Cinnamon sticks or quills and ground cinnamon

Cinnamon ( /ˈsɪnəmən/ SIN-ə-mən) is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods. While native only to the island of Sri Lanka, cinnamon trees are now naturalized in South East Asia.^{[citation needed]}

Nomenclature and taxonomy[link]

Cinnamon is the name for perhaps a dozen species of trees and the commercial spice products that some of them produce. All are members of the genus Cinnamomum in the family Lauraceae. Only a few of them are grown commercially for spice. In Sri Lanka, the major production region, only Cinnamomum verum (synonym Cinnamomum zeylanicum) is cultivated.

The name cinnamon comes through the Greek kinnámōmon from Phoenician.^[1]

In Sri Lanka, in Sinhala, cinnamon is known as kurundu (කුරුඳු),^[2] recorded in English in the 17th century as Korunda.^[3] In India, where it is cultivated on the hills of Kerala, it is called "karuvapatta" or "Elavanga Tholi"(Malayalam) or "dalchini" (Hindi). In Indonesia, where it is cultivated in Java and Sumatra, it is called kayu manis ("sweet wood") and sometimes cassia vera, the "real" cassia.^[4] In several European languages, the word for cinnamon comes from the Latin word cannella, a diminutive of canna, "cane".

Cassia is generally a thicker bark with darker coloration, though is often confused with cinnamon. Here is a photo illustrating the difference between cinnamon and cassia

History[link]

Cinnamon (canella) output in 2005

Cinnamomum verum, from Koehler's Medicinal-Plants (1887)

Cinnamon has been known from remote antiquity. It was imported to Egypt as early as 2000 BC, but those who report that it had come from China confuse it with cassia.^[5]

The Hebrew Bible makes specific mention of the spice many times: first when Moses is commanded to use both sweet cinnamon (Hebrew: קִנָּמוֹן, qinnāmôn) and cassia in the holy anointing oil;^[6] in Proverbs where the lover's bed is perfumed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon;^[7] and in Song of Solomon, a song describing the beauty of his beloved, cinnamon scents her garments like the smell of Lebanon.^[8] Cinnamon was a component of the Ketoret that is used when referring to the consecrated incense described in the Hebrew Bible and Talmud. It was offered on the specialized incense altar in the time when the Tabernacle was located in the First and Second Jerusalem Temples. The ketoret was an important component of the Temple service in Jerusalem.

It was so highly prized among ancient nations that it was regarded as a gift fit for monarchs and even for a god: a fine inscription records the gift of cinnamon and cassia to the temple of Apollo at Miletus.^[9] Though its source was kept mysterious in the Mediterranean world for centuries by the middlemen who handled the spice trade, to protect their monopoly as suppliers, cinnamon is native to Sri Lanka, Malabar Coast of India, Burma and Bangladesh.^[10] It is also alluded to by Herodotus and other classical writers. It was too expensive to be commonly used on funeral pyres in Rome, but the Emperor Nero is said to have burned a year's worth of the city's supply at the funeral for his wife Poppaea Sabina in AD 65.^[11]

Before the foundation of Cairo, Alexandria was the Mediterranean shipping port of cinnamon. Europeans who knew the Latin writers who were quoting Herodotus knew that cinnamon came up the Red Sea to the trading ports of Egypt, but whether from Ethiopia or not was less than clear. When the Sieur de Joinville accompanied his king to Egypt on crusade in 1248, he reported what he had been told—and believed—that cinnamon was fished up in nets at the source of the Nile out at the edge of the world. Through the Middle Ages, the source of cinnamon was a mystery to the Western world. Marco Polo avoided precision on this score.^[12] In Herodotus and other authors, Arabia was the source of cinnamon: giant Cinnamon birds collected the cinnamon sticks from an unknown land where the cinnamon trees grew and used them to construct their nests; the Arabs employed a trick to obtain the sticks. This story was current as late as 1310 in Byzantium, although in the first century, Pliny the Elder had written that the traders had made this up in order to charge more. The first mention of the spice growing in Sri Lanka was in Zakariya al-Qazwini's Athar al-bilad wa-akhbar al-‘ibad ("Monument of Places and History of God's Bondsmen") in about 1270.^[13] This was followed shortly thereafter by John of Montecorvino, in a letter of about 1292.^[14]

Indonesian rafts transported cinnamon (known in Indonesia as kayu manis- literally "sweet wood") on a "cinnamon route" directly from the Moluccas to East Africa, where local traders then carried it north to the Roman market.^{[15] [16] [17]} See also Rhapta.

