Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a spice harvested from the inner bark of certain trees in the genus *Cinnamomum*. It is primarily used to add aroma and flavor to a broad range of foods, both sweet and savory. Its distinctive scent and taste come from its essential oil, mainly cinnamaldehyde, along with other compounds like eugenol.

The term "cinnamon" refers to several tree species and the commercial spice they produce, all belonging to the genus *Cinnamomum* in the laurel family. Only a few of these species are grown for spice production. *Cinnamomum verum* (also called *C. zeylanicum*), known as Ceylon cinnamon after its origin in Sri Lanka, is considered true cinnamon. However, most cinnamon sold worldwide comes from four other species, collectively called cassia: *C. burmanni* (Indonesian cinnamon), *C. cassia* (Chinese cinnamon), *C. loureiroi* (Saigon cinnamon), and the less common *C. citriodorum* (Malabar cinnamon). In 2023, global cinnamon production reached 238,403 tonnes, with China accounting for 39% of that total.

The English word "cinnamon" has been used since the 15th century, coming from the Ancient Greek *kinnámōmon* (later *kínnamon*), through Latin and medieval French. The Greek term was borrowed from a Phoenician word related to the Hebrew *qinnāmōn*. The name "cassia" appeared in late Old English from Latin, ultimately from the Hebrew *qetsīʿāh*, which comes from a verb meaning "to strip off bark." Early Modern English also used "canel" and "canella," similar to names for cinnamon in other European languages, derived from the Latin *cannella*, a diminutive of *canna* ("tube"), referring to how the bark curls as it dries.

Cinnamon has been known since ancient times. It was brought to Egypt as early as 2000 BC, though reports that it came from China actually confused it with cassia. It was so valued that it was considered a gift fit for royalty. For centuries, Mediterranean spice traders kept its source a secret to protect their monopoly. In Ancient Egypt, cinnamon was used in embalming mummies. From the Ptolemaic period onward, Egyptian recipes for kyphi, an aromatic incense, included cinnamon and cassia. Hellenistic rulers sometimes gave cassia and cinnamon as gifts to temples.

The first Greek mention of *kasía* appears in a poem by Sappho from the 7th century BC. Herodotus wrote that both cinnamon and cassia grew in Arabia, guarded by winged serpents, alongside incense, myrrh, and labdanum. He, Aristotle, and other authors named Arabia as the source, claiming giant "cinnamon birds" collected the sticks from an unknown land to build their nests. Pliny the Elder described cinnamon being transported around the Arabian Peninsula on rafts without rudders, sails, or oars, using winter trade winds. He also noted that cassia was used to flavor wine and that the cinnamon-bird story was a trader's fiction to inflate prices, though the tale persisted in Byzantium as late as 1310. Pliny reported that a Roman pound of cassia or cinnamon could cost up to 1,500 denarii—the equivalent of fifty months' wages. Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices in 301 AD set a price of 125 denarii per pound of cassia, while a laborer earned 25 denarii a day. Cinnamon was too expensive for common use on funeral pyres in Rome, but Emperor Nero reportedly burned a year's supply at his wife Poppaea Sabina's funeral in AD 65.

During the Middle Ages, cameline sauce, made with cinnamon, was a common table condiment in Western Europe. Yet the spice's origin remained a mystery. Europeans, reading Latin authors who quoted Herodotus, knew cinnamon came up the Red Sea to Egyptian ports, but not where it originated. When the Sieur de Joinville accompanied King Louis IX of France to Egypt on the Seventh Crusade in 1248, he believed a story that cinnamon was fished up in nets at the Nile's source at the edge of the world (Ethiopia). Marco Polo avoided the topic. The first mention that the spice grew in India came from Maimonides's *Mishneh Torah* around 1180. The first specific mention of Sri Lanka was in Zakariya al-Qazwini's work around 1270, followed by a letter from John of Montecorvino about 1292. Indonesian rafts carried cinnamon directly from the Moluccas to East Africa, where local traders took it north to Alexandria. Venetian traders held a monopoly on the spice in Europe, distributing cinnamon from Alexandria. Disruptions to this trade by the Mamluk sultans and the Ottoman Empire helped drive Europeans to seek other routes to Asia.

In the 1500s, Ferdinand Magellan, searching for spices for Spain, found *Cinnamomum mindanaense* in the Philippines.