EVALUATION OF THE YIELD AND PRESERVATIVE EFFECT OF

CINNAMON ESSENTIAL OIL (CINNAMOMUM ZEYLANICUM BLUME)

EXTRACTED FROM THE BARK FROM DIFFERENT ALTITUDES USING
THE HYDRODISTILATION METHOD ON A LABORATORY SCALE AND
THE APPLICATION IN A STRAWBERRY DRESSING
Ana Lucía García Juárez
analugarcia0@gmail.com
Estudiante de Ingeniería Química
Ing. Qca. Telma Maricela Cano Morales
telma.canomorales@hotmail.com
Profesora InvestigadoraTitular X
Sección Química Industrial
Centro de Investigaciones de Ingeniería

Ing. Qco. Mario José Mérida Meré

mj_meridamere@hotmail.com
Profesor Investigador/Escuela Ingeniería
Química/USAC
Jefe del laboratorio de Investigación de Extractos
Vegetales –LIEXVE-

SUMMARY
The objective of this research study is to evaluate the extractive performance, cinamaldehyde content,
density and antimicrobial effect of cinnamon essential oil (Cinnamomum zeylanicum Blume) on strawberry
dressing. Thus also determine the appropriate concentration of essential oil in the formulation and
evaluate by means of a triangular difference test whether there is significant difference in strawberry
dressing with the application of the extracted cinnamon essential oil

Vegetable raw material from the cinnamon bark (Cinnamomum zeylanicum Blume) from the municipality
of San Martín Jilotepeque and the municipality of San Antonio de Suchitepéquez, located at 1755 and 359
meters above sea level, respectively, was used. The essential oil of cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum
Blume) from the crust was obtained by the hydrodistilation method with an extraction time of 60, 90 and
120 minutes. In the physicochemical characterization of the essential oil, gas chromatography was
performed with coupling to mass spectrometry (GC-MS).

It was determined that for the essential oil of cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum Blume) the highest
extractive yield was 1.3664±0.0576 % obtained from the bark coming from the municipality of San Martín
Jilotepeque, corresponding to the longest extraction time. The highest cinamaldehyde content of
cinnamon essential oil (Cinnamomum zeylanicum Blume) obtained from the bark from the municipality of
San Martín Jilotepeque was 85.66 % corresponding to an extraction time of 90 minutes.

It was determined that there is a significant difference in microbial load by changing the concentrations of
cinnamon essential oil applied to strawberry dressing according to the time and altitude of origin. It was
also determined that there is no significant difference between strawberry dressing samples containing
cinnamon essential oil and dressing samples that do not contain cinnamon.

Keywords: essential oil, cinnamon, bark, altitudes, hydrodestillation, dressing, strawberry.

INTRODUCTION Essential oils have been used for food

Essential oils are mixtures of volatile
components, products of secondary metabolism
of plants of the same chemical family
(terpenoids), of very complex composition which
have a very intense aroma.
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preservation because of their antibacterial
properties, they need protection at the time of
preparation and subsequent storage. Food is
exposed to microorganisms that can put human
health at risk. Most foods consumed daily are
currently treated with large amounts of chemical
preservatives to extend the life of the food.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Figure 1. Extractive yield of cinnamon
essential oil (Cinnamomum
zeylanicum Blume) obtained from
bark from the municipality of San
Martín Jilotepeque (1755 ms.n.m)
and San Antonio Suchitepéquez In Figure 2, the content of cinamaldehyde is
(359 ms.n.m) found. It was obtained that the highest value
obtained from the content of cinamaldehyde in
the essential oil of cinnamon from San Martín
Jilotepeque was 85.66 % corresponding to the
extraction time of 90 minutes. With regard to the
essential oil of cinnamon obtained from the
cinnamon bark from the municipality of San
Antonio Suchitepéquez, the highest value
obtained was 81.02 % corresponding to the
extraction time of 120 minutes. A significant
difference can be observed between the content
Figure 1 shows the behavior of extractive
of cinamaldehyde in the essential oil of
yield based on extraction time, where extractive
cinnamon from San Martín Jilotepeque and San
yields were increased as extractive time
Antonio Suchitepéquez. Therefore, the highest
increased. a positive trend was obtained and a
value of the cinamaldehyde content of all
mathematical correlation of grade 2 for both
treatments was obtained in the essential oil from
altitudes was obtained using mathematical
San Martín Jilotepeque for a time of 90 minutes.
models.
A variance analysis was performed, where the
The highest extractive yield value for the
null hypothesis was accepted, indicating that
essential cinnamon oil obtained from the
with a 95% confidence level there is no
cinnamon bark from the municipality of San
significant difference in the cinamaldehyde
Martín Jilotepeque was 1.3664±0.0576 %
content as a function of time and so there is no
corresponding to the extraction time of 120
significant difference in the altitude from which it
minutes. In the case of the essential cinnamon
is derived.
oil obtained from the cinnamon bark from the
municipality of San Antonio Suchitepéquez, it
Figure 3. Density of cinnamon essential oil
was 1.2110±0.2404 % corresponding to the
(Cinnamomum zeylanicum
extraction time of 120 minutes.
Blume) obtained from bark from
the municipality of San Martín
An analysis of variance was carried out
Jilotepeque (1755 ms.n.m) y San
where the alternative hypothesis was accepted,
Antonio Suchitepéquez (359
indicating that with a confidence level of 95 %
ms.n.m)
there is a significant difference in the extractive
yield according to the time and that it does not
differ significantly in the altitude coming.