Arab traders brought the spice via overland trade routes to Alexandria in Egypt, where it was bought by Venetian traders from Italy who held a monopoly on the spice trade in Europe. The disruption of this trade by the rise of other Mediterranean powers, such as the Mamluk Sultans and the Ottoman Empire, was one of many factors that led Europeans to search more widely for other routes to Asia.

Portuguese traders finally landed in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) at the beginning of the sixteenth century and restructured the traditional production and management of cinnamon by the Sinhalese, who later held the monopoly for cinnamon in Ceylon. The Portuguese established a fort on the island in 1518 and protected their own monopoly for over a hundred years.

Dutch traders finally dislodged the Portuguese by allying with the inland Kingdom of Kandy. They established a trading post in 1638, took control of the factories by 1640, and expelled all remaining Portuguese by 1658. "The shores of the island are full of it", a Dutch captain reported, "and it is the best in all the Orient: when one is downwind of the island, one can still smell cinnamon eight leagues out to sea." (Braudel 1984, p. 215)

The Dutch East India Company continued to overhaul the methods of harvesting in the wild and eventually began to cultivate its own trees.

In 1767, Lord Brown of East India Company established Anjarakkandy Cinnamon Estate near Anjarakkandy in Cannanore (now Kannur) district of Kerala, and this estate became Asia's largest cinnamon estate.

The British took control of the island from the Dutch in 1796. However, the importance of the monopoly of Ceylon was already declining, as cultivation of the cinnamon tree spread to other areas, the more common cassia bark became more acceptable to consumers, and coffee, tea, sugar, and chocolate began to outstrip the popularity of traditional spices.

Cultivation[link]

Leaves from a wild cinnamon tree

Cinnamon is harvested by growing the tree for two years then coppicing it. The next year, about a dozen shoots will form from the roots.

The branches harvested this way are processed by scraping off the outer bark, then beating the branch evenly with a hammer to loosen the inner bark. The inner bark is then prised out in long rolls. Only the thin (0.5 mm (0.020 in)) inner bark is used; the outer, woody portion is discarded, leaving metre-long cinnamon strips that curl into rolls ("quills") on drying. Once dry, the bark is cut into 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in) lengths for sale.

The bark must be processed immediately after harvesting while still wet. Once processed, the bark will dry completely in four to six hours, provided that it is in a well-ventilated and relatively warm environment. A less than ideal drying environment encourages the proliferation of pests in the bark, which may then require treatment by fumigation. Bark treated this way is not considered to be of the same premium quality as untreated bark.

Cinnamon has been cultivated from time immemorial in Sri Lanka, and the tree is also grown commercially at Kerala in southern India, Bangladesh, Java, Sumatra, the West Indies, Brazil, Vietnam, Madagascar, Zanzibar, and Egypt. Sri Lanka cinnamon has a very thin, smooth bark with a light-yellowish brown colour and a highly fragrant aroma. In recent years in Sri Lanka, mechanical devices have been developed to ensure premium quality and worker safety and health, following considerable research by the Universities in that country led by the University of Ruhuna.

According to the International Herald Tribune, in 2006 Sri Lanka produced 90% of the world's cinnamon, followed by China, India, and Vietnam.^[18] According to the FAO, Indonesia produces 40% of the world's Cassia genus of cinnamon.

