CINNAMON AND CASSIA
Robbed of your bark in masses large,
It’s sent abroad by ship and barge;
And India’s fragrance you bestow,
In summer climes and frigid snow.
THE cinnamon tree has been known to live two hundred years and its
history is nearly as old as the history of man. It appears to have been
the first spice sought after in all Oriental voyages, and is one of the
few condiments that has been honored with a price that only the wealthy
can buy. Both cinnamon and cassia are mentioned as precious odoriferous
substances in the Masonic writings. Bible history mentions cinnamon at a
very early date in Exodus, Chap. XXX, 23; in Proverbs, Chap. VII, 17; in
Song of Solomon, Chap. IV, 14, being then introduced by the Phœnicians.
It was likewise known to the Greeks and Romans under the name of
kinnamomun. Vespasian, on his return from Palestine, dedicated to the
Goddess of Peace, in one of the temples of the Capitol, garlands of
cinnamon enclosed in polished gold, and in the temple built on Mount
Palatine by the Empress Augusta in honor of Augustus Cæsar, her husband,
was placed a root of the cinnamon tree set in a golden cup. It is
recorded that two hundred and ten burthens of spice were consumed on the
funeral pile of Sylla, and that Nero burnt at the obsequies of his wife,
Poppæa, a quantity of cinnamon and cassia exceeding the whole
importation of one year. Dr. Carl Schumann’s Kritische Untersuchungen
über die Zimtländer, published as a supplement to Petermann’s
Geographische Mitteilungen, is a most erudite contribution to history of
geography and commerce. The author carefully examines the notices on
cinnamon and cassia to be found in the writings of the ancients and of
the Arabs, and critically examines these by the light of modern
research. The ancient Egyptians procured their cinnamon from punt, which
is identified with the Rego Cinnamonifera at the promontory of
Garadafiri of the modern Somaliland. But neither cinnamon nor cassia was
a product of this region, nor are they at the present time, which is
amply proved and illustrated by a consideration of the geographical
distribution of the Louracea. Arabian merchants intentionally shrouded
in mystery their manner or place of obtaining cinnamon and, in
consequence, the ancients entertained the most preposterous ideas on the
subject.
The “Khisit” of the inscriptions of the temple of Doral Bahari is
correctly translated cinnamon or cassia. The latter word and the gizi of
Galen and the Keziah of the Hebrew are derived from it, but it is of
itself a corruption of Kei-shi, the Chinese name for cassia. From this
fact, the author concludes that China supplied the ancient world with
most, if not all, of its cinnamon, but did so through traders settled in
parts of Arabia or the Somali coast, who maintained their monopoly until
the discovery of cinnamon in the Island of Ceylon.
Herodotus relates that cassia grew in Arabia, but that cinnamon was
brought there by birds from India, the fabled birthplace of Bacchus.
This writer states that cassia grew in a shallow lake, the borders of
which were infested with winged animals resembling bats; that these were
powerful creatures and uttered piercing cries; but that the Arabs made
war against them for the purpose of obtaining the spice and, defending
their eyes from the attack of the monsters, drove them from their
stronghold for a brief period and then, unmolested, collected the
cassia.
[Illustration: CEYLON]
A still more marvelous account was given by a Grecian historian of the
manner in which cinnamon was obtained, which is as follows: “The Arabs
themselves were perfectly ignorant of the situation of the favored spots
which produced this spice; some, however, asserted with much appearance
of probability that it grew in the country where Bacchus was born, and
they gave the following account of the plan resorted to for obtaining
cinnamon: Some very large birds collected together a quantity of the
shoots and small branches of the cinnamon and built their nests with it
on the lofty mountains inaccessible to man; and the inhabitants of the
country placed large pieces of carrion flesh near the haunts of the
birds who bore it to their nests which, not being made strong enough to
hold the additional load, gave way, falling to the valley below, where
it was gathered up by the natives and exported to foreign lands.”
It was exported into India in the time of the authors of the Periplus of
the Erythræan Sea, and even long before it was much used among masters
of the ancient world.
