Eat My Globe

Cinnamon: The History of True Cinnamon and Cassia

Simon Majumdar (“SM”):

Hey, April.

April Simpson (“AS”):

Yeah, Simon.

SM:

Why did the cinnamon go to the gym?

AS:

I don’t know, Simon. Why did the cinnamon go to the gym?

SM:

So, it could practice it’s cinnamon roll.

AS:

[Laughter]

SM:

[Laughter]

AS:

Oh help me.

INTRO MUSIC

Hi everyone.

My name is Simon Majumdar and welcome to Eat My Globe, a podcast about things you didn’t know you didn’t know about food.

And today’s very special episode, we’re going to talk about a spice. This is a spice that has been around since the beginning of time. And, it is now almost ubiquitous – with it being available in every supermarket. I think it has the most fantastic history more than any other spice. It was once declared as worth more than gold. It was treasured in ancient Egypt. Ancient Roman emperors offered it to their gods. So did Medieval England and India. And it is now something that I associate with the United States. It is the first thing I used to smell upon my arrival at so many US airports due to a bun or roll sold at a store called Cinnabon. I hope that last clue gives the game away.

It is, of course, cinnamon.

Anyway, before we begin, let’s define what we are talking about. Our friends at Merriam-Webster define cinnamon as

Quote

“the aromatic, dried bark of any of several tropical trees (genus Cinnamomum) yielding a culinary spice, oil, and flavoring

especially: a small roll or quill of cinnamon bark.”

End quote.

The word, cinnamon, is thought to have originated from the Malay phrase, “Kayu manis,” which means sweet wood. It is apparently very similar to the Hebrew word, “qinnāmōn,” which then became the Greek word, “kinnamōmon,” and then the Latin word, “cinnamomum,” and finally, the Middle English word, “cynamone.”

But, is there more to this definition?

The spice, cinnamon, comes from Ceylon – which is now Sri Lanka – and also from the Malabar Coast of India and from Myanmar. This is called, “Ceylon Cinnamon,” or “True Cinnamon.” The Latin term for this is “Cinnamomum Verum,” You may also hear it referred to as “Cinnamomum zeylanicum,” which is its older Latin name based on the old name of Sri Lanka, Ceylon.

There is a similar and related type of cinnamon that comes from China. This is called “Cassia,” and is sometimes called Chinese cinnamon. It is similar to True Cinnamon, although Cassia has a stronger smell and the bark is denser. Cassia’s Latin name is “Cinnamomum cassia.” One thing we should mention is that Cassia cinnamon naturally contains a compound called coumarin, which can be toxic if too much of it is eaten. True Cinnamon does not contain coumarin.

There are additional types of cinnamon from Java in Indonesia called, “Cinnamonum burmannii,” and one from Vietnam called, “Cinnamomum loureiroi.” For this episode, we will be mostly talking about True Cinnamon from Sri Lanka, and Cassia from China.

The distinction between True Cinnamon and Cassia can be complex. For example, in France and the United States, they allow Cassia to be called cinnamon. In contrast, in Great Britain, only True Cinnamon may be called cinnamon.

Both True Cinnamon and Cassia come from the bark of a tree. Farmers pull off the bark of the tree, and the outer part is peeled. It is then dried. As it dries, the bark curls into quills. It is also fermented. I have seen this part of this process in Zanzibar and let me tell you that once the bark is removed, the smells hit your nostrils very hard because it is so pungent.

In Sri Lanka, True Cinnamon was known from about 2800 BCE for its medicinal uses rather than being a cooking spice. But unfortunately, records from ancient times are almost nonexistent until about the 10th century CE.

However, we do know that Sri Lankan King, Buddhadasa, who reigned from 340 to 368 CE, had medical books that talked about cinnamon being used as a medicine. Another book, “Sarasvathi Nigantuwa,” also refers to cinnamon as medicinal.

We also know that the Sinhalese kings – those are the main ethnic group of Sri Lanka – worked with Egyptian leaders to trade True Cinnamon.

But, as I will touch on later, although we now know that True Cinnamon came from Sri Lanka, there likely may not have been records before the 10th century of the link between the spices and the country because the ancient traders kept the true origin of the spice a secret.

Back to the times Before the Common Era. In Biblical times, cinnamon is also mentioned in many verses. For example, in Exodus chapter 30, verse 23 to 25, True Cinnamon – and Cassia – are used to make an anointing oil:

Quote

“Take the following fine spices: 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much (that is, 250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of fragrant calamus, 500 shekels of cassia—all according to the sanctuary shekel—and a hin of olive oil. Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil.”