Figure 2. Cinamaldehyde content of

cinnamon essential oil
(Cinnamomum zeylanicum
Blume) obtained from bark from
the municipality of San Martín
Jilotepeque (1755 ms.n.m) and
San Antonio Suchitepéquez (359
ms.n.m)
In Figure 3 the measurements made can be
observed, the density of the essential oil is
between a range of 0.9472 to 1.1467 g/mL
2
depending on the extraction time and based on
the altitude of origin.
It can be observed that the highest density is that
of the essential oil of cinnamon from the
municipality of San Martín Jilotepeque and the
lesser that of San Antonio Suchitepéquez. The
density values obtained for the essential oil of
cinnamon from the municipality of San Martín
Jilotepeque and San Antonio Suchitepéquez
were 1.1467±0.1102 g/ml and 1.0239±0.0048
g/ml respectively for the extraction time of 120
minutes.
An analysis of variance was carried out which
determined that with a confidence level of 95 %
there is a significant difference between the
density of the essential oil of cinnamon
according to the altitude of origin.
Figure 4. Comparison of the antimicrobial
effect of cinnamon essential oil
(Cinnamomum zeylanicum
Blume) obtained from bark from
the municipality of San Martín
Jilotepeque (1755 ms.n.m) at
different concentrations by
means of NPM/g in strawberry
dressing sample depending on
time
In Figure 4, the antimicrobial effect of essential
cinnamon oil from the municipality of San Martín
Jilotepeque can be observed at different
concentrations, where strawberry dressing that
did not contain essential cinnamon oil, the result
shows an unsatisfactory value for total coliforms,
Fecal coliforms and Escherichia coli for day 0.
Likewise, when applying essential oil of
cinnamon to these concentrations, the decrease
of microorganisms can be observed, having a
satisfactory result. So it showed that strawberry
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dressing is free of microorganisms and will not
cause damage to the consumer.
Strawberry dressing without the application of
essential cinnamon oil It can be observed that
after 0, 4, 9 and 14 days the samples were
unsatisfactory as they presented high values of
microorganisms. On the other hand, strawberry
dressing with cinnamon essential oil with a
concentration of 0.5 and 0.75% can be observed
that the samples were acceptable in terms of the
parameters of the most likely number method
(NMP). Contrary to a concentration of 1 percent
of essential oil where it was determined that
these samples were satisfactory because the
range in which they were found did not exceed
1000 NMP/g, in other words, samples analyzed
with an essential oil concentration of 1% were
satisfactory.
Figure 5. Comparison of the antimicrobial
effect of cinnamon essential oil
(Cinnamomum zeylanicum
Blume) obtained from bark from
the municipality of San Antonio
Suchitepéquez (359 ms.n.m) at
different concentrations by
means of NPM/g in strawberry
dressing sample depending on
time
Figure 4 and 5 shows a comparison of the
antimicrobial effect of the essential cinnamon oil
from San Martín Jilotepeque and San Antonio
Suchitepéquez, and found that the essential
cinnamon oil decreased the microbial load and
preserved the strawberry dressing for 14 days.
Figure 6. Results obtained in the triangular
test for strawberry dressing with
the application for oil obtained
from the bark from the
municipality of San Martín
Jilotepeque (1755 ms.n.m)

