Ceylon Cinnamon Sticks

Dalchini : - Cinnamon powder and uses

1. Influenza: Boil the mix of 2½ gm. cinnamon, 500 mg cloves, and 1 gm ginger root in 1/2 liter water till water is reduced to 200 ml. Strain the solution. Give 40 ml of this solution thrice a day. It cures influenza fever.

2. Cold and cough: Mix pinch of cinnamon powder with 1 spoon of honey and take it 3 times a day to relive cough. Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum)

3. Diarrhoea (diarrhea ), loose motion: For diarrhoea ( diarrhea )treatment, cinnamon or dalchini is taken with equal amount of sonth, cumin seeds and honey. Make a thick paste by adding honey. Take 1 teaspoon of it three times a day.

4. Loss of taste: Make a paste of honey and dalchini. Rub this paste on tongue and keep for few minutes.

5. Tooth ache: Mix cinnamon powder and honey in 1:5 ratio and apply at area of tooth ache.

6. Hair fall: Mixture of cinnamon powder and honey with warm olive oil should be applied on scalp and wash the hair after 15 min.

7. Bad breathe: Cinnamon powder boiled in water can be used as mouth wash.

8. Acne and black heads: Mix cinnamon with lemon juice and apply on acne and black heads.

9. Memory improvement: Mix 1 gm cinnamon powder and honey and this mixture should be taken every night.

10. Insomnia or sleeplessness: Boil 2 gm of cinnamon powder in one cup water for 5 min. Add honey and drink before going to bed.

11. Arthritis pain: Make the paste of cinnamon powder with water and honey and apply it at the painful area.

12. Impaired or weak digestion: It is a good remedy for treating digestive problems.

Types of cinnamon

Ceylon cinnamon ( True cinnamon )

(Source:- Sri Lanka, Madagascar and the Seychelles. India )

Delicate, sweet, and safer for daily use due to low coumarin.

Cassia ( Jangli Cinnamon )

( Source:- Chinese, Saigon)

Stronger, spicier, darker, cheaper, but has higher coumarin levels, making it potentially risky in large amounts;

Visual difference

Ceylon is light brown, layered, and crumbly.

Cassia is dark reddish-brown with a thick, hard single bark layer.

Cinnamon (Dalchini) and Cassia (Taj)

FSSAI has received several representations that cheap Cassia is being sold as Cinnamon in the market or used as a cheap substitute for Cinnamon. Cinnamon and Cassia are closely related spices. The true cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) is a native of Sri Lanka and South India. Sri Lanka is the major cinnamon producing country in the world and it controls 60% of the world cinnamon trade. India also produces cinnamon in small quantities.

Cassia is imported in the form of different species such as Chinese Cassia ( Cinnamomum  Aromaticum ) grown in China & Vietnam and Indonesian Cassia (Cinnamomum burmannii) from Sumatra and Java region. Apart from being used as spice, the volatile oil and oleoresin from cassia are used extensively.

Although related, cinnamon and cassia are not obtained from the same plant. They should be treated as separate foods, both from a nutritional and a health standpoint. Scientifically, there is only one type of cinnamon, which is most commonly called "Ceylon cinnamon," and comes from the plant Cinnamomum zeylanicum. Cassia is often misrepresented as cinnamon and marketed to the consumers. Since the price of cassia is far below that of cinnamon, the traders sometimes mislead the consumers.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) vide Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 has prescribed the standards for Cinnamon and Cassia. Cassia and Cinnamon vary in chemical composition. Cassia contains higher levels of coumarin as compared to cinnamon. Review of scientific evidence indicates that cassia is consumed / used in minor quantities as one of the ingredients in curry powder or used while preparing curry masala at home. In normal circumstances coumarin intake never reaches levels that can be considered toxic to human health. Thus as far as a part of food is concerned, consumption of cassia is safe.

In order to check that cheap Cassia is not sold as Cinnamon in the market or used as an adulterant in Cinnamon, FSSAI has operationalised the amendment w.e.f 24.11.2016 to the standard of Cinnamon (whole and powder) with respect to inclusion of maximum permissible limit of coumarin content to be not more than 0.3% by weight. This inclusion of new standard will help in distinguishing between cinnamon and cassia because cassia contains coumarin content in the range of 0.8 to 10.63%. Cinnamon varieties have coumarin content around 0.2%.

The scientific panel on sampling and analysis has approved the validated method of Spice Board for detection of Coumarin content by HPLC method.

1. Why cinnamon is adulterated with cassia?

Cassia is usually cheaper in cost than cinnamon and hence is used for adulterating cinnamon. It is often mislabelled and sold as cinnamon.

2. How can consumers distinguish between cinnamon and cassia?

Consumers can easily distinguish between cinnamon and cassia. In the case of cassia a relatively thick layer of the bark has been rolled into a stick however, the cross-section of a Ceylon cinnamon stick looks more like a cigarette - several thin layers of bark have been rolled up into a cinnamon stick resulting in a comparatively compact cross-section.

3. Is Cassia safe in food?

In normal circumstances coumarin intake never reaches levels that can be considered toxic to human health. Thus as far as a part of food is concerned, consumption of cassia is safe.

References:

1. Dr. R Dinesh, N.K. Leela, T. John Zachariah and M. Anandraj, Current Science, Vol. 108, No. 4, 25 February 2015

2. N.K. Leela, Cinnamon and Cassia, Chemistry of Spices, 2008