Celsius recommends that it should be given “perparationem.” It is
mentioned in the herb book of the Chinese Emperor Shen-nong, and was
known in China 2,700 B. C. under the name of “Kwei” and was introduced
into Egypt about 1,600 or 1,500 B. C., and China maintained her monopoly
until the discovery of cinnamon on the Island of Ceylon. It would appear
that cinnamon was not confined to Asia, much less to Ceylon, in former
times. Ibn-Batuta is credited with having first mentioned the Island of
Ceylon as a cinnamon region, for the Sayalan of Kazwini and Yakut is not
Ceylon, as supposed by Colonel Yale and others, but Rami or Sumatra.
The Romans were supplied by the Arabs, the cinnamon being carried up the
Nile in ships, then across the desert on camels to the Red Sea, which
they crossed to a port of Arabia, where India merchants were met and
exchanges took place, the cinnamon being the most important article of
commerce from India, and in this way the odors of the far-famed cinnamon
spice came, by poetical liberty, to be associated with “Araby the Blest”
by the system of transit by caravans overland through Arabia.
The Romans communicated with India only once each year during the reign
of Augustus, and at such times invested about £403,000 in the trade of
cinnamon. They figured on about 100 per cent. profit. History tells us
it was at one time sold in Rome at $25 per pound.
Even in comparatively modern times the products of the more eastern
parts of Asia were chiefly imported into Europe by way of Egypt. The
Venetians almost entirely controlled this lucrative branch of commerce,
and through their hands these articles were supplied to the rest of
Europe. But when the passage around the Cape of Good Hope was discovered
by the Portuguese, in 1498, Indian commerce was turned into a different
channel and the Portuguese soon supplanted the Venetians in the traffic
of Indian commodities. Early in the sixteenth century they obtained
permission from the powers of Ceylon to establish a factory on that
island. Although the Europeans had obtained license from the ruling
authorities to pursue this trade, the Arab merchants did not submit
without a struggle to the intrusion. They vigorously opposed the landing
of the strangers who were taking their trade away from them, but the
Portuguese built the fort of Colombo and soon after made a treaty with
the king of Kandy, by the terms of which the Portuguese agreed to assist
the king of Kandy and his successors in all their wars and in return
were to receive out of the Kandyan territory an annual supply of 124,000
pounds of cinnamon. The Dutch viewed with a jealous eye the rich and
thriving Portuguese, and soon after they established themselves in the
East Indies, and became desirous of monopolizing the cinnamon trade,
they tried to undermine the Portuguese by showing favors to the king of
Kandy, and in this way tried to have him drive the Portuguese from the
island. The Dutch were partly successful in their bold attempt, as the
king of Kandy, in 1612, agreed to sell the Dutch East India Company all
the cinnamon that he could collect in his kingdom. The Portuguese,
however, would not quietly submit, but after a long contesting of the
matter it ended in 1645 in a treaty of peace with the Dutch, by which
both nations were to share equally. During the time this treaty was in
force both nations employed native cinnamon cutters to cut and prepare
the aromatic bark, and all that was collected on either side was
deposited in a central situation upon the river Dondegam, near Negombo.
When the cinnamon harvest was completed an equal division of the
quantity obtained was made, each party paying half the cost of
harvesting. This amicable arrangement was not, however, of very long
continuance, and in 1652 a fresh war proved more disastrous to the
Portuguese, who were finally expelled from the Island of Ceylon in 1658.
The Dutch now made strenuous efforts to obtain a monopoly of the
cinnamon trade, and they also tried for the exclusive commerce of the
Malabar coast. This was very expensive to the Dutch, as merchants of
other countries, by paying a good price, were always able to obtain it
from the natives notwithstanding the decrees of the princes of the
country.
All through the Portuguese and Dutch periods, cinnamon was the principal
source of wealth. The Dutch first tried cultivating it in 1767, thereby
occasioning much fear on the part of the native Sinhalese that the
cultivation would ruin the cinnamon forest. Previous to this time, in
1506, large trees were found by the Portuguese growing wild and
scattered through the interior of Ceylon. The Dutch, after many attempts
to restrict the cultivation of it to the Island of Ceylon, passed a law
making the removal of the seed from the island a crime punishable by
death. The law also provided that persons should be compelled to care
for the tree, even if it were on their property, and it further provided
that any person discovered in cutting a shrub of cinnamon on the island
should have his right hand cut off. This law so retarded planting that
up to 1808 or 1809 only 15,000 acres were cultivated. Exportation was
restricted to 8,000 bales of 100 pounds each. In 1796, Ceylon was
captured by the English. They put an end to these barbarous laws, but a
monopoly was continued until 1832. Afterwards the cultivation of the
tree was introduced by the Dutch into their own islands and the Malay
Peninsula, an act which would have been much more creditable to the
Dutch had they tried this means earlier, instead of warring with other
countries.
