In the Middle Ages, the source of cinnamon was a mystery to the world.

It is now known that Cinnamon originated on the tiny island of Sri Lanka off the coast of India.



Indonesian rafts transported the cinnamon to one of the Moluccas in East Africa, where local traders brought it to the Roman market.



Ceylon's cinnamon is also known as real cinnamon. This distinguishes it from other forms of cinnamon that were once considered inferior. Cinnamon from present-day Sri Lanka was considered superior to ancient Roman times.



What we now call Ceylon cinnamon was used throughout the ancient world. For example, the Egyptians used it in the embalming process.



According to Pliny, cinnamon was more valuable by weight than silver.



Ceylon's cinnamon was brought to Europe by Arab traders, where it became a luxury ingredient for the rich. The use of this spice became a symbol of wealth. Merchants managed to keep the source of true cinnamon secret until the 16th century, thus maintaining their monopoly on it.



The Arab merchants

They brought the spice through land trade routes to Alexandria, where it was bought by Venetian merchants from Italy who had a monopoly on the spice trade in Europe.



The disruption of this trade by the rise of other Mediterranean powers, such as the sultans and the Ottoman Empire, was one of the many factors that led Europeans to seek wider other routes to Asia.



Portuguese merchants

They finally arrived in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in the early sixteenth century and restructured the traditional production and management of cinnamon by the Sinhalese, who later held the cinnamon monopoly on Ceylon.



The Portuguese built a fort on the island in 1518 and protected their own monopoly for over a hundred years.



Dutch merchants

Dutch merchants eventually disbanded the Portuguese by allying with the Inner Kingdom of Candy.

The Dutch East India Company continued to review nature harvesting methods and eventually began growing its own trees.



In 1767, Lord Brown of the East India Company established the Anjarakkandy Cinnamon Estate in the Kerala region, making it the largest cinnamon estate in Asia.



The British took control of the island from the Dutch in 1796.



However, the importance of the Ceylon monopoly had already diminished as the cultivation of cinnamon spread to other areas, the more common cashew bark was accepted by consumers and coffee, tea, sugar and chocolate began to gain popularity. of traditional spices.



Ceylon's cinnamon flavor profile

Ceylon's cinnamon has a floral flavor note that is not as hot as cassia cinnamon. Its distinctive taste has subtle notes of clove, as well as notes of vanilla and citrus.





Uses

Ceylon's cinnamon is the preferred cinnamon in Central and South America, as well as in South Asia. In India and Sri Lanka, it is used in garam masala and tea, among many other dishes. South Americans use it in chocolate.





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