End quote.

But if True Cinnamon is from Sri Lanka and Cassia is from China, how did these two reach the ancient world?

As I previously discussed in an earlier episode of Eat My Globe on the history of spices, traders transported True Cinnamon and Cassia over perilous and arduous land routes. These were significantly more expensive than other spices and subsequently only used by those in the upper echelons of society rather than those in the lower down the social scales. The Arab traders who would bring these spices over to the west and would often offer up wonderous stories about the dangers of collecting these spices to help drive up the prices when they were sold.

In the 4th century BCE work, the “History of Herodotus,” the Greek historian offered up two stories of the tales that Arab traders wove. The first story goes a little bit like this:

Quote

“We have described how the Arabians procure their frankincense; their mode of obtaining the cassia is this: – The whole of their body, and the face, except the eyes, they cover with skins of different kinds; they thus proceed to the place where it grows, which is in a marsh not very deep, but infested by a winged species of animal much resembling a bat, very strong, and making a hideous noise; they protect their eyes from these, and then gather the cassia.”

End Quote.

And in a second story,

Quote

“Their manner of collecting the cinnamon is still more extraordinary. In what particular spot it is produced, they themselves are unable to certify. There are some who assert that it grows in the region where Bacchus was educated, and their mode of reasoning is by no means improbable. These affirm that the vegetable substance, which we, as instructed by the Phenicians, call cinnamon, is by certain large birds carried to their nests constructed of clay, and placed in the cavities of inaccessible rocks. To procure it thence, the Arabians have contrived this strategem: – they cut in very large pieces the dead bodies of oxen, asses, or other beasts of burden, and carry them near these nests: they then retire to some distance; the birds soon fly to the spot, and carry these pieces of flesh to their nests, which not being able to support the weight, fall in pieces to the ground. The Arabians take this opportunity of gathering the cinnamon, which they afterwards dispose of to different countries.”

End Quote.

Once cinnamon finally reached Egypt, it had a number of uses. It was used as an ingredient in perfume. In his 4th century or 3rd century BCE work, “De Odoribus” or “On Odors,” the well-traveled philosopher and chum of Aristotle, Theophrastus, writes of a perfume called, “The Egyptian,” that is costly to make.

Quote

“The ‘Egyptian’ is made from several ingredients, including cinnamon and myrrh. . . . the Egyptian [and another perfume] are the most troublesome to make, since no others involve the mixture of so many and such costly ingredients.”

End Quote.

Another key Egyptian use for cinnamon was in the process of embalming, that is, the mummification of the bodies after death. First century BCE Greek author Diodorus Siculus wrote in his major work, “The Library of History,” about the Egyptian post-death process saying,

Quote

“they carefully dress the whole body for over thirty days, first with cedar oil and certain other preparations, and then with myrrh, cinnamon, and such spices as have the faculty not only of preserving it for a long time but also of giving it a fragrant odour.”

End Quote.

Scientists have also found cinnamon oil in flasks owned by Phoenicians from around 10th century BCE.

The Arab and Phoenician traders also took cinnamon into ancient Greece and Rome.

In Rome, cinnamon was nearly always used as a medicine. Although we do find Cassia has been mentioned at least twice in the Roman cookbook attributed to Apicius, where it is referred to as “malabathrum,” the Roman name for Cassia.

Pliny the Elder wrote about True Cinnamon in Book XII, Chapter 42 of his work, “The Natural History,” saying that True Cinnamon was worth about a thousand denarii per pound, which according to the website, Testament Press, is about $43,500 per pound in today’s money. Pliny also said that the Emperor Vespasianus Augustus and the Empress Livia made offerings of cinnamon and gold to the temples.

Pliny also wrote about Cassia in Chapter 43 of “The Natural History” again. Apparently, the best Cassia sold for 50 denarii per pound.

We also hear the story of Roman Emperor Nero who, rumor has it, burned a whole year of the nation’s supply of True Cinnamon on the funeral pyre of his wife Poppaea Sabina.

Around this time, the ancient Romans began to develop shipping trade links to India and Sri Lanka to buy the True Cinnamon from them directly. The Silk Road also brought Cassia to the Roman Empire from China.

