[Sca-cooks] Cassia vs. "True" Cinnamon

[Carol Eskesen Smith]

Cordelia, you probably have cassia.  It's hot and sharp; true cinnamon is slightly sweet and has an undernote of clove which cassia does not have.

Regards,
Brekke
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Carole Smith<mailto:renaissancespirit2 at yahoo.com> 
  To: mooncat at in-tch.com<mailto:mooncat at in-tch.com> ; Cooks within the SCA<mailto:sca-cooks at ansteorra.org> 
  Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2005 5:27 PM
  Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Cassia vs. "True" Cinnamon


  I've got some sticks of something I was told was Chinese cinnamon.  The outside surface is very dark.  Tastewise it makes me think of red-hot candies which I ate as a child.  Which form of cinnamon do I have?
   
  Cordelia Toser

  Sue Clemenger <mooncat at in-tch.com<mailto:mooncat at in-tch.com>> wrote:
  I've got sticks in both true cinnamon (from the Pepperers' Guild), and
  the more common Cassia, and they're distinctly different colors, as well
  as smelling and tasting different. My true cinnamon pieces are several 
  shades lighter in color, so I guess you could say they're less harsh in 
  color, as well as taste. ;-)
  --maire, also enjoying the sugar beet thread, if only for the weirdness 
  of how it relates to my everyday life, because the office in which I 
  work IS an old sugar beet factory! 

  Carol Eskesen Smith wrote:
  > Dear Elaynne,
  > 
  > in re your locally available cinnamon sticks, if they're very thin
  > and flaky, they're probably true cinnamon. If they're fairly thick,
  > they're probably Cassia. True cinnamon has a milder, less hot flavor
  > than cassia, with a little more clove note. Cassia is harsher and
  > hotter.

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