Is Your Cinnamon True or False?

True cinnamon is Ceylon soft bark cinnamon (also known as Cinnamomum verum), which is made from the bark of a tree native to the islands of Sri Lanka, near the southern tip of India. False cinnamon by contrast, comes from a plant called cassia (Cinnamomum cassia), native to southern China. Spanning a much larger territory and therefore more readily available, cassia is much cheaper and often sold as cinnamon sticks. Its aroma, flavor, and texture are different from those of Ceylon cinnamon, but the FDA doesn't distinguish between the two. So, both show up in stores as cinnamon.

You can use cassia and Ceylon cinnamon interchangeably, but each will provide a slightly different flavor and intensity. Ceylon cinnamon is heady, sweet, and spicy, whereas cassia is more robust. But most people won’t be able to tell the difference.

In "The Deadly Confrontation," to be published in Black Sheep: Unique Stories of Terror and Wonder, a perfumer named Katerina is murdered in the room above her shop. She arrived from Rome two years ago. Her parents, also in the perfume business, were killed and their shop destroyed when the Great Fire swept through their city. Fortunately, Katerina had gone to Ostia to meet a shipment of cinnamon.

Miriam tells me that Katerina dealt in only Ceylon cinnamon. She was not killed for using false cinnamon. She was killed for failing to recognize a false friend. Don’t you make that mistake! To brush up on your detective skills, read a Miriam bat Isaac story. Just click here.