Spice it up with cinnamon

I’M NOT quite sure what’s going on but it’s becoming more difficult to find really good cinnamon — frequently what is sold as cinnamon is its coarser cousin cassia.

Most of the real cinnamon comes not from India but from Sri Lanka. The latter is the biggest exporter of cinnamon in the world by far. Cinnamon trees grow happily in the same kind of tropical climates as tea and rubber. They can grow to a height of 20ft-30ft but are carefully pruned to a height of six feet so the branches grow in a spindly fashion. These are cut when they are about the thickness of a brush handle and six to eight feet long.

I visited a cinnamon plantation in Sri Lanka some time ago. The grower explained that one can start to harvest the cinnamon after three and a half years in December and January and then again in August. The art of peeling the bark is very specialised and done by a people from a particular caste called Salagama. The cinnamon peelers sit side by side, cross-legged in a shed. It is fascinating to watch. One person peels off the outer bark, then the next carefully slits the inner layer with a short knife and lifts it off in long pieces. This will curl up as it dries and can then be sold in cinnamon quills or sticks for use in sweet and savoury dishes and medicines. Cinnamon is now known to be a cure for type II diabetes. It brings blood sugar levels down naturally and mimics the action of insulin. In Sri Lanka people also drink cinnamon tea to help reduce cholesterol — just add a quarter of a teaspoon of freshly ground cinnamon to a cup of weak tea. Omit the milk.