Popular in the West in apple desserts - but in the Middle East in meat stews. Cinnamon (properly speaking, C. zeylanicum) is the bark of a small evergreen tree containing an aromatic essential oil, native to India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal. It's harvested by growing the tree for two years before coppicing it to force shoots to form from the roots the following year. These shoots are stripped of their bark which is separated to use only the thin inner bark, leaving long strips that curl into quills as they dry and are cut into 5 inch lengths.

Posted on Thursday 22nd July 2010 in Information, Ingredients