The Sri Lankan grading system divides the cinnamon quills into four groups:

• Alba, less than 6 mm (0.24 in) in diameter
• Continental, less than 16 mm (0.63 in) in diameter
• Mexican, less than 19 mm (0.75 in) in diameter
• Hamburg, less than 32 mm (1.3 in) in diameter

These groups are further divided into specific grades. For example, Mexican is divided into M00 000 special, M000000, and M0000, depending on quill diameter and number of quills per kg.

Any pieces of bark less than 106 mm (4.2 in) long are categorized as quillings. Featherings are the inner bark of twigs and twisted shoots. Chips are trimmings of quills, outer and inner bark that cannot be separated, or the bark of small twigs.

Species[link]

Ceylon cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) on the left, and Indonesian Cinnamon (Cinnamomum burmannii) quills

A number of species are often sold as cinnamon:^[19]

• Cinnamomum verum ("True cinnamon", Sri Lanka cinnamon or Ceylon cinnamon)
• C. burmannii (Korintje or Indonesian cinnamon)
• C. loureiroi (Saigon cinnamon or Vietnamese cinnamon)
• C. aromaticum (Cassia or Chinese cinnamon)

There are several different cultivars of Cinnamomum verum based on the taste of bark:^{[citation needed]}

• Type 1 Sinhala: Pani Kurundu (පැණි කුරුඳු), Pat Kurundu (පත් කුරුඳු) or Mapat Kurundu (මාපත් කුරුඳු)
• Type 2 Sinhala: Naga Kurundu (නාග කුරුඳු)
• Type 3 Sinhala: Pani Miris Kurundu (පැණි මිරිස් කුරුඳු)
• Type 4 Sinhala: Weli Kurundu (වැලි කුරුඳු)
• Type 5 Sinhala: Sewala Kurundu (සෙවල කුරුඳු)
• Type 6 Sinhala: Kahata Kurundu (කහට කුරුඳු)
• Type 7 Sinhala: Pieris Kurundu (පීරිස් කුරුඳු)

Ceylon cinnamon, using only the thin inner bark, has a finer, less dense, and more crumbly texture, and is considered to be more aromatic and more subtle in flavour than cassia. Cassia has a much stronger (somewhat harsher) flavour than Ceylon cinnamon, is generally a medium to light reddish brown, hard and woody in texture, and thicker (2–3 mm (0.079–0.12 in) thick), as all of the layers of bark are used.^[20]

Due to the presence of a moderately toxic component called coumarin, European health agencies have recently warned against consuming large amounts of cassia.^[21] This is contained in much lower dosages in Cinnamomum burmannii due to its low essential oil content.^{[citation needed]} Coumarin is known to cause liver and kidney damage in high concentrations. Measurements of coumarin in ceylon cinnamon are much lower than those in cassia.^{[22] [23]}

The barks, when whole, are easily distinguished, and their microscopic characteristics are also quite distinct. Ceylon cinnamon sticks (or quills) have many thin layers and can easily be made into powder using a coffee or spice grinder, whereas cassia sticks are much harder. Indonesian cinnamon is often sold in neat quills made up of one thick layer, capable of damaging a spice or coffee grinder. Saigon cinnamon and Chinese cinnamon are always sold as broken pieces of thick bark, as the bark is not supple enough to be rolled into quills. The powdered bark is harder to distinguish, but if it is treated with tincture of iodine (a test for starch^[24]), little effect is visible with pure Ceylon cinnamon, but when Chinese cinnamon is present, a deep-blue tint is produced.^{[25] [26]}

Cinnamon is also sometimes confused with Malabathrum (Cinnamomum tamala).

