Ceylon cinnamon, the true cinnamon of commerce, is the dried inner bark of Cinnamomum zeylanicum, an evergreen tree belonging to the laurel family and native to Ceylon.
The spice is not imported in large amounts into United States but is in demand in other parts of the world.
The dried bark assume the form of a cylinder, which is cut into short lengths and marketed as Ceylon cinnamon sticks.
Ground cinnamon is used as a baking spice for cakes, breads, buns cookies and pies. Ceylon cinnamon has fragrant odor and a warm, sweet, aromatic taste.
Ground Ceylon cinnamon contains starch grains about the size of allspice. Bark fibers are more numerous than in cassia cinnamon but no cork is present. Stone cells are somewhat similar to those in allspice.
The bark of Ceylon cinnamon contains 0.5 – 1.0% of steam volatile essential oil. The principal flavor constituent is cinnamic aldehydes (55 – 75%) and small amount =s (4 – 8%) of eugenol.
Cassia cinnamon is prepared from dried bark of cinnamon cassia, an evergreen tree native to South Vietnam and the eastern Himalayas.
Cassia bark has more intense aroma, higher essential oil content, and is less delicately flavored than Ceylon cinnamon.
These two species are obtained from two different species of plants grown in different areas.
However their nomenclature has been used so interchangeably that they have come to mean the same product.
More cassia cinnamon than Ceylon cinnamon is used in the United Sates. The primary sources for cassia cinnamon are Saigon cassia, C. loureirii (nees); Korinji “thick quill,” C. burmannii (Blume); grown in Sumatra; Padang “thin quill”; and C. sintok (Blume), produced in Malaysia.
Cassia is used by bakers, confectioners, fruit canners and other food processor in the same manner as Ceylon cinnamon.
The volatile oil of cassia contains form 75 to 90% of cinnamic aldehydes together with smaller amounts of related aldehydes.
Adulterated reported in the ground spice include exhausted cassia, ground bark, cassia buds, nutshells and other cheaper material.
Ceylon and Cassia Cinnamon
