Cassia EO

Latin name :

Cinnamomum cassia

Botanical profile :

Chinese Cinnamon, also called cassia, corresponds to the bark of a tree of the Lauraceae family and the genus Cinnamomum.

Geographic origin :

The major producer of cassia is China, followed by Indonesia and South Vietnam.

Chemotypes :

There are more than 250 species of cinnamon trees throughout Southeast Asia, China and Australia. The perfume industry generally uses only two of those varieties of cinnamon:
Cinnamomum zeylanicum : Ceylon cinnamon EO. Leaves are extracted.
Cinnamomum cassia : Chinese cinnamon or Cassia EO. Leaves from this tree are not extracted for perfumery.
We can also distinguish Cinnamomum burmanni : Korintje cassia SFE and Cinnamomum tamala : Indian cinnamon, much less cultivated.
The difference between the two types of cinnamon lies in the way they are dried. Cassia dries forming two spirals, whereas Ceylon cinnamon forms thin layers of wood which crumble easily. The chinese variety is also darker and harder. Ceylon cinnamon has a more zesty and terpenic smell than the Chinese cinnamon, which contains more Cinnamaldehyde.

Extraction process :

Chinese cinnamon culture is comparable to the one of Ceylon. Wild cultivation is done in Indonesian and Chinese rainforests in majority. Many olfactive variations may occur according to the culture locations, the forests and even between trees of a same forest.
Cinnamon tree has a very easy to peel bark. Cultivators first take off the grey external bark of the tree. They peel it to remove the undesired dry parts, and keep the rest for drying and extraction. The rest of the tree is cut down to peel the internal parts of the tree. Shavings are then gathered on palets and brought to the plant for drying, using local animals. Strips are dried for a few days in the shade, to avoid the bark from burning. A double spiral is observed, making the difference with Ceylon cinnamon, for which the spiral is unique.
After drying, strips are extracted as they are, or slightly crushed to enhance the extraction yield. In a steam distillation tank, steam is injected under pressure to be condensed at the top of the column, to make the oil settle over the water. For a 5 to 8 hours extraction, the yield is in the order of 1 to 2%.
The distillation can be done on site, or directly by the companies that produces the essential oil, in Western Europe or in North America.
Cinnamon oleoresin can be obtained from the extraction of the bark with a volatile solvent. Using ethanol gives a yield of 10 to 12%, while using benzene leads to a yield of 2 to 4%.
Cassia essential oil is a major precursor for the extraction of natural Cinnamaldehyde.

Major Components :

Cinnamaldehyde (75-85%)
Ortho-Methoxycinnamaldehyde (5-10%)
Cinnamyl Acetate (≈2%)
Anisic Aldehyde (≈1%)
Benzaldehyde (≈1%)