It is estimated that the world’s production of true cinnamon does not
exceed 400,000,000 pounds, while an equal amount of cassia is collected
chiefly in China and the East Indies. Cinnamon is not an article which
enters into the daily food of the masses of the people, and the
consumption does not increase with a low price or decrease when the
price is high. The present consumption does not equal one pound to each
500 inhabitants of the earth.
Cinnamon and cassia blume are the barks of several species of genus
cinnamomum (natural order lauroceæ) and the true cinnamon, with which
cassia is often compounded, is produced by cinnamomum Zeylanicum,
formerly called Laurus, which is a member of the laurel family (French,
_Cannele de Ceylon_; German, _Zimmt Ceylon_, _Zimmt Kaneel_; Arabic
name, _Kinsman_).
The true cinnamon tree, if left in its natural states, varies in height
and dimensions in different sections, growing to the height of twenty to
forty feet with a straight trunk, and is from twelve to eighteen inches
in diameter. It is the hardiest of any of the spice trees, and in its
natural climate grows on almost any soil and at almost any elevation,
with an average temperature of 85 degrees and an inch of rainfall for
every degree. It may be grown by cultivation in any place where it is
found growing wild. When sheltered from the wind and the direct rays of
the hot sun, it will grow from 1,500 to 8,000 feet above the sea level.
It is found in those angles of the mountains which face the monsoons.
Where it is cultivated, it is cut back when six years old to about
fifteen feet and every two years thereafter, and then has the general
appearance of an orange tree. It is an evergreen with a beautiful
scarlet foliage which changes to a dark glossy green.
The leaf and leaf stalk are globous and are nearly opposite, oblong,
ovate, obtuse, the largest being from eleven to twelve centimeters in
length and from five to seven centimeters in width. The leaf is
coriaceous and shining bright green above and glaucous beneath. Besides
the middle vein there are also two other veins on each side starting
from the stalk, rounded to the shape of the edge of the leaf nearly to
its extremity. The leaves on drying acquire a reddish-brown color due to
the oxidation of the essential oil which they contain.
Small, dingy, white or greenish blossoms disposed in terminal panicles
appear in January or February, their strong and unpleasant odor
resembling a mixture of lilac and rose. In color they resemble
mignonette. By May they develop into small, purplish, brown-colored
berries enclosed at the base by a calyx and shaped like an acorn. The
berry contains a soft brown pulp and has but one seed, which ripens in
August and is gathered by the natives for the fragrant oil it contains.
The entire tree contains an aromatic flavor of cinnamon and no part of
it is lost, as the entire tree is used for some purpose, every part of
it having a distinct flavor. It is impossible to discover the cause or
causes by means of which different qualities are produced from the same
branch, since the shoots and the same tree are found to yield cinnamon
of different qualities. The quality of a cinnamon tree is often
determined by the size of the leaves, as well as by tasting the inner
bark; the larger the leaf the better bark the tree will afford. The
quality of the bark varies very much with local conditions, some being
so inferior as to be harvested only for the purpose of adulterations.
Two of these inferior varieties are the korahedi and the velli, the
latter growing more quickly than any other cinnamon known, being often
at two years’ growth four to five inches in girth and eight to ten feet
high. It has a very coarse bark and takes its name from sand velli
because it grits under the teeth. The bark is often so hard that it will
turn the edge of a peeling knife. There are several varieties of
cinnamon. Next in order after Ceylon are the following:
1. _Penne or Rosse Kuroondu_ (which signifies honey or sweet cinnamon).
2. _Naya Kuroondu_ (or snake cinnamon).
3. _Kapooru Kuroondu_ (or camphor).
4. _Kabatte Kuroondu_ (or astringent cinnamon).