I’ve talked about the Silk Road many times on this season. But, just to reiterate, this was a series of ancient trade routes, which were opened by the Han Dynasty in 130 BCE when they began to seek access to the west. These lasted until 1453 CE when the Ottoman Empire stopped trading with China and closed these routes.

The Silk Road was populated by Muslim traders who were running from Xi’an in China to the West. They took with them wools, silks, gold, silver and more, which would find homes along the way and in both ways. It would also take spices such as cinnamon and cassia, which would cost a great deal of money or goods when traded in the west.

This meant that for European nobility, things such as cinnamon was a symbol of their wealth. They would often use them as both high level medicines and as culinary delights. Cinnamon was considered useful to help cure fevers, for example.

By the Middle Ages, Venice in what would become Italy, became a center for trade for goods from the East, including cinnamon.

In one of the oldest surviving Medieval cookbooks, “Libellus de Arte Coquinaria,” or “Little Book of Culinary Art,” which was published in the 1200s, we see a sauce that involves cinnamon.

Quote

“One should take cloves and nutmeg, cardamom, pepper, cinnamon, ginger an equal weight of each except cinnamon, which shall weigh as much as all the others, and as much toasted bread as all that are mentioned before: Grind it together, and blend it with strong vinegar, and place it in a cask. That is their sauce, and it lasts about one season.”

End quote.

I think that sounds rather nice, actually.

In the French book, “Le Viandier de Taillevent” – which was published around the 13th century and usually attributed to Guillaume Tirel, who took the name of Taillevent – there is a sauce made with vinegar and cinnamon, which is known as “Cameline Sauce.”

Quote

“To Make Cameline Sauce. Grind ginger, a great deal of cinnamon, cloves, grains of paradise, mace, and if you wish, long pepper; strain bread that has been moistened in vinegar, strain everything together and salt as necessary.”

End quote.

From the period of the end of the 15th Century, the countries of Europe began to begin the quote, the “European Age of Exploration,” end quote, and at the heart of this was to look for spices. When the Ottomans closed the Silk Road in 1453, European nations had to find alternatives to the land routes.

In terms of cinnamon and cassia, this meant sailing to Sri Lanka – formerly Ceylon – and China.

By the 1500s, explorers such as Christopher Columbus – a Genoese explorer who lived from 1451 to 1506 and sailed under Spain’s flag – and Vasco da Gama – a Portuguese explorer who lived from 1460 to 1524 – sought to find trade routes to India. While Columbus did not find India, the Portuguese did. Upon the Portuguese’s arrival, however, they did not have anything really enticing that they could trade for these spices. So, as the World History Encyclopedia puts it,

Quote

“The Portuguese decided to use the one thing they had in their favour: superiority in weapons and ships.”

End quote.

Yep, they took over the spice trade through their might. With almost 90% profits on spices, other nations wanted to move in on the action. And the battle for spices was on.

The Dutch and the British also sent ships. Francis Drake – a British explorer who lived from 1540 to 1596 CE – was sent in 1577 to circumnavigate the world and stop on the way to buy spices. But the Dutch were even more active.

However, Portugal was already firmly entrenched in Sri Lanka by 1518. As Dr. Colvin R. De Silva, a former Minister of Plantation Industry and Constitutional Affairs, wrote in his thesis when he was imprisoned by the British

Quote

“The vagaries of wind and weather brought Portuguese to Sri Lanka but the lure of cinnamon made them stay.” 

End quote.

In the kingdom of Kotte, located in Sri Lanka’s southwest region and which includes the modern-day city of Colombo, the King of Kotte was forced to enter into a treaty with the Portuguese in 1518. The king and his subjects had to annually pay the Portuguese

Quote

“300 bahars of cinnamon, twelve ruby rings and six elephants.”

End quote.

According to The Citizen, an Indian independent news daily, 1 bahar equates to about 226.8 kg. So 300 bahars is about 68,040 kilograms per year. So, that is a lot. The Portuguese did not leave Sri Lanka for nearly 150 years.

After this, the Dutch would move into Sri Lanka from 1658 staying until 1796, making it part of the Dutch East India company or VOC, or – and I can’t really pronounce this terribly well – but Vereenigde Oost-indische Compagnie. Like the Portuguese before them, the Dutch also took control of the cinnamon industry. When during the French Revolution – which lasted from 1792 to 1801 – the Netherlands became part of France, the Dutch were forced to leave Sri Lanka.

