Ceylon Cinnamon Bark Oil

#### Cinnamon Bark Oil. True **“Ceylon”**** ****Cinnamon**** ****Bark**** ****Oil**** **is steam distilled, occasionally water-distilled, from the dried innerbark of the shoots of coppiced, cultivated bushes (would-be trees) of **Cinnamomum**** ****Zeylanicum, **preferably the variety grown in Ceylon. The cinnamon tree is a native of East India and Indonesia, and grows wild in Ceylon, India, Burma, Indochina, and on several of the islands of the Indonesian archipelago. In most of these areas the tree is cultivated for the purpose of producing cinnamon bark. Climatic conditions, soil conditions, pruning or coppicing of the trees, curing (scraping) of the bark, and the age of the trees (bushes) strongly affect the quality of the cinnamon bark. The essential oil of the bark was not distilled in its countries of origin until quite recently when distillation commenced in Ceylon, the Seychelles, and in India and Indochina. The best grades of cinnamon bark oil are still produced in Europe and in the U.S.A. Distillation technique and knowledge of the botanical raw material play paramount roles in the production of really outstanding qualities of cinnamon bark oil (and many other spice oils). Many of these spices, and the above in particular, contain volatile aromatic materials which are more or less soluble in water. Native distillers in the growing regions and inexperienced European and American distillers frequently overlook this very important problem which can be solved only through extraction of the distillation waters (cohobation is not sufficient), and by subsequent addition of the evaporated extract from the distillation waters to the water- distilled oil. Olfactory and organoleptic tests show that such “complete” oils outperform any ordinarily distilled cinnamon bark oil by far. **Cinnamon**** ****Bark**** ****Oil**** **“Ceylon” is a pale yellow to dark yellow or brownish-yellow, somewhat oily liquid of extremely powerful, diffusive, warm- spicy, sweet and tenacious odor. The undertone and dryout notes reveal a persistent dryness which is very unique in combination with the distinct sweetness. Characteristic is a dry powdery-dusty, but warm, uniform and lasting dry-out note. In the very first topnotes, one may find a certain fruity freshness, similar to the sweet candy-like freshness in a good clove bud oil. The flavor is distinctly sweet and spicy, and a correctly produced oil will show a tremendous flavor power, five or ten times stronger than ordinary grade cinnamon bark oils (“commercial” quality or “pharmacopoeia-grade”). The main constituents of Ceylon cinnamon bark oil are cinnamic aldehyde, eugenol, aceteugenol, and trace amounts of various aldehydes. Together with methyl-n-amyl ketone, the latter are probably responsible for the power and the characteristic notes in *good** *oils. As in clove bud oil, the content of aceteugenol in cinnamon bark oil may be dependent upon the method of distillation. Steam distillation will decompose most of the aceteugenol. Water distillation is less detrimental to the natural aromatics in the bark. Thus, an **Oleoresin of**** ****Cinnamon Bark **would more truly represent the natural aromatic constituents in a concentrated form. **Ceylon**** ****Cinnamon**** ****Bark Oil**** **is used extensively in flavors for food and candy, baked goods and beverages, pharmaceutical and dental preparations, mouth rinses, gargles, etc. where smaller amounts give pleasant bouquets to peppermint type flavors, while larger concentrations of cinnamon bark oil exert an antiseptic affect. Tinctures and infusions of Ceylon cinnamon bark have been used for centuries as germicidal gargles etc., and the essential oil ranks among the most powerful of all known natural antiseptics. From available literature, publications, etc., it appears that cinnamon bark oil is far more effective than cassia oil and clove oil. If this is correct, we do not know yet what causes cinnamon bark oil to be such a powerful germicide, unless the explanation can be found in the combination of eugenol and cinnamic aldehyde and perhaps certain substances with a synergistic effect in this respect. In perfumery, the oil blends well with Oriental- woody notes, and the combination with olibanum is known and often utilized. The warmth and dry spiciness, the immediate sweetness