Why Is Ceylon Cinnamon So Special?

Transcribed by YouTube

This cinnamon was once as valuable as gold, it's known as Ceylon cinnamon or true cinnamon, and it's healthier and sweeter than other kinds. Sri Lanka produces 90% of the world's supply, but true cinnamon is up against a powerful rival a lower quality kind called Cassia, it can be unhealthy in large amounts, but it's up to 10 times cheaper, so it dominates the global market. The problem is Cassia and Ceylon look nearly identical in powder form, and loose labeling laws make it easy for brands to mix in cheap Casa with the more expensive stuff, or replace it completely, so why is this Sri Lankan spice considered to be the best cinnamon in the world, and how do you know it's actually what's in your spice?

Rack Sunth harvests cinnamon for Rtha, one of Sri Lanka's largest producers. He starts working in the fields before sunrise, so he can harvest the spice while there's moisture in the air. Ceylon comes from the inner bark of cinnamon tree branches, they have to be cut at an inward angle, if Sunth cuts carefully he can harvest each tree for half a century after about 4 hours of cutting, he hauls the last batch of branches back to the estate's main building, each bundle of branches is soaked in water tank for at least 15 minutes, this will make the bark easier to peel off.

Suess work has just begun until at least 1 p.m., he works with a team of peelers like San to scrape each branch one by one, it exposes a softer inner bark, this is the actual cinnamon brass rods, smooth the surface and loosen the cinnamon from the hard wood, then with surgical Precision they carve and slice the bark into thin strips known as quills the quills are so thin, that they immediately curl up as they dry small pieces of inner bark called quillings prevent rips.

San gets paid by the weight. The quills typically need to dry for a week then they're sent off to the factory to be processed 15 minutes down the road.

Sorter determine the value of each quill, the thinner the quill the more expensive, it is just like meat, cinnamon gets a grade. Rtha uses eight in total all based on diameter, the highest quality known as ALBA is as thin as a pencil, it's twice as valuable as H2 FAQ, the lowest grade. Only one in about 25 quills gets the Alba grade. Sorters like Violet grade thousands of quills a day and she can grade each one in a few seconds.

Once the quills are sorted, they cut them into different lengths and package them up for shipping, the long cuts are packaged in bulk to be sold wholesale, shorter 3-inch sticks go to grocery stores, but for much of human history, a sack of this cinnamon would have been worth a fortune, the spice was traded across the ancient world since at least 2,000 BC, merchants pedal legends that the sweet smelling bark came from the nest of a mythical bird, at one point cinnamon was more valuable than gold by the 13th century.

Sri Lanka had begun exporting the spice directly to Egypt, and Arab traders brought it to Medieval Europe, Ceylon cinnamon was so sought, after it became a status symbol for the rich. Soon European countries wanted to profit off the trade themselves for more than 300 years, the Portuguese, Dutch, and British bought over the island, and control of its valuable exports, the country declared independence and regained control of its cinnamon lands in 1948, but by then a cheaper alternative Cassia had already begun to dominate the market.

Cassia comes from a totally different tree which grows taller and has thicker bark most of it is produced on farms in east or southeast Asia, like this one in Indonesia the country has roughly twice the amount of cinnamon plantations, as Sri Lanka producers can harvest entire trees at one time, the process requires fewer workers, and makes it easier to produce in bulk, Cassia farmers can harvest 10 times the amount of cinnamon per acre than Ceylon farmers, but Cassia could pack hidden health risks.

Ceylon cinnamon boosts the immune system, lowers blood pressure, and stabilizes blood sugar. Cassia has health benefits too, but it contains high levels of a compound called Cumerin which can cause liver damage if consumed in high doses. Cassia can have 250 times more of it than Ceylon but you'd have to eat roughly a teaspoon of Cassia a day for weeks to put yourself at risk.

Countries like Germany have rules to limit Cumarin in foods, the US doesn't regulate the amount of Cumarin in cinnamon, so how do you spot the difference in the spice aisle? It's easier when you're buying cinnamon sticks.

Ceylon quills have more of a brown hue, if they look red there's a good chance you're eating Cassia. Cassia sticks are also thicker, they're usually half an inch and hard To break, meanwhile Ceylon can be as fragile as cigar paper, taste can be another giveaway, Cassia usually has a strong and spicy flavor, Ceylon is sweeter and milder, but powdered cinnamon is harder to verify, some frauds have been caught mixing powdered Cassia with Ceylon, but marketing it as pure Ceylon. One study found that over half of the products in European and US grocery stores contained mixed cinnamon, once it like mixed with Ceylon cinnamon and Cassia, it's hard to detect, what is there only the Cumarin content help the people to know this one, but the consumers they are far away from that kind of test, but she says no one in the US or the EU is stopping this. In the US it's estimated that the FDA only physically inspects 1-2% of imported foods like spices, the regulatory authorities they are kind of in a deep in a silence in this adulteration, even their health consequences they are not taking any action.

So how is Sri Lanka supposed to compete in an industry filled with fraud? In 2022 it scored a major win the European Union granted a coveted geographical indication tag to Ceylon cinnamon, that means any spice bottle labeled Ceylon in the EU has to come from Sri Lanka. It's like how real champagne can only come from one region of France, the tag could reduce competition, increase Ceylon's value, and boost sales, but it only goes so far in both the EU and US, brands don't have to add the tag, or indicate what type of cinnamon they're selling, so it's hard for customers to know what they're eating.

D Silva says, adding the botanical or species name of salon on the ingredients list will help inform customers, so the consumer knows that cinnamon comes from which area of the Sri Lanka even, and then who did the process accessing which conditions they use, she hopes this will help Sri Lanka's thousands of producers earn more for their Ceylon. It's a culture how many people depend on this industry.