Cinnamomum burmannii decoction: a thickening and flavouring ingredient

Abstract

Cinnamon is a spice widely used as a flavouring agent in foodstuffs. Despite its commercial availability and low cost, C. burmannii aqueous extracts obtained by decoction originate high viscous solutions (1545 cP) when compared with C. verum (51 cP), preventing its broad use by food industry. Following the hypothesis that cinnamon polysaccharides are responsible for this viscosity, in this work, the hot water-soluble polysaccharides from C. burmannii were structurally characterized, using C. verum for comparison. The results showed that C. burmannii had a higher content of branched arabinoxylans in relation to C. verum. The hot water-soluble polysaccharides from C. verum comprised also glucans, arabinogalactans, and pectic polysaccharides. The partial mild acid-hydrolysis performed to C. burmannii allowed to reach a viscosity value near to the C. verum solutions, keeping the characteristic aroma profile of cinnamon by the predominance of cinnamaldehyde and other varietal compounds, namely mono and sesquiterpenoids. Therefore, C. burmannii can be used as flavouring and thickening agent, whereas low viscosity products can be obtained by a partial acid-hydrolysis, contributing to its wide application in food industry.