Spices · Agriculture · 11 min read

Cinnamon: the Bark of the Spice Trade

True cinnamon or cassia? The story of one of the world's oldest spices, from Kerala's Anjarakandy estate and the spice gardens of Idukki to Sri Lanka's quill-rollers: growing, peeling, grading, trade, nutrition, Ayurveda and uses.

By GK Global, Adimali, Munnar · Trails & Tales by GK

Cinnamon is a tree bark: the thin inner bark of a small evergreen tree, peeled, rolled and dried into fragrant quills. Few spices are as widely loved, and few are as often misunderstood, because much of what the world buys as "cinnamon" is in fact its tougher cousin, cassia. Kerala has a long connection with true cinnamon: wild cinnamon trees grow in the forests of the Western Ghats, and in 1767 the East India Company founded one of the largest cinnamon estates in Asia at Anjarakandy in Kannur. In Idukki, cinnamon grows as a garden and estate-border tree in the mixed spice farms of the hills, and its leaves and bark are part of the district's spice-garden tradition.

History

Cinnamon is one of the oldest traded spices. It was used in ancient Egypt for embalming and perfumes, and the Bible mentions it among the ingredients of holy anointing oil. Arab merchants long kept its source a secret, telling tales of cinnamon gathered from the nests of giant birds. From the 16th century the Portuguese, then the Dutch, controlled the cinnamon trade of Sri Lanka, and the Dutch began cultivating it in plantations there. In 1767 the British East India Company set up the Anjarakandy cinnamon estate near Thalassery, said to be one of the largest in Asia, which still exists.

True cinnamon or cassia?

The difference matters: cassia contains much more coumarin, a natural compound that can harm the liver if eaten in large amounts over a long time. For people who use a lot of cinnamon every day, true cinnamon is the safer choice.

Growing cinnamon

• Climate and soil: a warm, humid climate with 1,500 to 2,500 mm of rain, from sea level to about 1,000 m; it grows even on poor, sandy or lateritic soils.
• Varieties: IISR Navashree and Nithyashree, and Konkan Tej from the Konkan agricultural university in Maharashtra, are among the improved varieties released in India.
• Planting: seedlings or rooted cuttings are planted in the monsoon.
• Coppicing: after two or three years, the plants are cut back close to the ground. New shoots spring from the stump, and these straight shoots are harvested every one or two years for their bark. A cinnamon bush can be harvested in this way for decades.

Harvest and processing

• Cutting: shoots about two years old and as thick as a finger or thumb are cut in the wet season, when the sap is flowing and the bark peels easily.
• Peeling: skilled peelers scrape off the rough outer bark, rub the shoot with a brass rod to loosen the inner bark, slit it lengthwise and ease it off in long strips.
• Quilling: the strips are telescoped one inside another and rolled into long quills, up to a metre long, filled with smaller pieces.
• Drying: quills are dried in the shade for several days, then in the sun, curling tighter and turning golden brown.
• By-products: leaves are distilled for cinnamon leaf oil (rich in eugenol), and bark pieces for cinnamon bark oil (rich in cinnamaldehyde).

Grading

True cinnamon is graded, following the Sri Lankan system, by the diameter of the quill and its quality. The finest grade, Alba, has quills no more than about 6 mm across; then come the Continental, Mexican and Hamburg grades, with progressively thicker quills. Broken pieces are sold as quillings, the inner bark of twigs as featherings, and the smallest pieces as chips, used for grinding and distillation. Cassia is graded by thickness, oil content and origin.

Trade

Sri Lanka dominates world exports of true cinnamon, much of it to Mexico, the United States and Europe; cassia comes mainly from China, Indonesia and Vietnam. India produces little of either and imports large quantities, mainly cassia, for its spice and food industries. Indian-grown cinnamon is mostly sold within Kerala and Karnataka, through spice dealers and directly to visitors at spice gardens.

Nutrition

Approximate values; source: USDA FoodData Central (ground cinnamon). Spices are eaten in small amounts, so a typical serving supplies only a small share of these nutrients.

Cinnamon bark's flavour comes mainly from cinnamaldehyde, with eugenol and other compounds.

Cinnamon in Ayurveda

In Ayurveda, cinnamon bark is Tvak (or dalchini), and the leaf of the related Indian cassia tree is Tamalapatra or tejpatta. Cinnamon is described as pungent, sweet and heating, and is traditionally used to aid digestion, relieve gas, colds and cough, and freshen the breath. With cardamom and tejpatta it forms Trijataka, the "three aromatics", used to flavour and balance many medicines. Modern research has studied cinnamon's effects on blood sugar, with mixed results.

These are traditional uses. Spices are safe in normal food amounts; anyone thinking of using them as medicine, especially in pregnancy, while taking other medicines or for a child, should ask a qualified doctor.

Uses

• Kitchen: biryani, pulao, garam masala, Kerala meat curries, desserts, cakes, cinnamon rolls, mulled wine and spiced tea and coffee.
• Food industry: cinnamon powder, oils and oleoresins in bakery, confectionery, chewing gum and drinks.
• Perfumery and cosmetics: cinnamon oils in perfumes, soaps, toothpastes and mouthwashes.
• Pharmaceuticals: in traditional medicines and as a flavouring.
• Home: potpourri and natural fragrances.