Rou gui, gui zhi and culinary cinnamon

[Guest guest]

I had to fake a gui zhi tang while on vacation and I grabbed the cinnamon

sticks from the kitchen to substitute for gui zhi. Obviously they lack

the warming and invigorating strength of medicinal rou gui. I'm not sure

the wood of the twigs adds much. It really wasn't easy to tell whether

the substitution worked, but I wondered how the rest of you compare

culinary cinnamon with gui zhi.

 

Karen Vaughan

CreationsGarden

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[Guest guest]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think culinary 'cinnamon' is cassia root,

not true cinnamon.

 

 

On Wednesday, April 25, 2001, at 06:56 PM, Karen S Vaughan wrote:

 

> I had to fake a gui zhi tang while on vacation and I grabbed the

> cinnamon

> sticks from the kitchen to substitute for gui zhi. Obviously they lack

> the warming and invigorating strength of medicinal rou gui. I'm not

> sure

> the wood of the twigs adds much. It really wasn't easy to tell whether

> the substitution worked, but I wondered how the rest of you compare

> culinary cinnamon with gui zhi.

>

> Karen Vaughan

> CreationsGarden

[Guest guest]

Rou gui and gui zhi are the bark and twig respectively from the

Cinnamomum cassia tree in the Lauraceae family. Cinnamon sticks as sold

in spice jars are usually also Cinnamomum cassia bark which is either

much younger than rou gui or has the rough exterior scraped off. Chinese

grocery store cinnamon is young, inferior grade rou gui but is stronger

than commercial cinnamon sticks and still contains the rough bark.

Ceylon cinnamon, Cinnamomum zeylanicum is a much softer bark usually

shredded, with higher amounts of essential oils and is often sold ground

where it is not really distinguishable from C. cassia. Vietnamese

cinnamon is Cinnamomum loueirri and is also stronger than commercial

Cinnamomum cassia but appears to be sold in the trade only under that

name.

 

The cassias like senna, Cassia angustifolia, or C. occidentalis (wan jian

nan zi) or C. Torae (jue ming zi) are herbs, shrubs or shrubby trees in

the leguminosae family.

 

(And it wasn't until today that I realized that jue ming zi/Semen cassiae

wasn't from Cinnamomum cassia. Which explains the total lack of cinnamon

odor.)

 

Which brings me back to my original question. Does the branch wood in

gui zhi add something different to the properties, or is the main

difference between gui zhi and rou gui the age and intensity of the

cinnamon oils?

 

Karen Vaughan

CreationsGarden

***************************************

Email advice is not a substitute for medical treatment.

In a dark time, the eye begins to see. "   -- Theodore Roethke

 

On Wed, 25 Apr 2001 21:11:16 -0700 " Z'ev Rosenberg "

<zrosenberg writes:

>Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think culinary 'cinnamon' is cassia

>root,

>not true cinnamon.

>

>

 

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