sca-cooks Cassia and ceylonica

[Terry Nutter]

Hi, Katerine Rountre here.

Adamantius responded to Sue Wensel:

>> Another big question is just what flavor changes have we experienced as a
>> result of our botanical tempering? And, while we have spices and plants of the
>> same name today as they did then, which ones are different? Are there any
>> beyond Cinnamon/cassia and Cinnamon/ceylon, which, while sharing a name, are
>> quite different in flavor?
>
>Well, for one thing, cassia and cinnamon are not the same plant, and are
>different in character above and beyond their geographical source. Also,
>in Medieval Europe, the part of the cassia that was used was the bud,
>not the bark. You can still find the buds if you know where to look, but
>they're not exactly common in the West today.

This isn't quite so, in two dimensions.  First, while ceylon and cassia are
not precisely the same, they are closely related (they are the only members
of the genus Cinamomum, being Cinamomum cassia and Cinamomum zeylonica).
And the bark of the two is not all that different.

Second, in medieval europe, they used both cassia buds and cassia bark, but
the second far more often than the first.  Indeed, the term "canel", which
appears to have been used in different times and places for one, the other,
or both, derives from the Latin meaning "tube", and refers directly to
the rolled shape that strips of bark assume when removed and dried.

Cassia buds seem to have been more commonly used in classical Rome than
cassia bark.

Cheers,

- -- Katerine/Terry