Cinnamon

CINNAMON, the inner bark of Cinnamomum zeylanicum, a small evergreen tree belonging to the natural order Lauraceae, native to Ceylon. The leaves are large, ovate-oblong in shape, and the flowers, which are arranged in panicles, have a greenish colour and a rather disagreeable odour. Cinnamon has been known from remote antiquity, and it was so highly prized among ancient nations that it was regarded as a present fit for monarchs and other great potentates. It is mentioned in Exod. xxx. 23, where Moses is commanded to use both sweet cinnamon (Kinnamon) and cassia, and it is alluded to by Herodotus under the name , and by other classical writers. The tree is grown at Tellicherry, in Java, the West Indies, Brazil and Egypt, but the produce of none of these places approaches in quality that grown in Ceylon. Ceylon cinnamon of fine quality is a very thin smooth bark, with a light-yellowish brown colour, a highly fragrant odour, and a peculiarly sweet, warm and pleasing aromatic taste. Its flavour is due to an aromatic oil which it contains to the extent of from 0.5 to 1%. This essential oil, as an article of commerce, is prepared by roughly pounding the bark, macerating it in sea-water, and then quickly distilling the whole. It is of a golden-yellow colour, with the peculiar odour of cinnamon and a very hot aromatic taste. It consists essentially of cinnamic aldehyde, and by the absorption of oxygen as it becomes old it darkens in colour and develops resinous compounds. Cinnamon is principally employed in cookery as a condiment and flavouring material, being largely used in the preparation of some kinds of chocolate and liqueurs. In medicine it acts like other volatile oils and has a reputation as a cure for colds. Being a much more costly spice than cassia, that comparatively harsh-flavoured substance is frequently substituted for or added to it. The two barks when whole are easily enough distinguished, and their microscopical characters are also quite distinct. When powdered bark is treated with tincture of iodine, little effect is visible in the case of pure cinnamon of good quality, but when cassia is present a deep-blue tint is produced, the intensity of the coloration depending on the proportion of the cassia.