Ceylon Cinnamon EO

Latin name :

Cinnamomum zeylanicum

Botanical profile :

Cinnamon is the bark of the cinnamon tree, belonging to the Lauraceae family and the Cinnamomum genus.

Geographic origin :

Ceylon cinnamon trees grow at low altitudes in parts of Sri Lanka.

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 :

In Sri Lanka, 24,000 hectares of forest are planted with Ceylon cinnamon. In 2006, Sri Lanka produced 90% of Ceylon cinnamon worldwide.
The leaves and the bark are mature 12 to 18 months after the preceding harvest. From red to dark green, the colour of the leaves indicates the cinnamon maturity. The culture often takes place in May and November. The bark of the cinnamon tree is very friable and can easily be detached from the trunk by sliding a knife between the two parts. The older the tree, the greater the bark yield per hectare is important. After separating the trunk, the pieces of bark are stacked, pressed and dried overnight in the shade to avoid sunburns, for four to five days. In wet weather, the use of a desiccator may be necessary. The bark shrinks, browns and develops its olfactory potential. This is when cinnamon can be extracted by steaming. The extraction is practiced on the strips of bark as such or slightly crushed. After distillation, the essential oil is collected by decantation in a florentine vase. The quality of the essential oil depends on the part of the extracted trunk. Its quality is better if it is the center of the trunk. Corrections are made to standardize the quality of the essential oil.
The distillation can be done on site, or directly by the companies that produces the essential oil, in Western Europe or in North America. France is the largest importer of Sri Lanka cinnamon essential oil, followed by the United States.
Many olfactory variations can occur depending on crops, forests and even between trees in the same forest.
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%.

Major Components :

Cinnamaldehyde (70-80%)
Cinnamyl Acetate (≈5%)
Eugenol (≈2%)
Coumarin (≈2%)
Benzoic Aldehyde (≈1%)