Figure 7. Results obtained in the triangular
test for strawberry dressing with
the application of oil obtained
from the bark from the
municipality of San Antonio
Suchitepéquez (359 ms.n.m)
Figures 6 and 7 show the results obtained for the
triangular test. With respect to the dressing with
essential oil of cinnamon from San Martín
Jilotepeque it can be observed that 4 people
correctly detected the sample 927 because they
have a different sensory characteristic to the
others, however, based on figure 7, it was
determined with a 95 % confidence level that
there is no significant difference between the
strawberry dressing samples.
It can be said with a confidence level of 95 %
that there is no significant difference between the
strawberry dressing sample containing cinnamon
essential oil from San Antonio Suchitepéquez
and the dressing samples without essential
cinnamon oil.
CONCLUSIONS
1. The highest extractive yield of cinnamon
essential oil (Cinnamomum zeylanicum
Blume) from the municipality of San Martín
Jilotepeque was 1.3664±0.0576 %
corresponding to an extraction time of 120
minutes.
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2. The highest cinamaldehyde content of
cinnamon essential oil (Cinnamomum
zeylanicum Blume) from the municipality of
San Martín Jilotepeque was 85.66 %
corresponding to an extraction time of 90
minutes.
3. There is a significant difference in microbial
load by changing the concentrations of
cinnamon essential oil (Cinnamomum
zeylanicum Blume) applied to strawberry
dressing based on time and altitude of origin.
4. The optimal concentration of cinnamon
essential oil (Cinnamomum zeylanicum
Blume) extracted from the bark from the
municipality of San Martín Jilotepeque in the
strawberry dressing was 1%.
5. The optimal concentration of cinnamon
essential oil (Cinnamomum zeylanicum
Blume) extracted from the bark from the
municipality of San Antonio Suchitepéquez
in the strawberry dressing was 1%.
6. The consumer did not notice a significant
sensory difference in strawberry dressing
when the concentration of cinnamon
essential oil (Cinnamomum zeylanicum
Blume) from San Martín Jilotepeque was
1%.
7. The consumer did not notice a significant
sensory difference in strawberry dressing
when the concentration of cinnamon
essential oil (Cinnamomum zeylanicum
Blume) from San Antonio Suchitepéquez
was 1%.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Compare the extractive performance of
cinnamon essential oil (Cinnamomum
zeylanicum Blume) based on extraction
time at laboratory scale and pilot plant
scale.
2. To evaluate the antimicrobial effect of
cinnamon essential oil (Cinnamomum
zeylanicum Blume) on other food products
such as meat products, dairy products,
among others.
3. Carry out a study for the evaluation and
extraction of the cinnamon essential oil
 extracted from the leaves depending on the
extraction time at laboratory scale.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

TO GOD for giving me the strength and

confidence to believe in my dream and fight
to achieve it.
My parents by having trained me as the person
I am now, were constantly motivated to
achieve my dreams.
TO my brothers for being always present and
for their support.
TO my advisors for allowing me to prepare this
study.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Fonnegra, Ramiro. Medicinal plants
approved in Colombia. 2ª ed.
Colombia. University of Antioquia,
2007. 371p.

2. Ray, Bibek. Food microbiology basics. 4ª

edition. Spain: McGraw-Hill, 2010.
352p.

3. Ringulet, Jorge. Natural vegetable

products. First edition. Argentina:
Editorial of the university of the
Plant, 2013. 258p.

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Ana Lucía García Juárez
Estudiante de Ingeniería Química
Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala

Inga. Qca. Telma Maricela Cano Morales

Profesora Investigadora, Sección Química Industrial
DIRECTORA
Centro de Investigaciones de Ingeniería
Facultad de Ingeniería
Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala

Ing. Qco. Mario José Mérida Meré

Profesor Investigador, Escuela de Ingeniería Química/USAC
JEFE del Laboratorio de Investigación de
Extractos Vegetales-LIEXVE-, Sección Química Industrial
Centro de Investigaciones de Ingeniería
Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala