Cinna-mon

Cinnamon

History

Cinnamon is the dried bark of the perennial tree of C.zeylanicum of the Lauraceae family. True cinnamon is native to Sri Lanka. Cinnamon is originally grown wild in central hill country of Sri Lanka. The history of cinnamon dates back to about 2800 B.C where it can be found referenced as ”kwai” in Chinese writings. Cinnamon is even mentioned in the Bible when Moses used it as an ingredient for his anointing oil in ancient Rome. It was burned in Roman funerals perhaps partly as a way forward to off the odor of dead bodies. Emperor Nero is said to have burned a years’ worth of the dry supply of cinnamon at the funeral of his wife Poppaea Sabina. Ancient Egyptians used it in embalming mummies because of pleasant odors and its preservative qualities.

Products and Uses

Cinnamon bark is largely available in the form of quills and making quills is unique to Sri Lanka. Quills are made by rolling the pealed bark and join several of them together to get a pipe like structure in the required length. Other than that pieces of bark are available as chips, quillings or featherings. Cinnamon is unique plant which has essential oil in leaves, bark and roots but chemical composition of them are completely different from each other. Essential oils are produced from both bark and leaves; major chemical in bark oil is Cinnamaldehyde and in leaf oil Euginol. Cinnamon is also available in pure ground form or as an ingredient in curry mixtures and pelleted form. we export Finest quality cinnamon from Sri Lanka.

Cinnamon is not just cinnamon but two kinds of cinnamon, two types of species. There is the Cinnamomum Verum which we call Cinnamomum Zeylanicum which we will ordinarily call Ceylon Cinnamon and the Cinnamomum Cassia which we call Indonesian Cinnamon.

Cinnamomum Verum is the most famous cinnamon it comes from Ceylon, Brazil, India and Madagascar. It is the most expensive cinnamon, the cinnamon which has the most taste and the finest. The excellence of cinnamon.

Varieties

There are eight cinnamon species in Sri Lanka. Among them only Cinnamomum zeylanicum Blume is grown commercially. In tradition, there were several types of cinnamon categorized based on taste of the bark. “Pani-Miris Kurundu” was the best with sweet-pungent taste and “Miris Kurundu”, “Sevel Kurundu” and “Thiththa Kurundu” are the others. Currently ten cinnamon accessions have been identified based on yield and quality performances and best two lines, named as “Sri Vijaya” and “Sri Gamunu”, were released. Other selections are under evaluation in different agro climatic zones. Sri Lanka grown cinnamons has the different market place in the world.