Cinnamomum cassia

Cassia cinnamon/Chinese cinnamon

Medium-sized evergreen tree with alternate, narrow elliptical, shiny green leaves with a yellowish, tomentose leaf stalk and tomentose leaf underside. The venation is divided into three prominent leaf veins. Cassia has inflorescences with felty hairs and small pale yellow flowers which give rise to black to magenta-red, oval stone fruits with a single seed.

Cassia cinnamon is somewhat more bitter than the well known Ceylon cinnamon (C. zeylanicum / C. verum) and, in contrast to true cinnamon, is a separate spice also known as Chinese cinnamon or bastard cinnamon in English.

When we prune the tree, we remove the bark from two-year-old shoots, dry it and grind it into cinnamon rind powder. The spice produced from this is sweet, warming and aromatic, although more bitter and woodier-tasting than true cinnamon.

Southern China

Lauraceae (Laurel family)

Spain

Cassia cinnamon is somewhat more bitter than the well known Ceylon cinnamon (C. zeylanicum / C. verum) and, in contrast to true cinnamon, is a separate spice also known as Chinese cinnamon or bastard cinnamon in English.

When we prune the tree, we remove the bark from two-year-old shoots, dry it and grind it into cinnamon rind powder. The spice produced from this is sweet, warming and aromatic, although more bitter and woodier-tasting than true cinnamon.

Cinnamomum cassia
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