The dried bark of the cinnamon tree is one of the world’s oldest known spices. It is mentioned in the earliest Chinese botanical dialogue, which dates back to about 2800 BC, as well as in Egyptian papyruses and the Bible.
Cinnamon is important tree spice of the family Lauraceac. The generic name is derived from the Arabic or Persian mama, via the Greek amomum meaning spice, and the prefix chini to its believed origin.
Cinnamon of commerce is the dried inner bark of Cinnamon verum.
The bark contains about 1% essential oil. The active principles are eugenol, cineole, and cinnamaldehyde. It is used in stick form in fruit preserves.
Cinnamon is said to be antispasmodic, carminative, orexigenic, antidiarrhoeal, antimicrobial, refrigerant and anthelmintic.
According to a research, cinnamon helps control blood sugar and cholesterol in people with Type 2 diabetes increases cells’ sensitivity to insulin.
It also has been used for anorexia, intestinal colic, infantile, diarrhoea, common cold influenza and socially for flatulence colic and dyspepsia with nausea.
Cinnamon bark is an agreeable astringent and cordial and as such is used with advantage in dysentery and looseness, proceeding from a weekend and languid state of the bowels, and in indigestion and chronic nervous debility.
Cinnamon is a tree of the wet tropics and has a somewhat restricted natural range in Sri Lanka, India and South-east Asia.
Cinnamon is used in ground form in cakes, cookies and puddings, sauces and pickles. When stewing pears, a stick of cinnamon improves the flavor. With the advances in science, cinnamon is increasingly applied in various products.
Cinnamon