Cinnamon

Cinnamomum spp.

spice

The inner bark of a small tree from Sri Lanka: Ceylon cinnamon, sweet in taste, or its more widely sold cousin, cassia.

Origin

Sri Lanka

Season (United States)

imported · all year round

Preparation

As a stick, it flavors the dish and is then taken out; ground, it is eaten. For daily use, choose Ceylon cinnamon: cassia, the most widely sold, is rich in coumarin, which harms the liver in large doses, especially in children. The Ceylon variety holds far less of it than the cassia sold everywhere.

Molecules

In small amounts, not counted Flavanols and procyanidins · Eugenol · ManganeseWhat slows things down Coumarins

Did you know?

In Sri Lanka, its cultivars are told apart by the taste of the bark: sweet and spicy, spicy, smooth, coarse or bitter.