5. _Sevel Kuroondu_ (or mucilaginous cinnamon).
6. _Dowool Kuroondu_ (flat or drum cinnamon).
7. _Nika Kuroondu_ (or wild cinnamon, whose leaf resembles that of
nicaso or vitex negundo).
8. _Mal Kuroondu_ (or bloom or flower cinnamon).
9. _Tompat K._ (or trefoil cinnamon).
Only the first four are strictly varieties of the Laurus Cinnamomum, and
as the names given are only known by the planters of cinnamon or by the
native Sinhalese, I will not refer to them again except by the names
known to commerce.
The true cinnamon is a native of the Island of Ceylon and it adds
sweetness to the breezes which “blow softly o’er Ceylon’s Isle,” and
nowhere else has it been found growing so well or so spontaneously. The
large trees scattered through the older forests of the interior are
every year gorgeous in bloom of every shade of pink from a faint rose to
blood red. The Ceylon variety is the best in the world, and the product
in 1904 was 9,216 hundreds, valued at $278,430. It grows up six or seven
feet, like willows, and the twigs are cut down for exportation; the
smaller the twigs the finer the quality.
The farm plantation is called a “Cinnamon Garden.” In Ceylon these
gardens are the most famous in the world, the owners living like
princes. Some of the carved wood in these homes are literally worth
their weight in gold. There are certain trees and species that are taken
in charge by the royal surgeons. Such have the official stamp indicating
what their medical value is. This cinnamon commonly sells at $15 to $25
per pound and sometimes as high as $100. While the ordinary China
cassia, handled by our grocers, sells at wholesale at six or seven cents
a pound. The medicinal cassia, however, has about the value for cooking
purposes that the ordinary Saigon cassia has. Many cinnamon gardens are
being rooted up and planted to tea, however, as tea culture is more
profitable. A sandy loam soil mixed with humus matter is favorable for
the culture of cinnamon, and old, worn, coffee estates are often used in
Ceylon for cinnamon plantations.
[Illustration: COLOMBO, CEYLON]
[Illustration: A PLANTATION IN CEYLON]
The cinnamon crop has few enemies. Cattle, goats, and squirrels eat the
growing shoots while tender. The principal insect enemy is a minute
beetle that breeds in the leaves and sometimes does injury by retarding
the growth and rendering the wood unpeelable, as well as unhealthy. A
red worm, about two inches long, eats its way up the center of some old
and unhealthy sticks growing on partially decayed roots, but the injury
from the insect is scarcely worth considering. White ants eat dead roots
but seldom injure living wood, and they are to some extent enemies of
all other insects which prey upon cinnamon trees. They build their nests
around live branches, but this does not interfere with their growth.
Crows and wood pigeons devour the berries with great eagerness, but in
the process of digestion the productive qualities of the seed are not
injured and by this means the seed is scattered over a large extent of
country. Plants may be raised from the seed or by “laying.” The culture
of the best kind, which is the true C. Zeylanicum, a cultivated Curanda
or honey cinnamon (called penne rasse Kuroondu by the Sinhalese) is from
the Kadirona, Ekla and Muradana gardens, between Colombo and Negunbo,
which occupy a tract of country upwards of ten miles in length and in a
winding circuit; as well as from the Maratuwa and Beruwala gardens, and
those of Galle and Matara.
There is also a Cingalese bark found in the archipelago, which is very
pungent and much resembles the true bark from Ceylon. It brings a fair
price on the market, and is more aromatic than that of Ceylon. There are
several kinds of it, some of it bringing an exorbitant price, and it is
cultivated solely for royal use. The outer bark is never removed from it
and for that reason it has the dark Java color. It, like the Saigon, is
exported in 500-pound bundles.
No system was first regarded in planting cinnamon groves in Ceylon. This
neglect greatly hindered cultivation. The usual way of establishing a
garden is first to cut down all the brush and small trees on new ground,
leaving the tall trees at intervals of from fifty to sixty feet, as a
protection from the wind and from the strong hot rays of the sun. The
fallen brush is next burned and the plat VESeared is lined out. The soil
is turned up for hills in squares of about one to four feet at intervals
of from six to ten feet, according to the richness of the soil. The
longer intervals being provided with the richer soil. The ash from the
burned brush mixed with the broken ground and vegetable matter, and from
four to five of the berries are sown in each hill. Branches of trees are
placed over the earth where the seed is planted to protect them from the
sun and to keep the earth from parching.
