Ceylon Cinnamon Extract
Ceylon cinnamon extract is a concentrate of the inner bark of Cinnamomum verum, also written Cinnamomum zeylanicum, a tree of the Lauraceae family cultivated principally in Sri Lanka. It is a different species from the cassia cinnamons of China, Indonesia and Vietnam, and the distinction is commercially and regulatorily significant rather than a matter of connoisseurship.
The difference that matters is coumarin. Cassia barks carry coumarin at levels high enough that several jurisdictions have set limits on cinnamon containing foods, while Cinnamomum verum contains it only in traces, which is the reason buyers specify Ceylon material and pay a premium for it. The aroma fraction is dominated by cinnamaldehyde, accompanied by eugenol, which is largely absent from cassia and gives Ceylon cinnamon its softer, more floral character, together with linalool and caryophyllene. The bark also carries A type proanthocyanidins and cinnamic acid derivatives, which are the markers used in supplement grades.
The extract is a brown powder in water and hydroalcoholic grades, a viscous brown oleoresin, or a pale to golden yellow essential oil. Powdered extracts disperse in water with some insoluble residue, while the oil and oleoresin are oil soluble and require emulsification for aqueous systems.
We source bulk Ceylon Cinnamon Extract from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Shaanxi. 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 fine powder |
| Botanical Source | Cinnamomum verum inner bark |
| Odour and Taste | Characteristic sweet, warm and faintly floral |
| Identification | HPLC and GC profile conforming to Cinnamomum verum reference |
| Extract Ratio | 10:1 (dried bark to extract) |
| Total Polyphenols | ≥ 10.0% (UV, as gallic acid) |
| Cinnamaldehyde | ≥ 1.0% (GC) |
| Coumarin | ≤ 50 mg/kg |
| Particle Size | ≥ 95% through 80 mesh |
| Loss on Drying | ≤ 5.0% |
| Total Ash | ≤ 6.0% |
| Residual Ethanol | ≤ 0.5% |
| Lead | ≤ 1.0 mg/kg |
| Arsenic | ≤ 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
Flavour grades are specified on volatile oil content and on cinnamaldehyde by gas chromatography. Bark essential oil runs at 55 to 75 percent cinnamaldehyde with a few percent eugenol, and is a separate item from leaf oil of the same species, which is eugenol dominant and quite different in use. Oleoresin is quoted on volatile oil per hundred grams alongside the same chromatographic profile.
Supplement grades are quoted differently, as ratio extracts at 4:1, 10:1 and 20:1, or standardised on polyphenols at 10 or 20 percent, or on type A proanthocyanidins where that is the formulation basis. Every specification for the category states a coumarin limit, since the whole commercial argument for Ceylon material rests on it, and buyers verify species identity chromatographically because ground bark from the two species is difficult to distinguish once milled. Powders are sold carrier free or on maltodextrin at 80 mesh, and organic certified material is widely available from Sri Lankan supply chains.
Applications
- Bakery products, where the extract or oleoresin gives an even cinnamon character without the specks of ground bark
- Confectionery and chewing gum, using the essential oil for a strong, clean cinnamaldehyde note
- Beverages including chai concentrates, mulled drink bases and flavoured coffee
- Dairy desserts, ice cream and yoghurt preparations, dosed as an emulsified flavour
- Savoury sauces and Middle Eastern and South Asian spice systems
- Capsule and tablet supplements, particularly blood sugar positioned formulations, where the low coumarin content is the selling argument
- Functional beverages and shot formats, using a water dispersible extract
- Oral care products, where cinnamaldehyde is a long established flavour for toothpaste and mouthwash
- Infant and children's food flavouring, where the coumarin limit of cassia would be restrictive
Brands Using Ceylon Cinnamon Extract
Widely-distributed consumer products that list Ceylon Cinnamon Extract on the ingredient label.
Brand names, product names and logos are the property of their owners. They appear here as published evidence that the ingredient is used, taken from the brand's own label or website. Their appearance is not an endorsement, and it does not mean the brand buys from us or from any manufacturer listed on this site.
China Manufacturers of Ceylon Cinnamon Extract
Top Ceylon Cinnamon 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, cinnamon is generally recognised as safe as a spice under 21 CFR 182.10, and the listing of essential oils, oleoresins and natural extractives of spices under 21 CFR 182.20 covers cinnamon bark oil and oleoresin. Cinnamon preparations are recognised flavouring materials of the Flavour and Extract Manufacturers Association. Cinnamon supplements are dietary ingredients under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act with manufacture under 21 CFR Part 111, and the Food and Drug Administration has issued advisories on lead contamination found in some ground cinnamon and cinnamon containing products, which has made heavy metal testing a routine expectation on the category.
In the European Union cinnamon extracts are flavouring preparations under the flavourings regulation rather than food additives, so no E number applies. Coumarin is not permitted to be added as such to food, and the Union sets maximum levels for coumarin in specified cinnamon containing foods including traditional and seasonal bakery wares, breakfast cereals and desserts, which is precisely why Cinnamomum verum is specified in place of cassia in many formulations. Codex addresses cinnamon through its spice commodity work and the flavourings framework, and JECFA has evaluated cinnamaldehyde and related flavouring substances within its flavouring groups.
Manufacturing Process
Bark is harvested from coppiced shoots, the outer bark is scraped away by hand and the inner bark is peeled off in strips, which curl as they dry into the quills characteristic of Ceylon cinnamon. Quills, quillings and the chips and featherings left from trimming all enter the extract trade, with the lower grades going to distillation and the better material to oleoresin and supplement extraction.
For essential oil the bark is milled and steam distilled, the vapours condensed, and the oil separated from the aqueous distillate in a decanter, then dried and filtered. Because cinnamaldehyde is denser than water and partly soluble in it, the aqueous distillate is cohobated or extracted to recover the dissolved fraction. For oleoresin the milled bark is extracted with ethanol or supercritical carbon dioxide in a battery of extractors, the miscella is desolventised in a falling film and then a thin film evaporator under vacuum, and the product is standardised on volatile oil. Supplement grades follow a water or hydroalcoholic route instead, with the liquor clarified, concentrated under vacuum, optionally purified on an adsorption resin, and spray dried onto a carrier.
