Two kinds of cinnamon sticks in cross section on a dark wood board, one made of many thin rolled layers and one a single thick curl, beside a small pile of ground cinnamon

Cinnamon: The Complete Guide

September 29, 2026

The word cinnamon covers the dried inner bark of at least four different trees, and they differ in flavor, in structure and in chemistry. It is also old business: the McCormick Science Institute notes it was among the first spices sought in the fifteenth-century European explorations, and that some say it indirectly led to the European discovery of America. The spice harvest article follows the peelers at work, and the single-origin spices guide covers the sourcing model behind named-origin spices. What follows is particular to cinnamon.

One word, four trees

The McCormick Science Institute counts four culinary cinnamons. Ceylon cinnamon, also called true cinnamon, is Cinnamomum verum, previously known as Cinnamomum zeylanicum; the tree is native to Sri Lanka and also grows in southern India, Madagascar and, through a smallholder cooperative, on Zanzibar off Tanzania. The other three belong to the cassia group. Chinese cassia, Cinnamomum cassia, comes from China and Vietnam. Indonesian cinnamon, or korintje, is Cinnamomum burmannii, from Sumatra. Vietnamese or Saigon cinnamon, Cinnamomum loureiroi, grows in Vietnam, southern China and Laos.

In 2022 most of the world's cinnamon came from China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. For true cinnamon the picture narrows: according to Sri Lanka's export board, the island is the world's largest producer and exporter of true cinnamon, and its suppliers claim around ninety percent of the global market for it.

The chemistry explains the flavors. Good cinnamon bark carries up to about four percent essential oil, and the compound that reads as cinnamon heat is cinnamaldehyde, the flavor McCormick's scientists describe in terms of red-hot candy. The Vietnamese and Chinese varieties typically carry the most cinnamaldehyde and the spiciest flavor. Burlap and Barrel sources its Vietnamese cinnamon from what it describes as the mountains around the ancient capital of Hue in Quang Nam, and calls its Royal Cinnamon probably the most intense it has ever tasted. Ceylon is typically lower in cinnamaldehyde, and McCormick describes its flavors as fruity, floral and clove-like. The importer lists honey, orange peel and tea tree as tasting notes for its Sri Lankan quills, and describes its ground verum as complex, herbal and a little savory, with notes of pine, citrus peel and sea salt.

The four cinnamons side by side

	Ceylon, true cinnamon	Chinese cassia	Korintje	Saigon, royal
Tree	Cinnamomum verum	Cinnamomum cassia	Cinnamomum burmannii	Cinnamomum loureiroi
Grown in	Sri Lanka, southern India, Madagascar, Zanzibar	China, Vietnam	Sumatra, Indonesia	Central Vietnam, southern China, Laos
The stick	Many papery layers rolled into a dense quill	A single thick curl of bark	A single thick curl of bark	A single thick curl of bark
In the mouth	Fruity, floral and citrusy; the importer notes honey, orange peel and tea tree	High in cinnamaldehyde, spicy	Usually less spicy; balanced, warm and woodsy	With Chinese cassia, typically the highest cinnamaldehyde of the four
Where it fits	Infusions, rice pudding and desserts, stews and braises, tomato sauces and rubs	-	-	Baked goods, spice cookies, desserts, oatmeal, coffee and tea

How bark becomes a quill

The standard harvest, as McCormick describes it, runs like this: the outer bark is scraped off, the inner bark is stripped and laid in the sun, and as it dries it curls into the cylinders the trade calls quills. A cut cinnamon tree regenerates new branches, and a typical tree can be harvested for about forty to fifty years.

What happens between stripping and drying is where Sri Lanka stands apart. The export board describes the preparation of Ceylon quills as a combination of art and skill unique to Sri Lanka, handed down from generation to generation. The result is several fine layers of bark rolled into a single dense cylinder, which is why a cut Ceylon quill looks the way it does. Burlap and Barrel's quills are hand-rolled by a smallholder network around Matale, Sri Lanka, then cut to jar length.

In Vietnam the bark starts drying before it leaves the tree. For Royal Cinnamon, the harvesters make a deep cut around the base of the tree and let the bark dry on the tree for a couple of weeks, which, the importer says, preserves essential oils that would otherwise evaporate.

Ceylon quills are then graded. The export board describes four major grades by diameter, Alba, Continental, Mexican and Hamburg, with Alba, the thinnest at about six millimeters, the most expensive.

Telling them apart in ten seconds

The stick gives itself away in cross section. Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, the BfR, describes the difference: in cassia, a relatively thick outer layer forms a small roll, while the cross section of a Ceylon stick resembles a cut cigar, several fine rolled-up layers packed relatively densely together.

Powder is another matter. The BfR notes that ground Ceylon and ground cassia are hardly possible to tell apart, though a product can state the type, Ceylon cinnamon, on its packaging. A jar that says only cinnamon leaves the question open.

Which cinnamon for which job

The quill is an infusion tool. A whole Ceylon quill dropped into the milk for rice pudding, a pot of chai (the chai from loose leaf recipe) or a batch of drinking chocolate (the hot chocolate versus drinking chocolate guide) gives up its perfume slowly and lifts out clean. The importer's own use list for its quills runs to warm drinks, rice pudding and other desserts, and long-cooked stews and braises. Ground cinnamon is a dispersal tool, for doughs, batters, rubs and anywhere the spice must spread evenly.

Match the species to the register of the dish. Saigon cinnamon, sold by its importer as Royal Cinnamon (shop Royal Cinnamon), is the loud one, and the importer points it at baked goods, spice cookies and desserts, as well as oatmeal, coffee and tea. Ceylon, sold as Cinnamon Verum (shop Cinnamon Verum), is the subtler, more savory-leaning style; its importer points it at tomato sauces, stews, chili and barbecue rubs as readily as at oatmeal, rice dishes and tagines. For toast, the same importer blends both of those cinnamons with golden crystal sugar, coconut sugar and cardamom into Cinnamon Sugar Crunch (shop Cinnamon Sugar Crunch), meant for sprinkling over warm buttered toast or pancakes.

Ground spices bloom in seconds and burn in a few more, so the guide to toasting and blooming spices treats ground cinnamon gently: bloom it briefly in butter, ten to fifteen seconds, or add it raw and late. A whole quill can take thirty to sixty seconds in fat and comes out before it darkens.

How long cinnamon keeps

Cinnamon's flavor lives in volatile oils, and spices do not spoil so much as fade as those oils leave. Whole quills, in a sealed tin or opaque jar kept cool and dark, keep for years; ground cinnamon keeps for months. The spice expiry article gives the test: rub a pinch hard in your palm and smell it. A live spice announces itself immediately, and a dead one smells of nothing.

Reading the label

A good cinnamon label answers the questions the word cinnamon alone does not. Which tree: a species name, verum or zeylanicum, cassia, burmannii or loureiroi, or the plain-language equivalent, Ceylon, korintje, Saigon. Where and from whom: a named country at minimum, and at best a named region or farmer network, Matale or Quang Nam rather than simply product of Asia. Burlap and Barrel's product pages name Matale for its quills, Zanzibar for its ground verum and Quang Nam for Royal Cinnamon; the Burlap and Barrel producer guide covers how that supply chain works.

None of this makes an unlabeled jar useless. It makes it anonymous, and with a spice whose four species cook this differently, anonymity is the one real defect. The cinnamon recipe to learn first is where to start cooking with it.

The Ambrosian Pantry is at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver, ships nationwide from theambrosianpantry.com, and visitors can ask staff questions in the shop.