Genipin ~ From Genipa Americana (jagua fruit)

Genipin is the phytochemical constiuent of jagua fruit, (and hence jagua products) that is responsible for creating the jagua stain. The higher the genipin content of the jagua fruit, the deeper the resulting stain produced by the jagua product will be. A higher genipin content is found in jagua fruit growing native within the biodiverse rainforest’s of Latin America, compared to that found in ‘jenipapo’ (common Brazilian name for the jagua fruit) which is cultivated in parts of Brazil. Although the fruiting trees are still the same species, it seems that the much larger fruit cultivated for the local food and beverage industry in Brazil contain less genipin in their unripe stages of growth.

• Genipin

Systematic Name(s):

• Cyclopenta(c)pyran-4-carboxylic acid, 1,4a-alpha,5,7a-alpha-tetrahydro-1-hydroxy-7-(hydroxymethyl)-, methyl ester

For research purposes it is always worth including as many names and synonyms as possible. Although for the most part jagua, genipa americana and genipin are used in key documentation. You may also want to research the many different common names for jagua too.

Substance Synonyms:

• Genipine
• Genipa
• Genipap