and tremendous diffusive power (or “radiation”) induced by the addition of fractions of one percent of this oil in a perfume composition, is highly appreciated by certain perfumers. The oil is even more interesting for the flavorists, since cinnamon flavor ranks among the most popular and generally applicable flavors. The oil has a magnificent masking power, and is frequently used in flavors for pharmaceutical purposes where an unpleasant medicinal taste is a common problem. The combination with sweet orange, lime oil, cola extract and de-cocainized coca-extract, the cinnamon flavor is an important part of the Coca-Cola type flavor complex. The cinnamon note is even more pronounced in. the Pepsi-Cola type. An average use-level for the cinnamon bark oil would be about 0.30 to 0.80 mg°/ (where a distinct cinnamon flavor is wanted) while the Minimum Perceptible is 0.05 to 0.10 mg%. The author wants to emphasize that these figures are based on experiments with exceptionally fine cinnamon bark oil from one English distiller (expert in spice oils) and one French distiller. As a comparison, similar experiments were carried out with various “ordinary, commercial grades” of oils, labelled “cinnamon bark oil” or “Ceylon cinnamon bark oil”. The figures for these oils were as follows: average use-level: 1.50 to 2.50 mg%, and **Minimum Perceptible**: 0.60 to 0.90 mg%. The effect of the high-grade oils is about five to ten times higher than that of the “commercial grades”. For the sake of completeness it should be mentioned that the high grade oils were about two to two-and- one-half times as expensive as the ordinary grades. Which still leaves everything in favor of using a very high grade of cinnamon bark oil. Since the main constituents of cinnamon bark oil are very common low-cost materials which are partly available as synthetic chemicals (partly isolated from inexpensive essential oils), it is not surprising that **Cinnamon Bark Oil **(Ceylon) is very frequently adulterated or “cut”. A knowledge of the market price of cinnamon bark will enable the buyer of cinnamon bark oil to calculate roughly the cost of the essential oil: 120 to 150 times the price of choice bark material (not necessarily the best-looking material). Add to this a reasonable overhead for distillation, etc., and you can be sure that any oil which is offered significantly below this cost is adulterated or “cut”. A high price is, of course, no indication that you have a genuine oil. Olfactory and organoleptic tests will usually reveal the actual value of the oil. Cinnamon leaf oil, canella bark oil, clove leaf oil, eugenol, cinnamic aldehyde, etc. are the most common additives. True Ceylon **Cinnamon**** ****Bark**** ****Oil**** **is produced on a limited scale only. The production is steadily increasing, and is estimated at a figure of between five and ten metric tons annually. By far, the majority is European distilled. The oil produced in the Seychelle islands from the Ceylon type of cinnamon bark is somewhat different from the “true” Ceylon cinnamon bark oil. The odor of the Seychelles oil is harsher, probably due to camphene and other terpenes, and to camphor which has not yet been identified in the bark oil from cultivated Ceylon cinnamon bark. In the Seychelles, wild trees are used since the cinnamon tree grows all over the islands’ 100 square kilometres, thanks to the talking mynah bird (the East Indian acridotheres tristis) who has chosen the cinnamon fruits as its favorite dish. The islanders benefit from this activity in their “Garden of Eden”, as the Seychelles are generally named. It is, furthermore, the only area at the world where white people and their descendants, down through the centuries, have lived and valued around all day without any sort of footwear. Indeed an interesting place! As mentioned above, the label “cinnamon oil” or “cinnamon oil Ceylon” or “cinnamon bark oil”, often encountered in price lists and market reports, does not specify the quality of the oil; it is not surprising then to see **Cinnamon Oil **offered at prices of from $16.— per kilo up to more than $200.— per kilo. Occasionally, even artificial cassia leaf oil is offered under the **Cinnamon Oil **label, with the addition of some Pharmacopoeias’s name. “Ultrasonic” extracts of cinnamon bark (Ceylon) are known and used in flavors.