Cinnamon and 'cinnamon'
Oct. 25th, 2021 02:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anna_wingA really interesting article about the Sri Lankan cinnamon industry from Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/10/18/harvesting-true-cinnamon-the-story-of-the-ceylon-spice
Housekeeper is Sri Lankan, so Before COVID, I used to get regular supplies of Sri Lankan tea, spices (including cinnamon) and Sri Lankan ginger biscuits, The Best In The World (TM). We use both cassia and cinnamon, for different dishes, and there is a clear difference. Cassia is an ingredient of Chinese 5-spice powder, so it goes into all the Chinese cooking, but for everything else, whether curries or baking, we use true cinnamon.
My family's house in the motherland has a full-grown cinnamon tree, and while we don't harvest it for the bark, bunches of the thinner, leafy twigs make lovely, scented green bouquets at Christmas.
Housekeeper is Sri Lankan, so Before COVID, I used to get regular supplies of Sri Lankan tea, spices (including cinnamon) and Sri Lankan ginger biscuits, The Best In The World (TM). We use both cassia and cinnamon, for different dishes, and there is a clear difference. Cassia is an ingredient of Chinese 5-spice powder, so it goes into all the Chinese cooking, but for everything else, whether curries or baking, we use true cinnamon.
My family's house in the motherland has a full-grown cinnamon tree, and while we don't harvest it for the bark, bunches of the thinner, leafy twigs make lovely, scented green bouquets at Christmas.
no subject
Date: 2021-10-25 08:43 am (UTC)That's really nice!
I have a strong preference for cinnamon over cassia, flavor-wise, but a lot of recipes and restaurants seem to use them interchangeably.
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Date: 2021-10-25 11:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-25 01:31 pm (UTC)