Five-Spice Essential Oil
Five-spice essential oil is a compounded flavour oil that reproduces the aroma of the Chinese five-spice blend in a single liquid, rather than a distillate of one botanical. It is made by blending the essential oils of the constituent spices, most commonly star anise, cassia or cinnamon, clove, fennel and Sichuan pepper, with ginger, white pepper and dried tangerine peel appearing in regional variants of the recipe.
Its aroma profile is therefore a composite of the marker compounds of its parts: anethole from star anise and fennel, cinnamaldehyde from cassia, eugenol from clove, and the citrus-floral terpenes of Sichuan pepper. The proportions are a formulation decision rather than a fixed natural ratio, so different producers offer noticeably different balances under the same name, and buyers work to a submitted sample as much as to a written specification.
The material is a pale to deep amber mobile liquid, practically insoluble in water and miscible with ethanol and vegetable oils. It carries the stability behaviour of its components: the anethole fraction can crystallise in cold storage and isomerise on exposure to light, while the aldehyde-rich cassia and clove fractions oxidise and darken. It is stored cool in filled containers under nitrogen, and is sold diluted in a vegetable oil carrier, as an emulsion or as a spray dried encapsulate where the application requires it.
We source bulk Five-Spice Essential Oil from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Chongqing. 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
- Essential oil
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Clear pale to deep amber mobile liquid |
| Odour and Flavour | Characteristic five-spice, conforming to retained standard |
| Composition | Blend of star anise, cassia, clove, fennel and Sichuan pepper oils |
| Chromatographic Profile | Conforms to reference fingerprint |
| trans-Anethole Content | Within declared range by gas chromatography |
| Cinnamaldehyde Content | Within declared range by gas chromatography |
| Specific Gravity (20 degrees Celsius) | 0.980 to 1.045 |
| Refractive Index (20 degrees Celsius) | 1.530 to 1.565 |
| Solubility in 90% Ethanol | Soluble in 3 volumes, clear solution |
| Acid Value | ≤ 3.0 mg KOH/g |
| Heavy Metals (as Pb) | ≤ 10 mg/kg |
| Lead | ≤ 2 mg/kg |
| Arsenic | ≤ 1 mg/kg |
| Pesticide Residues | Complies with destination market limits |
Common Markets Grades
This is a formulated product, so the grade is the recipe. Producers offer standard blends built to a house profile and custom blends matched to a customer sample, and the specification lists the component oils and a marker compound range for the dominant ones, typically anethole and cinnamaldehyde. Strength grades are common, with concentrated oil for industrial flavour compounding and diluted versions on a vegetable oil or propylene glycol carrier for direct use.
Blends made wholly from steam distilled essential oils are traded as natural flavouring preparations, while cheaper versions built partly from single aroma chemicals are a different regulatory article and must be described as such. Water-dispersible emulsions and encapsulated powders are used for beverage and dry seasoning use, and oleoresin-containing versions carry the non-volatile pungent and coloured fractions that a pure oil blend does not.
Applications
- Braising and red cooking stocks, where the blend replaces whole spice with a standardised aroma source that needs no straining
- Meat processing, in marinades, cured and roast meat seasoning, sausage and cha siu style products
- Instant noodle and convenience meal seasoning sachets and oil packets
- Savoury snack seasoning, applied on a topical carrier to crisps, nuts and extruded snacks
- Compound seasoning powders, where the oil is plated onto salt, maltodextrin or a starch carrier
- Prepared sauces and condiment pastes requiring a consistent five-spice character
- Roast duck, pork belly and other prepared deli items in chilled and frozen ranges
- Bakery and savoury pastry fillings in Chinese cooking
- Plant-based meat analogues, supplying the spice character these products depend on
China Manufacturers of Five-Spice Essential Oil
Top Five-Spice Essential Oil 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 a blend of this type is a natural flavour, and the framework for essential oils, oleoresins and natural extractives generally recognised as safe for their intended use in food under 21 CFR 182.20 covers each component oil, together with FEMA GRAS determinations for the individual flavouring substances. Foods flavoured with it are labelled as containing natural flavour. Where any component is a synthetic aroma chemical rather than a distilled oil, the labelling position changes and the product can no longer be described as natural.
In the European Union the blend is a mixture of natural flavouring preparations under Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008 on flavourings. That regulation also sets maximum levels for certain biologically active principles that occur naturally in botanicals of this group, including estragole from star anise and fennel and coumarin from cassia, so the finished blend is assessed against those limits rather than each oil being considered alone. No E number applies. Species identity documentation matters for the star anise and cassia components, since related species differ in safety profile and in composition.
Manufacturing Process
Production begins with the component essential oils, each steam distilled separately from its own botanical: star anise fruit, cassia bark or leaf, clove bud, fennel seed and Sichuan pepper pericarp. Each incoming oil is profiled by gas chromatography against a reference and released against its own specification, since the blend can only be as consistent as the parts.
Blending is carried out in stainless steel vessels under nitrogen. The oils are weighed to the formulation, mixed until homogeneous, and where a diluted grade is required a refined vegetable oil or a food grade solvent carrier is added at the same stage. The blend is filtered, allowed to stand to confirm no separation or crystallisation at storage temperature, then profiled by gas chromatography and assessed against a retained sensory standard before release. Emulsified and encapsulated forms are produced by homogenising the blend into a gum acacia or modified starch system and spray drying. Finished material is filled into lined drums under nitrogen and protected from light.
