Cinnamon information

The name cinnamon refers to the tropical evergreen tree as well as the bark that is extracted from the plant. Cinnamon is known as cannelle in French; ceylonzeimt/kaneel in German; cannella in Italian; canela in Spanish, yook gway in Chinese, dal-chini in Hindi and kurunda in Sinhalese. Cinnamon spice is obtained by drying the central part of the bark and is marketed as quills or powder. The production of cinnamon is mostly limited to the wettest lowland areas of Southeast Asia. Cinnamon is cultivated up to an altitude of 500 metres above mean sea level where the mean temperature is 27°C and annual rainfall is 2000-2400 mm. It prefers sandy soil enriched with organic matter. Cinnamon is classified in the botanical division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Magnoliales and family Lauraceae. The tree grows to a height of 7 to 10 m in its wild state and has deeply veined ovate leaves that are dark green on top and lighter green underneath. Both bark and leaves are aromatic. It has small yellowish-white flowers with a disagreeable odour and bears dark purple berries.

The genus Cinnamomum has 250 species and many of them are aromatic and flavouring. In many instances, very little distinction is made between the bark of Cinnamomum verum (syn. C. zeylanicum, true cinnamon) and Cinnamomum cassia (Chinese cinnamon). C. verum provides cinnamon bark of the finest quality and oil of cinnamon whereas C. cassia provides cassia bark and oil of cassia (also known as oil of cinnamon). Cassia was used in China long before the introduction of true cinnamon but is now considered an inferior substitute. There are still other species of Cinnamomum which are often traded as cinnamon or cassia.

Cinnamon as a spice dates back in Chinese writings to 4000 BC. The botanical name Cinnamomum is derived from the Hebraic and Arabic term amomon, meaning fragrant spice plant. Cinnamon is referred to in the Old Testament and in Sanskrit writings. In ancient Egypt, cinnamon was used medicinally, as a flavouring and in embalming. The spice was highly prized by the Greeks and Romans. It was one of the spices which sent Columbus west to discover the eastern Spice Islands. It was the same search for spices that led Vasco da Gama to round the Cape of Good Hope and reach the Malabar Coast of India in 1498. The Portuguese invaded Sri Lanka immediately after reaching India in 1536 mainly for cinnamon.

Both Herodotus in the fifth century BC and Theophrastus in the fourth century BC believed that cinnamon and cassia came from the neighbourhood of Arabia. Cinnamomum zeylanicum, is reported to have originated in Sri Lanka and the Malabar coast of India.1 C. cassia is reported to have originated in South-East China.

A lot of confusion exists between cinnamon and cassia. While cinnamon and cassia are not precisely the same, they are closely related and the bark of the two is not all that different. It may be a surprise to many to know that what is sold in American stores as cinnamon is mostly cassia. Cassia is thick, hard and has a flavour that is extremely bitter and burning with somewhat of a bite in the after taste. Cassia has a double curl when it dries, meaning that this is a spiral of dried bark, a small bit of relatively straight bark, then the other long edge spiral in the opposite direction. Ground cassia has very reddish brown colour. True cinnamon has but a single spiral curl and is almost papery, brittle, easily crushed or powdered. Its flavour is more subdued, less bitter and has a decidedly sweet finish in the after taste. Its smell is sweet and aromatic. The bark of cinnamon is pale yellowish brown.