cinnamon/cassia

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(www.oneplanetnatural.com/cassia)

 

Cassia:

 

Also called CHINESE CINNAMON, a spice consisting of the aromatic bark of the

Cinnamomum cassia plant of the family Lauraceae. Similar to true cinnamon,

cassia bark has a more pungent, less delicate flavour and is thicker than

cinnamon bark. It contains from 1 to 2 percent oil of cassia, a volatile

oil, the principal component of which is cinnamic aldehyde. Cassia bark is

used as a flavouring in cooking and particularly in liqueurs and chocolate.

Southern Europeans prefer it to cinnamon, but, in North America, ground

cinnamon is sold without distinction as to the species from which the bark

is obtained.

 

Cassia bark is peeled from stems and branches and set aside to dry. Some

varieties are scraped. While drying, the bark curls into quills. The colour

varies from light reddish brown for the thin, scraped bark to gray for the

thick, unscraped bark. Ground cassia is reddish brown in colour. Cassia from

China is less aromatic than that from Vietnam and Indonesia. Cassia from all

three countries has a sweet, aromatic, and pungent flavour. Vietnamese, or

Saigon, cassia is particularly highly esteemed.

 

Cassia buds, the dried, unripe fruits of Cinnamomum cassia and Cinnamomum

loureirii, have a cinnamon-like aroma and a warm, sweet, pungent taste akin

to that of cassia bark. The whole buds are added to foods for flavouring.

The brown, immature fruit is snugly held in a cuplike, hard, wrinkled,

grayish-brown calyx (the whole commonly called a bud) varying in size but

ordinarily 0.4 inch (11 millimetres) long, including the calyx tube; the

upper part of the bud may be about 0.25 in. in diameter.

 

Confusion sometimes arises with another group of plants because Cassia is

the generic name of an extensive genus of leguminous plants, which, in

addition to various other medicinal products, is the source of senna (q.v.)

leaves.

 

Cinnamon:

 

(species Cinnamomum zeylanicum), bushy evergreen tree of the laurel family

(Lauraceae) native to Sri Lanka (Ceylon), the neighbouring Malabar Coast of

India, and Myanmar (Burma) and also cultivated in South America and the West

Indies for the spice consisting of its dried inner bark. The spice is light

brown in colour and has a delicately fragrant aroma and warm, sweet flavour.

Cinnamon was once more valuable than gold. In Egypt it was sought for

embalming and witchcraft; in medieval Europe for religious rites and as a

flavouring. Later it was the most profitable spice in the Dutch East India

Company trade. In modern times, cinnamon is used to flavour a variety of

foods, from confections to curries; in Europe and the United States it is

especially popular in bakery goods.

 

The Sri Lanka cultivator harvests his main crop in the wet season, cutting

the shoots close to the ground. In processing, the shoots are first scraped

with a semicircular blade, then rubbed with a brass rod to loosen the bark,

which is split with a knife and peeled. The peels are telescoped one into

another forming a quill about 107 cm (42 inches) long and filled with

trimmings of the same quality bark to maintain the cylindrical shape. After

four or five days of drying, the quills are rolled on a board to tighten the

filling and then placed in subdued sunlight for further drying. Finally,

they are bleached with sulfur dioxide and sorted into grades.

 

Cinnamon contains from 0.5 to 1 percent essential oil, the principal

component of which is cinnamic aldehyde. The oil is distilled from the

fragments for use in food, liqueur, perfume, and drugs. The aldehyde can

also be synthesized.

 

 

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Peter L. Borten, L.Ac.

4004 SW Kelly Avenue, Ste 201

Portland, Oregon 97201

503.522.2613

http://www.whiteflowerhealing.com/

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