Care should be taken in selecting the seed, as that from trees ten years
old and up is best. Seed from old trees with coarse wood produces coarse
and unpeelable bark, which helps to increase the chips. If the tree is
to be raised from shoots, the youngest, or those not containing more
than three leaves, must be selected, for if older they will surely die.
The method of raising plants from layers is very good, because the
numerous side branches which issue from the bottom of the trunk also
furnish an abundant supply, well adapted for the purpose intended. The
transplanting of the divisions of old roots or stumps is also much
approved, as they yield shoots of useful size twelve months after
planting. Great care must be taken in planting or removing the roots or
the divisions of the parent stump, for should any of the rootlets become
bruised, even to the tenth part of an inch in diameter, the injured part
will certainly perish. Care must also be taken when removing the roots
or stumps to keep as much earth on them as possible, or as can be
carried with them. The dirt originally taken from the holes should not
be returned, but there should be used, instead, that from the surface
which has been burned and contains ashes mixed with vegetable manure.
When old cinnamon trees are cut down and burned on their stumps, the
roots will later produce a superior quality of cinnamon. Planting of
seed is least advantageous as it requires greater attention than other
modes, and the trees are longer reaching perfection. As they are planted
four to five seeds in a hill, and as they are quite sure to germinate,
the plants grow in clusters. Should no rain fall after planting on
either the roots or stumps, they must be kept watered every morning and
evening until the sprouts shoot out fresh buds. This will be in about
two weeks from the planting and is an indication that they have taken
root. In a month the shoots will be from three to four inches high. When
seed is sown and dry weather follows, the seedlings will perish. It will
be necessary, therefore, to plant the ground anew. It is wise,
therefore, to raise plants in a nursery to supply the vacancies in the
hills.
[Illustration: GALLE HARBOR]
[Illustration: NEGOMBO CANAL]
For a nursery, a plat of rich soil is selected, free from stone and
cleared from brushwood, except the tall trees, which are left for shade.
The ground is dug over and formed into beds from three to four feet wide
and the seed is sown nine to twelve inches apart and shaded at eight to
twelve inches above ground, by a pendall of leaves. The plants are kept
watered on alternate days until they have one pair of leaves, but the
shade should not be removed until the plants are six to eight inches
high and are able to bear the sun. The seed will germinate in from two
to three weeks. The planting takes place in autumn when the seed is
gathered fully ripe. The seeds are heaped up in shady places, as the sun
would crack and spoil them; the outer red coating will rot, turn black,
and come off easily; the seed is then washed and dried in the air, but
not in the sun; that which will float on water is rejected. The plants
are taken from the nursery in October and November, and under favorable
situations they will grow from five to six feet high in from six to
seven years. A healthy bush will then afford two or three shoots ready
for peeling, but should unfavorable results occur they will not yield
for from eight to twelve years. After the plants are fully established
in the field, very little cultivation is required, except to keep them
free from the weeds. In a good soil from four to seven shoots may be cut
every two years. Sometimes thriving plants may be cut first in four
years and sometimes even in two years.
The quality of the bark depends upon its position on the branch; that
from the middle is the best, that from the top second, and that from the
base, which is the thicker part of the branch, the third grade. Shoots
exposed during growth to the direct rays of the sun have their bark more
acrid and spicy than the bark of those which grow in the shade. A marshy
soil rarely produces good cinnamon, its texture being cross-grained and
spongy, with little aroma. The quality is determined by the thinness of
the bark—the thinner and more pliable the finer. The finest quality of
bark is smooth and somewhat shiny and of a light yellow color. The shoot
bends before it breaks, and when the fracture occurs it is generally in
the form of a splinter which has an agreeable, warm, aromatic taste with
a slight degree of sweetness.
Two crops are gathered each year—the first from April to August and the
second from November to January. These particular seasons are selected
for harvesting on account of their coming just after the heavy rains,
just as the young, red leaf assumes the normal dark green. The sap then
is more active and the bark is more easily detached. If there is not
sufficient rain the garden may have to be cut over several times.
