Cinnamon Oil

Origin & story

The oil comes from the bark and leaf of Cinnamomum verum (true or Ceylon cinnamon, family Lauraceae), native to Sri Lanka and still grown mainly there, with Madagascar, the Seychelles, Indonesia, China and Vietnam also contributing. The market also runs on cassia, a related species (Cinnamomum cassia, and in India the tejpat-type Cinnamomum tamala of the north-east), whose bark oil the trade calls cassia cinnamon oil or Oleum Cinnamomi. In the Western Ghats, cinnamon grows in the lower-elevation forests of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, though organised cultivation in India is small and largely confined to parts of Kerala.

How it’s made

Both oils are made by steam distillation, and some processors also use CO2 extraction. For bark oil the inner bark is scraped, chipped and distilled; for leaf oil the leaves and trimmings are charged direct. Leaf material is the abundant, low-cost feed and gives the bigger volume, while bark oil is the scarce, high-value fraction.

Sourcing & cultivation

Cinnamon is a hardy, mostly rainfed tree that does well from near sea level up to around 1,000 m, on sandy loam with good drainage, needing roughly 200 to 250 cm of rain and warm temperatures in the low-20s to low-30s Celsius. It is raised from seed, cuttings or air layering; ICAR-IISR (Kozhikode) has released the varieties Navashree and Nithyashree, and other released types include Konkan Tej for the Konkan and Yercaud-1 (YCD-1) for Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Plants are coppiced and side shoots harvested young, with the Kerala harvest running roughly September to November. Common problems to watch for include cinnamon leaf spot (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides), cinnamon butterfly and leaf miner.

Grades & quality

The single most important marker for bark oil is cinnamaldehyde content, which in bark oil is generally reported in the region of about 65 to 80 percent. Leaf oil is judged instead on eugenol, typically around 70 percent and above, which is why it reads clove-like. On the spice side that feeds distillation, the recognised grades are quills, quillings, featherings and chips.

Uses & applications

Bark oil goes into flavours for confectionery, bakery, beverages and liquors, and into fine fragrance and warm-spice perfumery. Leaf oil, being eugenol-rich, is used more as a lower-cost aroma material and as a feedstock where eugenol chemistry is wanted, overlapping with clove-type applications. Both are used as flavour and fragrance ingredients and in cleaning and personal-care scenting; described factually, this is a flavour, fragrance and food-industry oil, not a health remedy.

For buyers & the trade

India is a minor producer and a net importer on the cinnamon-cassia side: much of what enters the country is cassia, and a large share of imports comes from Vietnam, with Sri Lanka and Indonesia behind. A buyer should specify species (verum versus cassia) and the target chemistry up front, because "cinnamon oil" on an offer can mean high-cinnamaldehyde bark oil or high-eugenol leaf oil at very different prices. For genuine Western Ghats sourcing, Kerala and Tamil Nadu supply is real but limited, so treat South-Indian bark oil as a specialty rather than a bulk line.

Frequently asked