Common name: Cascarilla

Cascarilla is an essential-oil yielding shrub or small tree originating in the Caribbean and Central America. Its natural range extends from the Bahamas, through Hispaniola, Cuba and the Cayman Islands to Jamaica, and from Mexico, through Belize and Guatemala to El Salvador.

It occurs in wet and dry limestone forests and may form a shrub 1.5 to 3 m (5 to 10 ft) tall or a small tree up to 12 m (40 ft), depending on the growing conditions. The bark is pale grey or brown, smooth or sometimes slightly rough, and in the wetter parts of its range is mottled by lichens and mosses.

The leaves are elongated oval, 5 to 20 cm (2 to 8 in) long, rounded at the base and tip, dull green and alternately arranged at the ends of the branches. They remain on the plant throughout the year.

The flowers are small, white and borne in branched clusters arising at the ends of the branches. They bloom on and off throughout the year and are followed by small roundish fruit up to 1 cm (0.4 in) in diameter, green at first, becoming brown, dry and with three compartments enclosing longish seed.

Use

Cascarilla bark is the source of Cascarillin, a bitter principle with a long history of use as a flavouring agent by the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. It is also the source of an essential oil used in the fragrance industry.

The bark is relatively thick, pliable and easily cut and stripped from the trunk. It is then cleaned of any sapwood, dried in the sun or under shade, and bagged for transport to a processing facility, where it is either distilled into an essential oil, made into an aqueous extract or infused in alcohol to make a tincture.

The bark on steam distillation yields 1.5 to 3% of a commercially important essential oil traded as 'Cascarilla essential oil'.  It is a fluid, pale yellow to dark amber oil with a strong, woody, spicy, slightly peppery aroma that is long-lasting and reminds of nutmeg, cardamom, clove and thyme. Cascarilla oil is used as a fragrance component in perfumes, particularly oriental perfumes such as 'L'Origan' by Coty and men's fragrances and colognes and in scented soaps, creams and lotions. 

The flavour of the oil is strongly bitter yet pleasingly spicy. It is non-toxic in small amounts and is today used as a flavouring in alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, candy confectionery, baked goods, frozen dairy desserts and condiments. Well-known branded alcoholic drinks such as Campari and Vermouth derive part of their bitterness and flavour from Cascarilla, both from the extract and essential oil and from other botanicals such as Bitterwood (Picrasma excelsa).

The tree's natural adaptation to upland tropical areas and its small size has led to it being planted to shade coffee (Coffea arabica), particularly seedlings and young plants.

Climate

Grows naturally in sub-humid to humid subtropical and tropical lowland to mid-elevation climates, generally frost-free areas with annual lows of 16 to 25°C, annual highs of 25 to 35°C, annual rainfall of 800 to 2500 mm and a dry season of 8 months or less.

In Jamaica, Cascarilla occurs at elevations from near sea level up to 800 meters (2625 feet), in areas where the average low of the warmest month is 18°C (64°F) or above.

Growing

It is not commonly cultivated, with the bark harvested from mostly wild shrubs and trees. Its distribution suggests that it grows on a wide range of free-draining soils, including loam, sand and limestone or gravel, generally moderately acid to alkaline, with a pH in the 5.0 to 8.5 range.

Problem features

There does not appear to be any record of it anywhere as a weed or invasive species.

Books

• Adams, C. D. 1972, Flowering plants of Jamaica, University of the West Indies, Mona, Greater Kingston

• Arctander, S. 1960, Perfume and flavor materials of natural origin, Elizabeth, New Jersey

• Groom, N. 1997, The new perfume handbook, 2nd ed., Blackie Academic & Professional, London

• Guenther, E. & Althausen, D. 1948 to 1952, The essential oils (6 volumes), Van Nostrand Publishing, New York

• Khan, I. A. & Abourashed, E. A. 2010, Leung's encyclopedia of common natural ingredients : used in food, drugs and cosmetics, 3rd edition, Wiley Publishing, Hoboken, New Jersey

• Stewart, A. 2013, The drunken botanist : the plants that create the world's great drinks, 1st ed., Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, North Carolina