Flavour, aroma and taste[link]

Its flavour is due to an aromatic essential oil that makes up 0.5% to 1% of its composition. This essential oil is prepared by roughly pounding the bark, macerating it in seawater, and then quickly distilling the whole. It is of a golden-yellow colour, with the characteristic odour of cinnamon and a very hot aromatic taste. The pungent taste and scent come from cinnamic aldehyde or cinnamaldehyde (about 60 % of the essential oil from the bark) and, by reaction with of oxygen as it ages, it darkens in colour and forms resinous compounds. Other chemical components of the essential oil include ethyl cinnamate, eugenol (found mostly in the leaves), beta-caryophyllene, linalool, and methyl chavicol.^{[citation needed]}

Uses[link]

Cinnamon bark

Cinnamon bark is widely used as a spice. It is principally employed in cookery as a condiment and flavouring material. It is used in the preparation of chocolate, especially in Mexico, which is the main importer of true cinnamon.^[27] It is also used in many dessert recipes, such as apple pie, doughnuts, and cinnamon buns as well as spicy candies, tea, hot cocoa, and liqueurs. True cinnamon, rather than cassia, is more suitable for use in sweet dishes. In the Middle East, it is often used in savoury dishes of chicken and lamb. In the United States, cinnamon and sugar are often used to flavour cereals, bread-based dishes, and fruits, especially apples; a cinnamon-sugar mixture is even sold separately for such purposes. Cinnamon can also be used in pickling. Cinnamon bark is one of the few spices that can be consumed directly. Cinnamon powder has long been an important spice in Persian cuisine, used in a variety of thick soups, drinks, and sweets. It is often mixed with rosewater or other spices to make a cinnamon-based curry powder for stews or just sprinkled on sweet treats (most notably Shole-zard, Persian شله زرد). It is also used in sambar powder or BisiBelebath powder in Karnataka, which gives it a rich aroma and tastes unique. It is also used in Turkish cuisine for both sweet and savoury dishes.

Cinnamon has been proposed for use as an insect repellent, although it remains untested.^[28] Cinnamon leaf oil has been found to be very effective in killing mosquito larvae.^[29] Of the compounds found in the essential oil from cinnamon leaves, cinnamyl acetate, eugenol, and anethole, and in particular cinnamaldehyde, were found to have the highest effectiveness against mosquito larvae.^[29]

Medicinal value[link]

Research[link]

In a 2000 study published in The Indian Journal of Medical Research, it was shown that of the 69 plant species screened, 16 were effective against HIV-1 and 4 were against both HIV-1 and HIV-2. The most effective extracts against HIV-1 and HIV-2 were respectively Cinnamomum cassia (bark) and Cardiospermum helicacabum (shoot + fruit).^[30]

The compound eugenol is a major component of the essential oil from the leaves of the cinnamon tree has antiviral properties in vitro, specifically against both the HSV-1 and HSV-2 (Oral and Genital Herpes) viruses according to a study published in the journal, Phytotherapy Research.^[31]

A 2003 study at National Institutes of Health shows benefits of cinnamon in diet of type 2 diabetics. "Cinnamon improves glucose and lipids of people with type 2 diabetes".^[32]

A study conducted in 2007 and published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry suggests that specific plant terpenoids contained within cinnamon have potent antiviral properties.^[33]

Pharmacological experiments suggest that the cinnamon-derived dietary factor cinnamic aldehyde (cinnamaldehyde) activates the Nrf2-dependent antioxidant response in human epithelial colon cells and may therefore represent an experimental chemopreventive dietary factor targeting colorectal carcinogenesis.^[34] Recent research documents anti-melanoma activity of cinnamic aldehyde observed in cell culture and a mouse model of human melanoma.^[35]

Cinnamon bark, a component of the traditional Japanese medicine Mao-to, has been shown in a 2008 study published in the Journal of General Virology to have an antiviral therapeutic effect.^[36]

A 2011 study isolated a substance (CEppt) in the cinnamon plant that inhibits development of Alzheimer's in mice.^[37] CEppt, an extract of cinnamon bark, seems to treat a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.^[38]

Nutritional information[link]

100 gram of ground cinnamon contains the following nutritional information according to the USDA.^[39]

• Energy: 1034 kJ (247 kcal)
• Fat: 1.2 g
• Carbohydrates: 80.6 g (of which - Fibres: 53.1 g, Sugars: 2 g)
• Protein: 4.0 g

See also[link]

• Cinnamon challenge

Notes[link]

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