Topic: Cinnamon

[livo]

Most of what Robbo has photographed there is what I expect to see when I buy Cinnamon Sticks (or quills) here in Australia.
 https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#9339c69d77dae57e4802a77dfe582683.jpeg
There are a few pieces in the middle which are what I'd have thought could be Cassia Bark.  Of course I could be well wrong and spices are a bit hit and miss over here, however here is my logic.

See the first 5 photographs of the last bag of Cinnamon sticks I bought.  Indeed some of it is paper thin and then some is about 1 mm thick and some up to 1.5 or 2  mm thickness.  This is, as I expected, the inner bark of the tree.  There is no evidence of outer bark and it is of Genus Cinnamomum but actual Species unknown. Of course there are Cinnamomum Spp from different geographical locations and Ceylon Cinnamon (Cinnamomum Verum) is the variety known as "True Cinnamon".  What I have here is Indian Cinnamon Sticks, which could be Verum, but who knows.

The last 2 photographs are what I expect to see when I purchase Cassia Bark.  It is flatter, not curled up and clearly shows the outer surface of the actual outer bark, which should be of the Cinnamomum Cassia (or Chinese Cinnamon).  Unfortunately, I no longer have the bag but it read Cinnamon Flat.  As I said, my previous bag was clearly labelled Cassia Bark.

In the instance of these 2 spices I have, there is a distinctly different aroma, with the quills being much "sweeter and richer" than the flat bark which has very little smell at all really.  Of course these are both out of India so are probably a variety of Cinnamomum tree which is neither or either Verum or Cassia spp, or some other spp.

I once bought a bag of ground Chinese Cinnamon from a Chinese Grocer and it was awful stuff.  You would never use it to make Cinnamon sugar for cinnamon toast or cinnamon doughnuts.  I have ground up my Cinnamon quills to make cinnamon sugar and it is what I would call the right stuff, ie: not Cassia.

[Peripatetic Phil]

These are what I would expect when I purchase cinnamon quills, Livo —

--
** Phil.

[livo]

Is that how you buy them Phil?  How do you know what these are?  Are they True Cinnamon?  What is the country of origin?

[Peripatetic Phil]

Those are what I would expect, Livo, and they are what I have purchased in the past.  Unfortunately I am in the office today, so can't say what is on the label, but I would be extremely surprised if they were not Ceylonese Cinnamomum verum.
--
** Phil.