical carbon dioxide instead, which gives a cleaner extract and avoids a solvent residue but at higher cost and lower throughput.
The extract liquor is separated from the spent rhizome, filtered, and concentrated under vacuum at low temperature with ethanol recovery. Where a defined assay is required the concentrate is passed over a macroporous adsorption resin, washed with dilute ethanol to strip sugars and pigment, and eluted with a stronger ethanol fraction that carries the methoxyflavones. The eluate is concentrated again and dried, by spray drying onto maltodextrin for a free flowing powder or by vacuum belt drying for a carrier free flake that is milled afterwards. The dried powder is sieved, assayed by HPLC, blended across sub lots to the declared figure and packed in double food grade liners inside fibre drums.