The British East India company and The Raj then came to Sri Lanka. They called the island, Ceylon, and it stayed that way until the country became a republic in 1972. Like the Portuguese and the Dutch, the British also took control of the cinnamon trade.

What this did for the Sri Lankan people was to allow their colonizers, which they were, to not only take the crops from this land, but also to see if any other lands that they had colonized were suitable for growing the same crop. For example, the Dutch left Sri Lanka but took with them cinnamon seeds and plants and started growing them in their own territories in Java in Indonesia. Similarly, the British started growing them in their territories in the Caribbean.

As of 2020, Sri Lanka produces 85% of the world’s True Cinnamon where most of it headed to Mexico. And Indonesia is the top producer of Cassia. I should note here that the US mostly imports Cassia.

As of 2025, Taste Atlas identifies True Cinnamon as being number 7 on its Top 59 Spices in the World.

Cinnamon has been subject to adulteration. In an interview with author and science journalist Deborah Blum with Scientific American, she tells us that in the 19th century in the United States,

Quote

“If you were buying cinnamon, you were buying brick dust.”

End quote.

And, in recent years, cinnamon has been in the news for adulteration. For example, in 2024, it was reported that of over 36 ground cinnamon products investigated, 1 in 3 contained elevated levels of lead. There’s also concern of adulteration of, for example, True Cinnamon with Cassia, clove, and black pepper. As authors of a paper in the Food Control Journal puts it

Quote

“The issues associated with cinnamon fraud, from the supply chain stakeholders to the end consumer, have triggered further research for the development of accurate, reliable and sensitive analytical methods for identifying and quantifying potential adulterants in Ceylon cinnamon in a fast and efficient way, thus ensuring food safety.”

End quote.

So, make sure you remain vigilant in what you buy.

But, let’s finish on a more joyful subject, shall we?

How do True Cinnamon and Cassia differ in taste?

According to The Spruce Eats, True Cinnamon

Quote

“has a warm, sweet flavor and pungent aroma.”

End quote.

The Spruce Eats goes on to say that Cassia

Quote

“has a stronger flavor than the more subtle true cinnamon, which can have floral notes.”

End quote.

So, there you go.

How is True Cinnamon or Cassia now used in the culinary world?

In the East and North Africa, I find they use cinnamon in savory dishes. For example, I have tasted Moroccan Pastilla, which is a form of filo dough wrapped around pigeon or duck filled with spices including cinnamon.

In India, I always make my own “Garam Masala,” which is a blend of spices that includes cardamon, cloves and cinnamon, at home and always use True Cinnamon in the mix. I use these in savory dishes as well.

In Mexico, they use the True Cinnamon, which they call canela. They use it for dishes like “Moles” or sauces, and also in the rather nice Mexican hot chocolate.

In the UK, True Cinnamon is one of the spices that I reach for when I make a British Christmas pudding or when I make a minced pie. This is a pie that was originally filled with meat and spices but is now filled with various dried fruits like raisins, currants, sugar, and nutmeg, and apple, and cinnamon in a short crust pastry.

Or when I make “mulled wine,” which is wine warmed with sugar and spices. So, so good.

In the United States, we will find Cassia used mainly in baking. It is used in an apple pie, for example, to flavor the apple filling with warming spices.

It’s also used in cinnamon rolls like the ones I mentioned when I came to any US airport from the UK. This is from a cinnamon I am told by Mashed.com

Quote

“Indonesian cinnamon grown in the Korintjie region of West Sumatra.”

End quote.

So, there you go.

I used to think that all of the United States smelt that way.

So, there you have it. Cinnamon – whether True Cinnamon or Cassia – had quite the journey from Sri Lanka and China, through the tall tales from Arab traders, to ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, through colonization, and now, the ubiquitous smell of the airport bun.

What a journey.

See you next week folks.

OUTRO MUSIC

SM:

Make sure to check out the website associated with this podcast at www.EatMyGlobe.com where we will be posting the transcripts from each episode, along with all the references and resources we used putting the episodes together, in case you want to delve deeper into each subject. There is also a contact button, so please do let us know if there are any subjects that you would like us to cover.

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Thank you and goodbye from me, Simon Majumdar, we’ll speak to you soon on the next episode of EAT MY GLOBE: Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know About Food.

CREDITS

The EAT MY GLOBE Podcast is a production of “It’s Not Much But It’s Ours” and “Producer Girl Productions.”

[Ring sound]

We would also like to thank Sybil Villanueva for all of her help both with the editing of the transcripts and her essential help with the research.