In harvesting, the shoots are not all cut at one time, but by degrees as
they arrive at the required maturity. Those sticks which promise to peel
at the next cutting are left. In pruning, with plenty of help, every
stick older than two years is cut, whether it will peel or not.
A grayish, corky appearance is an indication of the fitness of the
shoots for cutting. A certain amount is marked off for each day’s
cutting, and it is an offense to go outside of that limit, but within
the limit every one is allowed to go where he pleases. When fifteen or
twenty persons are allowed to scramble as they please, the trees are
agitated as by a whirlwind passing over them and in less than forty
minutes the best sticks are cut and appropriated. Then systematic work
begins. Every stick is then tested before cutting, and, if the wood is
in a fair condition for peeling, it will take about two hours to finish
a plat of 484 square feet. There are four such plats to an acre. They
yield from twenty-eight to forty-eight pounds each. When called off, no
one is allowed to cut another stick. (See illustration.)
[Illustration: CUTTING CINNAMON]
As long as the seed is on the bushes, which is nearly till the end of
the year, the sticks carrying them do not peel, owing possibly to the
growth being checked and with it the free flow of sap in the effort to
mature the seed. If, therefore, this seed is allowed to remain great
loss results, as by the time the seed-bearing bushes are peelable they
will have grown so much as to yield coarse bark, fit only to quill
coarse cinnamon, or not fit to be quilled at all. To avoid this loss the
seed is stripped from the limb, when it will peel in its proper time. A
plantation should not be expected to bring large returns for eight or
nine years.
After the crop, which is taken from four to six inches above ground, has
been cut, the stumps should be covered with fresh earth gathered from
the space between the rows and formed into a heap around the base.
Sometimes a fire is made on the old stump. The next year two or three
times as large a crop may be gathered, and so on year after year, until
at length the bushes will become so thick as to admit only the weeders
and peelers. The only manure required is the weeds, which three or four
times a year are placed between the rows and covered with earth. When
the shoots are harvested from old stumps, they should be cut with one
stroke of the heavy knife, in order to avoid splitting the stems. As the
cutting takes place twice each year, there is a succession of young wood
of different ages on the tree.
The branches are cut off from three to five feet long when tipped at the
ends by means of a long knife in shape of a hook or sickle (catty). The
shoots, after they have been cut and the tops have been removed, are
tied into bundles and carried to the “wadi or peeling shed,” where they
are allowed to sweat for the preparation of the bark. The leaves, side
branches, and outer bark are next removed from the shoots. The peeler
(Chaliyas, Sinhalese caste of cinnamon peelers), sits on the ground
beside his bundle and with his left hand cuts the inner bark in two
pieces (and sometimes three if very heavy and thick), longitudinal slits
the entire length of the stick. It is then easily removed by means of a
peeling knife (mama), which is round-pointed and has a projecting point
on one side for ripping and running beneath the bark and lifting it
about one-half inch on both sides. The bark will usually come off in
halves eight to nine inches wide. The assortment is made at the same
time. The coarse peelable bark is for coarse cinnamon, and that which is
not peelable goes as chips. If the bark adheres firmly, the separation
is facilitated by friction with the handle of the knife rubbed
dextrously down it or with some smooth, hard piece of wood of convenient
length.
