Peppermint Extract

Peppermint Extract is made from the dried leaf of Mentha × piperita L. (Lamiaceae), the sterile hybrid of Mentha aquatica and Mentha spicata and the plant behind India's large mint-growing industry in the Uttar Pradesh terai. Leaf is graded and milled, extracted with water and food-grade ethanol under controlled temperature to protect the volatile fraction, then concentrated and spray-dried onto maize-derived maltodextrin. It is a distinct commercial article from peppermint essential oil and from crystalline menthol, and buyers should not treat the three as interchangeable: this is a dry, dosable powder for capsules, sachets and tablets rather than a volatile oil. Two standardisation routes are offered because two different buyers ask for different things. Flavour and sensory-led formulators specify the volatile route and set the powder on menthol (l-menthol, CAS 2216-51-5, C10H20O, MW 156.27), the constituent responsible for peppermint's cooling character; polyphenol-led formulators specify rosmarinic acid (CAS 20283-92-5, C18H16O8, MW 360.31), the caffeic acid ester that dominates the water-soluble phenolic fraction of mint leaf, measured by HPLC. Native 4:1 and 10:1 ratio grades are also supplied for traditional and monograph-style formulations. The pharmacopoeial anchor for the incoming leaf is Ph. Eur. peppermint leaf, which requires a minimum of 12 mL/kg essential oil in the whole drug and 9 mL/kg in the cut drug; we buy against that and report leaf oil content on the incoming raw-material certificate. The extract is plant-derived throughout: vegan and vegetarian, with no bovine, porcine, marine, dairy or egg input, and no animal-origin processing aids. It carries none of the declarable allergens — milk, egg, fish, crustacean, mollusc, soy, peanut, tree nut, sesame, mustard, lupin, celery or sulphites — and because the carrier is maize maltodextrin the powder is gluten-free. Material is non-GMO, non-irradiated and not ethylene-oxide treated. Documentation supplied with each consignment includes CoA with HPLC or GC standardisation data, heavy metals, pesticide residues to EU MRLs, full microbiology, allergen, GMO and BSE/TSE-free declarations, MSDS and certificate of origin; halal, kosher and organic certification available on request.