Cinnamomum verum

cinnamon • Ceylon cinnamon

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Cinnamomum verum J. Presl (= C. zeylanicum Blume) (Lauraceae); kaneel (Afrikaans); dar cini (Arabic); xi lan rou gui (Chinese); canelle de Ceylan (French); kanéla (Greek); darchini (Hindi); Ceylon-Zimt, Echter Zimt (German); canella (Italian); seiron nikkei (Japanese); kayu manis (Malay); canela (Portuguese); canelo de Ceilán (Spanish)

DESCRIPTION Cinnamon is the pale brown (tan-coloured) pieces of inner bark or more often tightly rolled pieces of bark (quills). The closely related and very similar cassia (C. aromaticum) tends to be slightly more reddish brown. Both are also sold in powdered form. True cinnamon is more expensive but the preferred spice in Europe, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand, while cassia is the main product used in China, Southeast Asia, Canada and the United States, often sold under the culinary name of cinnamon but actually derived from C. aromaticum and C. burmannii.1,2 Cassia buds are the dried immature fruits, harvested when they reach about one-fourth of their full size.

THE PLANT True cinnamon comes from C. verum, a medium-sized, evergreen tree with glossy three-veined leaves and small white flowers. The fruits are oblong and dark purple, resembling small acorns. Cinnamon is often confused with cassia (C. aromaticum), a tree with alternate leaves and smaller, more rounded fruits. Other commercial types of cassia bark include Indonesian cassia (C. burmannii), Saigon cassia (C. loureiroi) and Indian cassia (C. tamala).1

ORIGIN Cinnamon is indigenous to Sri Lanka and southwest India. It is one of the oldest of all spices and is mentioned in the Bible and in Sanskrit texts.1,2 Trees are nowadays widely cultivated in tropical countries, with major commercial production centred in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Seychelles and Madagascar. Cassia is thought to have originated in Myanmar (Burma) but is grown commercially on a large scale in Vietnam and especially China.1,2

CULTIVATION Trees are propagated from seeds or cuttings and are grown in humid tropical regions. Plants are multi-stemmed and only about 2.5 m (ca. 8 ft) high because of repeated cutting and harvesting and subsequent coppicing.

HARVESTING The inner bark of branches and coppice shoots is stripped (every two years), scraped to remove the outer bark, folded into each other and then dried to produce quills.

CULINARY USES Cinnamon has a sweet aroma and a hot, spicy flavour.3 The bark or the essential oil distilled from it are widely used in confectionery, puddings, custards, desserts and mulled wine.3 The spice is also used in food processing, spice mixtures, sauces, meat dishes, stews, poultry, pickles and soups.2,3 It is commonly used in Moroccan, Greek and Middle Eastern beef, lamb and chicken dishes.2 Cassia has a similar flavour and aroma and is used in much the same way.

FLAVOUR COMPOUNDS The flavour of both cinnamon and cassia bark is due to cinnamaldehyde, the main component (ca. 40 to 80% in cinnamon oil, 70 to 90% in cassia oil).4 The aroma of cassia is stronger and considered to be less delicate. The buds (young fruits) and leaves of C. verum contain eugenol as the main volatile compound4 and the buds are still used in India and other countries as a spice, often in confectionery.

NOTES Camphor, obtained from the wood of the camphor tree (C. camphora) is used to a limited extent to flavour sweets and desserts.

1. Nayar, N.M., Ravindran, P.N. 1995. Tree spices. In: Smartt, J., Simmonds, N.W. (Eds), Evolution of crop plants (2nd ed.), pp. 495–497. Longman, London.

2. Kiple, K.F., Ornelas, K.C. (Eds). 2000. The Cambridge world history of food. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

3. Larousse. 1999. The concise Larousse gastronomique. Hamlyn, London.

4. Harborne, J.B., Baxter, H. 2001. Chemical dictionary of economic plants. Wiley, New York.