When the day’s work is finished the assorted bark is piled in a small
enclosure made by sticks driven in the ground and is covered with the
day’s scrapings and with a mat. This treatment is called “fermenting,”
but it is rather to hold the moisture and soften the bark for the next
operation. After remaining twenty-four hours, or on the morning of the
second day, three sticks are driven into the ground at such an angle
that they will cross each other about one foot high. They are tied
firmly at the point of crossing and are used for supporting the end of a
fourth stick, the other end of which rests upon the ground. Before this
support the native sits upon the ground and taking a strip of the bark
places it on the stick and holds the upper end firm with his foot. Then
with a small curved knife, having a slightly serrated edge, he scrapes
off the cuticle, for if any remains it will create a bitterness. (See
illustration.) While it is yet moist with sap, it is placed with concave
side downward to dry and it then contracts and curls into tubes or
quills. The pipe maker, as he is called, is furnished with a board about
one yard in length, a measuring stick, and a pair of scissors. He takes
a bundle of the prepared sticks and sorts them into three or four
grades, according to quality. Slips for the outer covering are then
selected, the ends being cut square with the scissors. Placing this on
the boards, he proceeds to pack within it as many of the smaller pieces
(see illustration) as it will close over when dry, which is called
piping. When the day’s work is finished the pipes are arranged on
parallel lines stretched across the shed. They are then placed on
hurdles covered with mats to dry in the sunshine until firm enough for
handling. Afterwards, if necessary, the outer edges are pressed in and
the ends are dressed and they are tied into bundles of about thirty
pounds each. Three bundles are tied together to form a bale. This bale
is covered with canvas. In this form the product is put on the market
ready for export, where it appears in long brittle sticks of a pale
yellow-brown color or white to lightish yellow (Fig. 1). The best grade
is nearly as thin as paper, not being more than one-eighth to
one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness. It has a very delicate flavor and
is very superior in aroma and strength to the ordinary Chinese variety.
It lacks the strength of Saigon, however, and is seldom called for
except for medicinal use, for which in many cases it is highly valuable.
A well-made cinnamon pipe, as it is called, will be of uniform thickness
and quality; the edges will be neatly joined and in a straight line from
end to end with the appearance of a tight roll of paper, which will feel
firm under pressure of the thumb and finger, and the size of the pipes
will vary according to the quality of the spice. In the finer sorts
there are from fifteen to twenty-four pipes to the pound. In the next
grade there are from ten to twelve. The coarser are stuck together
without regard to appearance. In Ceylon the yield is about 150 pounds
per acre, but on good soil and with careful tillage and manuring larger
returns are obtained.
[Illustration: CUTTING AND QUILLING CINNAMON]
[Illustration: PEELING AND QUILLING CINNAMON]
Following the Ceylon in value are the Saigon, Java, and Batavia and
China. The Saigon (Fig. 5) comes from Cochin China, taking its name from
the city of Saigon. (See illustration.) The thinner-quilled Saigon bark,
which is from selected twigs and smaller branches, is known as Java
(Fig. 4). It has a very dark color and possesses an aroma and strength
superior to these qualities in the Saigon.
The Java is sold chiefly in the whole state (the outer rind is never
removed) and in a variety of packages known as piculs, containing 135
pounds each, mostly in cases, sometimes valued higher than Ceylon. The
Tellicherry and Malabar are from Bombay and the province of Malabar. The
Tellicherry is equal to the Ceylon in appearance, but the interior
surface is more fibrous and the flavor is inferior and the bark thicker.
It is superior to the Malabar, which is the true cinnamon introduced
into India by the English. The Malabar contains nearly all the qualities
of the Ceylon, but is paler in color with a feeble and less permanent
odor. The sticks after piping are in length equal to those of the
Ceylon, but the bark is shorter and the length of the stick is due to
the method of telescoping the sticks of bark into one another. Batavia
bark (Fig. 2) has a pale straw color and is a heavy bark superior to
China Cassia Lignea (Fig. 3). It is exported in rolls of about fifty
pounds each.
The bark of the larger or coarser shoots cannot be quilled and is
removed in thick pieces. When mixed with the bark of the prunings and
with those sticks which do not peel well it is known as chips. It brings
a low price on the market and is used for grinding; and, although it
does not have the delicate flavor of the quilled, what is lacking in
delicacy is made up in pungency and, therefore, in many cases, it is
preferred. Chips bring so low a price in the market that they may be
purchased by the miller of spices and sold in the pure powdered state at
a price much below what he can sell the bark at. This fact may account
in a measure for prices given in the table in chapter II, page 7, on
adulteration.
The exporting of cinnamon chips is carried on by the planters to a great
extent and at a great detriment to themselves. By doing this there is
shortsightedness on their part, as the chips are bought by the miller at
a low price in place of the high-priced bark, which necessarily must
partly go begging for a market. Thus, the more valuable product so
depreciates as to leave but little profit for the grower; his margin of
profit is so small that he does not give his cinnamon grove proper
attention and many times cuts it for wood. If the planter would distill
his waste pruning and coarse chips for the oil which they contain he
would be well paid for his labor.
