Hibiscus Extract

Hibiscus extract is made from the dried calyces of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. (Malvaceae) — roselle, karkade, sorrel, and in India lal ambari or gongura. The article is specifically the fleshy calyx that swells around the seed capsule after flowering, not the petal and not the leaf. Calyces are harvested, separated from the capsule, sun- or tunnel-dried, then extracted with water or ethanol–water; the concentrate is spray-dried to a deep red, freely water-soluble powder. The colour and the analytical handle are the same thing: the anthocyanins, dominated in this species by delphinidin-3-O-sambubioside and cyanidin-3-O-sambubioside. Total anthocyanin content is reported by pH-differential UV against cyanidin-3-O-glucoside chloride (C21H21ClO11, MW 484.84, CAS 7084-24-4). Dried calyx typically carries 0.3–2.4% total anthocyanins before processing, and Thovek supplies purified grades from 1% up to 25% by UV alongside native 4:1 to 10:1 ratio powders. Beyond the anthocyanins the calyx contributes a large organic-acid load — hibiscus acid, hydroxycitric, citric and malic acids — plus protocatechuic acid and mucilage polysaccharides, which is why hibiscus powders taste sharply sour and why published total-acid figures for market material scatter so widely. Formulators should plan around pH: the anthocyanin colour is brightest below about pH 3.5, shifts blue-grey and becomes noticeably less stable above pH 5, and degrades with heat, light and prolonged oxygen exposure. The powder is hygroscopic and should be resealed immediately after sampling. Where a spray-drying carrier is used, Thovek's default is maize-derived maltodextrin, declared on the specification and gluten-free; a wheat-derived carrier is available only on written request and changes the gluten declaration, so it is never substituted silently. The extract is vegan and vegetarian with no milk, egg, soy, fish, crustacean, gluten, peanut or tree-nut input. Hibiscus is also a botanical for which pyrrolizidine alkaloid carry-over from field weeds is a recognised trade concern, so screening against the sum of 21 regulated pyrrolizidine alkaloids plus the 14 co-eluting isomers named in Regulation (EU) 2023/915 is offered for EU-bound lots. Buyers use hibiscus across beverage, natural-colour and botanical supplement ranges; Thovek describes composition and food-technology function only and makes no therapeutic claim.