Resumen :
En el mercado se pueden encontrar principalmente dos tipos de canela, Ceilán (Cinnamomum
verum o Cinnamomum zeylanicum) conocida como “canela verdadera” y la canela Cassia
(Cinnamomum cassia). En rama, ambas pueden diferenciarse fácilmente, sin embargo, en polvo
apenas se distinguen, siendo C. zeyl... Ver más
In the market it can be mainly found two types of cinnamon, Ceylon (Cinnamomum verum or
Cinnamomum zeylanicum) known as "true cinnamon" and Cassia cinnamon (Cinnamomum
cassia). In bark, both can be easily differentiated, however, in powder they are barely
distinguished, being C. zeylanicum often adulterated with C. cassia. The main difference between
the two types of cinnamon is their coumarin content and commercial price, with C. cassia having
a lower price and a higher coumarin content. The objective of this work has been to characterize
different cinnamon available in the Spanish market, comparing them with the pure cinnamon C.
cassia and C. zeylanicum. For this, different quality parameters have been analyzed: humidity,
water activity (aw), color, organic acids (OA), sugars, antioxidant activity (AA), content of total
phenols (CFT), and volatile compounds. The results showed that the humidity varied between 7-14.3% and the aw between 0.4-0.6. The CIELab color coordinates (L*, a* and b*) registered
values between 36.2-47.5, 8.5-16.2 and 25.2-32.3, respectively. The main OA were citric, malic,
succinic, propionic, and butyric, while the identified sugars were sucrose, glucose, and fructose.
The AA (ABTS • +, DPPH • and FRAP) ranged between 61.7-226.1, 880.3-950.4 and 52.7-273.5
mmol kg-1, respectively. The CFT varied between 14 and 138 g kg-1. Regarding volatiles, 52
compounds were identified, including monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, aldehydes, esters, phenols,
aromatic hydrocarbons, and ketones, the content of coumarin phenol ranged from 1.4-116 mg kg-
1. The great variability observed between the parameters studied demonstrates the need to mention
the type of cinnamon in the labeling of the final product.
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