CINNAMON

Chemical properties

The Ceylon cinnamon tree can grow to 10 m. It has long, lanceolated leaves, small flowers in clusters and small fruits. It is cultivated by extensive pruning (coppicing). Increasingly, significant plantations are available in the Seychilles and in Brazil. The whole outer bark is peeled from the trees every 2 years; the outer corky layer is removed by careful scraping, and the bark strips are sun-dried. Cinnamon, commercially known as “Saigon cinnamon,” has superior odor and flavor and is produced from the bark of trees grown in the Saigon district of Vietnam. Saigon cinnamon is used mainly as a ground spice. Chinese cinnamon or cassia is the dried bark of C. cassia, a large tree that grows wild in Southeast Asia. The dried inner bark of the shoots of coppiced trees and the leaves are the parts used. Cinnamon has a somewhat bitter flavor, slightly pungent and burning.
The genus Cinnamomum includes several species of great economic importance with various species or parts of the same plant producing different and variable products for human use. For detailed description of cinnamon, refer to Burdock (1997).

Occurrence

Cinnamon is found in India, South America, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies.

The Uses of CINNAMON

Cinnamon is a spice made from the dried bark of the evergreen tree cinnamomum cassia. commercial types are saigon cassia and batavia cass ia . cey lon c innamon is the d r ied inne r ba rk o f shoo ts o f c . zey lanicum nees. in the ground form it is used in beverages, desserts, and fruits while in the stick form it is used in beverages, meats, and fruits.

Composition

The essential oils are primarily constituted of 65 to 80% cinnamaldehyde and lesser percentages of various other phenols and terpenens, including eugenol, trans-cinnamic acid, hydroxycinnamaldehyde, o-methoxycinnamaldehyde, cinnamyl alcohol and its acetate, limonene, α-terpineol, tannins, mucilage, oligomeric procynidine and trace amounts of coumarin.

Aroma threshold values

Detection for cinnemaldehyde: 750 ppb