CINNAMON. 



{Cinnamomum cassia blume.) 



"Sinament and ginger, nutmegs and cloves, 

 And that gave me my jolly red nose." 



— Ravenscroft, Deuteromela, Song 7 (/609). 



The cinnamons of the market are the 

 inner barks obtained from trees of tropi- 

 cal countries and islands. The plants are 

 quite ornamental ; twenty to forty feet 

 high ; smooth, enduring, green, simple 

 and entire leaves. The flowers are small 

 and very insignificant in appearance. 



Cinnamon is an old-time, highly- 

 priced spice. It is mentioned in the herb 

 book of the Chinese emperor Schen-nung 

 (2700 B. C), where it is described under 

 the name Kwei. From China it was in- 

 troduced into Egypt about 1600 or 1500 

 B. C. The cinnamon and cassia men- 

 tioned in the Bible were introduced by the 

 Phoenicians. About 400 or 300 B. C. 

 cinnamon still belonged to the rarities of 

 the market and little was known regard- 

 ing its origin and cultivation. Plinius 

 stated that it was not a native of Arabia, 

 hut does not explain what its native coun- 

 try was. About the fourth century of 

 our era cinnamon found its way into Tur- 

 key and Asia Minor, where it was em- 

 ployed as incense in church ceremonies. 

 In the sixth century Trallianus recom- 

 mended the still very expensive spice for 

 medicinal purposes. During the tenth 

 century the price of this article became 

 much reduced and it was used as a spice, 

 principally in the preparation of fish 

 meats. In England it was used in veter- 

 inary practice. Although China is un- 

 doubtedly the home of the cinnamons 

 they were apparently entirely overlooked 

 by Marco Polo, the eminent traveler and 

 historian, who visited the greater part of 

 China. Oil of cinnamon was prepared as 

 early as 1540. 



There are several varieties of cinnamon 

 upon the market. Cassia cinnamon, which 

 is a Chinese variety, is obtained from 

 Cinnamomum cassia. The bark is quite 

 thick and contains only a small amount 



of volatile or ethereal oil. It is of little 

 value yet it is exported on a large scale, 

 [t forms the cheap cinnamon of the mar- 

 ket. There are other Chinese cinnamons 

 of good quality which constitute the prin- 

 cipal commercial article. The Saigon 

 cinnamon is by far the best article. It 

 also is Chinese, obtained from an unde- 

 termined species. It is the strongest and 

 spiciest of the cinnamons and it is the 

 only variety official in the United States 

 Pharmacopoeia. The bark is of medium 

 thickness, deep reddish brown and rich 

 in volatile oil. The Ceylon cinnamon, 

 from India, is noted for the delicacy of its 

 flavor, but it contains comparatively lit- 

 tle volatile oil. The bark is very thin 

 and of a lighter brown color than that of 

 the Saigon cinnamon. 



Nearly all of the cinnamon of the mar- 

 ket is obtained from cultivated plants. 

 There are large plantations in southeast- 

 ern China, Cochin-China, India, Sunda 

 islands, Sumatra, Java and other tropical 

 countries and islands. In many instances 

 little or nothing is known regarding the 

 cultivation, collecting and curing of cin- 

 namons. As a rule the trees are pruned 

 for convenience in collecting the bark. In 

 the better-grade cinnamons the bark from 

 the younger twigs only (i-J to 2 years 

 old) is collected. This is removed in 

 quills, the outer corky inert layers being 

 discarded and dried. As the drying pro- 

 ceeds the smaller quills are telescoped in- 

 to the larger for convenience in handling, 

 packing and shipping. The color changes 

 to a reddish brown and the aroma in- 

 creases. Two' crops are collected an- 

 nually ; one, the principal crop, in May 

 and June ; the second from November to 

 January. The blossoms are formed dur- 

 ing May and June and the fruit ripens in 

 January; these periods correspond to the 



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