In the Chinese kitchen, a bark-like spice - Cinnamon is common.

It is used in meat stews and vegetables to remove fishy smells and add flavor while in traditional Chinese medicine stores, cinnamon will often be used in pharmaceutical drugs. Besides, when you pass by the window of a Western-style bakery, a vortex-like small bread - cinnamon rolls can always stand out from many European breads and seize your sense of smell with an extremely domineering and strong aroma.

History of Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a good product for medicine and food. It was originally included in Shennong's Herbal Classic and was listed as a top-class valuable Chinese medicine, which is the first in the wood. Li Shizhen described that the name of cinnamon is derived from its shape and color.

Cinnamon is native to Asia and later passed to Europe. It even said that it caused the Western Age of Discovery with its strong and magnificent cinnamon aroma.
The main planting area of cinnamon in China is Guangxi Province, which is known as a large cinnamon province.

Cinnamon,cinnamon sticks and cinnamon bark?  

Cinnamon is narrowly defined as the cinnamon tree under the genus Cinnamomum in the family Lauraceae, and there are several trees with similar fragrances under this genus, such as burmannii, austrosinense H. T. Chang, japonicum Sieb, wilsonii Gamble, etc.

Sticks and cinnamon both come from the cinnamon tree, and the cinnamon bark we use in our daily cooking comes from cinnamon trees such as the Subavenium Miq.
Cinnamon bark has long been used as a spice by the ancient Chinese, for example, in Qu Yuan's Elegies of The South, it is written to honor the gods with the best offering which is the wine made with cinnamon bark.

The other is what we are very familiar with osmanthus. Whether it is osmanthus sugar lotus root, osmanthus cake, or sugar osmanthus, they are very popular national desserts, this kind of osmanthus is the flower of the osmanthus flowers tree, which is in the genus Osmanthus in the family Oleaceae and is not related to cinnamon trees.

There's another spice that many people may not know the source, and that's the bay leaf in the kitchen. It is the leaf of the bay tree, genus Laurus in the family Lauraceae, which is still a close relative of cinnamon. 

Bay leaf seems to be a traditional Chinese spice, but it is actually of proper Mediterranean origin. In Mediterranean cuisine, it is commonly used in soups, liver pâtés and stews.

The laurel leaves are also regarded as a symbol of glory and victory by Westerners, hence the laurel crown. 

Why is cinnamon so rolled?

Often confused with the cinnamon we know in China, it is its overseas sibling, Ceylon Cinnamon.

Ceylon is the ancient name of Sri Lanka, and Ceylon cinnamon also belongs to the genus Cinnamomum.

Chinese cinnamon bark is thick, while Ceylon cinnamon bark is thin. The former is made as follows. With a peeling knife, ring cut the tree roundly, open the bark vertically, ring cut the tree roundly, and peel off the bark at last, directly propped up to dry which the bark will become natural inward. Ceylon cinnamon is thin, usually need to carefully peel off the outer layer of the epidermis with a small knife first, and then open the inner layer of the bark to peel off it and roll it layer by layer.

Because of this, sun-dried Chinese cinnamon is generally thick and stout, with a limited number of curly layers, while Ceylon cinnamon is thin and slender, with many curly layers.

What is the taste of cinnamon?

I believe many of you have never tasted cinnamon directly.

When you break off a small piece and chew it in your mouth, first are the wood chips of the bark, and then you will taste a special sweetness, and then it will be spicy. There is no big difference in taste between Chinese cinnamon and Ceylon cinnamon, except for a spicier and more intense flavor, while Ceylon cinnamon has a thicker and sweeter flavor.  

The scent of cinnamon is mainly from cinnamaldehyde, which is 87% of the volatile oil of cinnamon.

Cinnamon, a spice with a unique aroma, has always been incorporated into the daily diet in different ways, either sweet or savory, and all bring a wonderful taste to people.