What is Cinnamon?
A: Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species
from the genus Cinnamomum.
Cinnamon is used mainly as a what?
A: An aromatic condiment and flavoring additive in a wide variety of
cuisines, sweet and savory dishes,
breakfast cereals, snack
foods, teas, and
traditional foods.
The aroma and flavor of cinnamon derive from its what?
A: Essential oil and principal component, cinnamaldehyde, as well as
numerous other constituents including eugenol.
Cinnamon is the name for several species of what?
A: Trees and the commercial spice products that some of them produce.
All are members of what genus?
A: Cinnamomum in the family Lauraceae.
Only a few Cinnamomum species are grown how?
A: Commercially for spice.
In 2018, Indonesia and China produced how much of the
world's supply of cinnamon?
A: 70%, Indonesia producing nearly 40% and China 30%.
It was imported to Egypt as early as when?
A: 2000 BC.
Cinnamon was so highly prized among ancient nations
that it was regarded as a gift fit for whom?
A: Monarchs and even for a deity.
The source of the cinnamon was kept a trade secret in
the Mediterranean world for centuries by whom?
A: Those in the spice trade, in order to protect their
monopoly as
suppliers.
In Ancient Egypt, cinnamon was used to do what?
A: Embalm mummies.
From the Ptolemaic Kingdom onward, Ancient Egyptian
recipes for kyphi, an aromatic used for burning, included what?
A: Cinnamon and cassia.
The gifts of Hellenistic rulers to temples sometimes
included what?
A: Cassia and cinnamon.
Herodotus, Aristotle and other authors named what as
the source of cinnamon?
A:Giant "cinnamon birds" collected the cinnamon sticks from an unknown land
where the cinnamon trees grew and used them to construct their nests.
Cinnamon was too expensive to be commonly used on
funeral pyres in Rome, but the Emperor Nero is said to have done what?
A: Burned a year's worth of the city's supply at the funeral for his wife
Poppaea Sabina in AD 65.
Through the Middle Ages, the source of cinnamon
remained a what?
A: A mystery to the Western world.
From reading Latin writers who quoted Herodotus,
Europeans had learned that cinnamon came up the Red Sea to the trading ports
of Egypt, but where it came from was what?
A: Less than clear.
When the Sieur de Joinville accompanied his king, Louis
IX of France to Egypt on the Seventh Crusade in 1248, he reported—and
believed—what he had been told: that cinnamon was what?
A: Fished up in nets at the source of the Nile out at the edge of the world
(i.e., Ethiopia).
Venetian traders from Italy held a monopoly on the
spice trade in Europe, distributing cinnamon from where?
A: Alexandria.
When harvesting the spice, the bark and leaves are
what?
A; The primary parts of the plant used.
Cinnamon is cultivated by growing the tree for two
years, then what?
A: Coppicing it, i.e., cutting the stems at ground level.
What happens the following year?
A: About a dozen new shoots form from the roots, replacing those that were
cut.
The stems must be processed immediately after
harvesting while the inner bark is what?
A: Still wet.
How are the cut stems processed?
A: By scraping off the outer bark, then beating the branch evenly with a
hammer to loosen the inner bark, which is then pried off in long rolls.
Only 0.5 mm (0.02 in) of the inner bark is used; the
outer, woody portion is what?
A: Discarded, leaving meter-long cinnamon strips that curl into rolls
("quills") on drying.
The processed bark dries completely in how long?
A: Four to six hours, provided it is in a well-ventilated and relatively
warm environment.
Once dry, the bark is cut how?
A: Into 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 in) lengths for sale.