Cinnamon is a glamorous and enchanting spice that is well known not only for its herbal values but for the amazing taste and relaxing aroma. One Google would give you tons of cinnamon recipes which shows how much people love and favours cinnamon above many other ingredients. Apart from that the tales and the long **history of cinnamon** depicts why cinnamon is some sort of an icon in world history. Among many of these things have you ever known that there are several types of cinnamon.
Actually there are four types of cinnamon. They are Ceylon, Chinese Cassia, Saigon and Korintje. However just a fraction of people know that only one variety of them is true cinnamon, which has the heavenly power of bringing the youth, which holds the title for all the stories and the attraction for the flavor. That is Ceylon cinnamon which only grows in Sri Lanka while all of the other varieties are contained with poisonous chemicals. For a better understanding let us look into each type separately with a thorough analysis.
Chinese Cassia
This is the most common type of cinnamon and it is called supermarket cinnamon due to its abundance. Chinese cinnamon is the other common name used to identify this variety while ‘Cinnamomum aromaticum’ is the scientific name of it. When it comes to the flavor of chinese cassia, it is more pungent , less sweet and slightly bitter. The texture is rougher than the original cinnamon ( ceylon cinnamon) which makes the experience quite harsh. The only plus side can be seen in the chinese cassia is it is low in price but the negative effects overwhelms the bright side. Chinese cassia is loaded with a chemical known as coumarin which causes Liver and kidney damages.
Saigon Cinnamon
This type of cinnamon is commonly known as Vietnam cinnamon as it is grown in Vietnam. Compared to other cassia varieties saigon cinnamon is quite spicy and muc expensive. The colour of saigon is dark reddish brown. When it comes to taste though it is more spicy, strong and sweet at the same time the drawback is all these special qualities come from internal coumarin which is extremely toxic. Comparatively to other cinnamon varieties saigon contains the highest amount of coumarin which is 8%. Therefore it is thoroughly advised to rarely use Saigon cinnamon if you are thinking of including Saigon to the meal.
Korintje Cinnamon
Korintje cinnamon in other words, Indonese cinnamon is the dominating type of cinnamon in North America and Canada. Concisely this is not due to any attractive quality of Indonese variety but as most of importers are mistaken with true cinnamon ( ceylon cinnamon) and others are following artful schemas to earn higher profit from cheap Korintje. This variety is spicy , strong smelling and dark reddish brown as the same as the other two cassia varieties ( Chinese cassia, Saigon Cassia). Also this indonese cinnamon contains high amounts of coumarin which damages the liver and kidney. Plus, many of Mexiacan and European ceylon cinnamon recipes are erroneously replaced by Korintje cinnamon (Indonese cinnamon) in US and Canada which eradicates the taste profile of actual recipes adding a harsh taste to the dish.
Ceylon Cinnamon
Ceylon cinnamon is called ‘true cinnamon’ by the expertise owing to its unique taste and relaxing aroma. Contrary to other cinnamon varieties (Saigon, Korintje and Chinese cinnamon) which belong to the cassia family, ceylon cinnamon is genetically so much different and advanced as the human who is still a type of ape but way more intellectual. Therefore ceylon cinnamon consists of a subtle note and a mild sweet taste where the texture is soft, thus aftermath done by ceylon cinnamon on various dishes are splendid. And considering the color ceylon cinnamon is light to medium reddish brown while other varieties are dark reddish brown Rather than the distinctive savour, ceylon cinnamon is widely known for its vast ** health benefits***. A separate section in our blog is allocated to share the wisdom about the power of ceylon cinnamon. Most importantly ceylon cinnamon has negligible amount of coumarin making it the one and only cinnamon suitable for your dish.
Following table demonstrate a summary about above details
Final Analysis
Even looking into the above details any one can easily understand that even though there are known 4 types , actually there exist two transparent groups of cinnamon. One is ‘cassia’ variety (whether it is Saigon, Korintje or Chinese) where it is spicy, not very healthy, probably extremely health degrading due to the high coumarin content. Another one in ‘Ceylon cinnamon’ which consist of an enchanting aroma and a subtle note, plus considered as a superb herbal that assists is in a large number of diseases. ‘Cassia’ and ‘Ceylon cinnamon’ ( True cinnamon according to the expertise) are different from each other from many factors including colour,texture,taste, aroma, phytochemical properties, health benefits and manufacturing processes making us question ‘Are they both cinnamon?’
Answer is only the ‘Ceylon cinnamon’ is the actual cinnamon which was known for hundreds of years and Ayurveda is used as a herbal. The best proof for that is the cinnamon usage of cinnamon who uses cinnamon for every dish from the colonial period , as a gift from Europeans.
The table depicts that while the US,Canada and most of the countries are deceived by Indonese cinnamon, Mexico is only using Ceylon cinnamon ( 97% is a confident ONLY) for their cinnamon purpose. Because they know what is True and what is Fake.