Spices and Condiments 



383 



of a pea, crowned with the remains of the calyx and style of the flowers. It possesses a 

 very fragrant odour, and the name " Allspice " is derived from the fact that* the odour is 

 regarded as resembling a combination of the fragrance of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmegs. 



Cinnamon and Cassia 



This spice is the bark of young shoots of Cinnamonum zeylanicum, a small evergreen tree 

 indigenous to Ceylon and related to,; the camphor - tree, C. Camphor a. The. plant is also said 

 to be a native of the Malabar Coast, 1 and -has been introduced into Java, Reunion, the Cape 

 Verde Islands, Brazil, the West Indies, and Uganda. Cinnamon was -the most famous 

 of the early exports of Ceylon, and, until 1833, was a Government monopoly. With the 

 abolition of the monopoly the cultivation greatly increased, especially in the light, sandy 

 soils near the south-east coasts. .At the present day about 40,000 acres are under cinnamon 

 in Ceylon. '- • 



Left to itself, Cinnamonum zeylanicum would be a small tree, but in the plantations it 

 is kept coppiced in order to induce the formation of : long willOwy shoots from 'which the 

 bark may be obtained. The r * 



shoots are cut and trimmed 

 with a knife, the small waste 

 pieces resulting from the 

 operation being known in 

 the trade as " cinnamon 

 chips." The bark is then 

 slit longitudinally and re- 

 moved in strips with a 

 special knife. The strips 

 are collected into bundles, 

 which are piled in heaps to 

 undergo a slight fermenta- 

 tion, a process which facili- 

 tates the next operation of 

 removing the epidermis by 

 scraping with a curved knife. 

 The bark dries and contracts 

 into the well-known "quills," 

 which are bound into bundles. 

 Cinnamon peelers are a 

 separate caste among the 

 Sinhalese. 



The finest qualities of 

 cinnamon are light yellowish- 

 brown in colour, smooth, 

 very thin, and, to a certain 

 extent, pliable. Inferior 

 grades are darker and thicker, 

 with inferior fragrance. As is 

 the case in most spices, the 

 fragrance is due to the pres- 

 ence in the bark of a volatile 

 oil (" oil of cinnamon ") ; 

 similar but inferior oils are 

 obtained by distillation of nutmegs 