[Illustration: BATAVIA]
[Illustration: SAIGON
3223, COCHINCHINE—Saïgon Avenue devant is Palais du Lieutenant
Gouverneur]
The cultivators of cinnamon give employment to a large number of people,
several thousand being now engaged in the cultivation of the trees and
the preparation of the bark. The pruning immediately follows the cutting
and consists in cutting out all wood of more than two years’ growth and
reducing all stumps left too high and removing all weak and crooked
shoots and superfluous branches. This waste material, with the weeding,
is buried near the outer roots, as it is found that organic matter is an
excellent fertilizer for cinnamon, as the shoots reach out in all
directions and permeate the decaying matter and so bring much benefit to
the tree. It will not do to raise a mound around the base of the trunk,
as the roots are thereby forced against their natural course and throw
themselves into the mound. When this is once done they must be allowed
to remain, as any disturbance would injure the tree. When the Ceylon
cinnamon tree becomes too old to produce good growth it is cut down and
the bark removed from the larger branches and the trunk, and is called
mate cinnamon.
Although the finest bark is obtained from the cultivated trees there is
much bark obtained from the uncultivated, of which C. multiflorum and C.
ovalufolium are used for purposes of adulteration.
Cassia bark (Fig. 3), French cassia and German cassia, are the dried
bark of a tree which grows twenty to forty feet high, sometimes even
sixty feet high, irregular and knotty, with large spreading horizontal
branches, outer bark thick, rough and scabrous, with ash color, speckled
inner bark reddish with dark green and light orange color. It is known
to commerce as cassia lignea or China cinnamon, and is from the
Cinnamomum aromaticum. It is found in South China and is a native of
Ceylon, Cochin China, East India, and Java, and has been brought from
China since the earliest days of history. It is produced by an
undescribed tree of several species of cinnamomum, differing from each
other in foliage and in inflorescence and aromatic properties, and has
about as many names in Chinese as there are provinces in which it is
found growing. It is found most abundantly in the province of Kwangsi in
the south of China, large quantities being brought to Canton annually
from “Kwei lin Foo” (literally the City of the Forest of Cassia Trees),
deriving its name from the forests of cassia around it, and is the
capital and principal city of the province. The exact botanical source
of China Cassia lignea was not known until 1884, although it was
generally attributed to the tree now proved to yield it (Cinnamomum
cassia). It is cultivated in the three following districts of China:
Taiwu, Kwangsi province, and Lukpo and Loting, both in Kwang-tung
province. Taiwu is about 180 miles west of Canton and from four to five
miles from the West River, but the nearest cassia plantations are from
twenty-five to thirty miles farther, in a southern or southwestern
direction. The Loting district commences from eight to ten miles from
Loting City. After leaving the West River about eighty miles of the
Loting River and the Nam-Kong must be traversed before reaching the
city, and from there the distance is made overland. In these plantations
there are 52,600 acres which have been under cultivation for about forty
years. Lukpo is least important. The city of Lukpo is situated on the
northern bank of the West River. The nearest plantation is about fifteen
miles distant from Lukpo City.
Cassia is also found in the following provinces: Hunan, Shensi, Hupeh,
and Eonsu, and under the following Chinese names: Yuk-quai-she,
Toro-Tsao, Chu-eh or Tsao, Chu-eh, Eh-Ming or Chueh Mings; for
drugs—fungus, Huei-hua, Mu-erh. The Chinese have varieties which they
cultivate under special circumstances, almost sacred, and by their long
familiarity with different kinds and their expertness in determining its
value they use it in many ways of which we are ignorant. The thick bark
of the old uncultivated trees found growing near the Annam frontier is
very highly valued by the Chinese on account of its supposed medicinal
purposes, especially a dark bark called Ching Fa Kwei from the trees
growing on the Ching Fa Mountains in Annam. The bark is stripped from
the limbs as are the other grades of cinnamon. It is only about sixteen
inches in length, has a dark-brown color and dull flavor, is not so
sweet as true cinnamon and has a bitter taste. The bark is thick and
heavy and not uniform in size. It is not enclosed or quilled and is
brittle, with a less fibrous texture. It is less pungent and has a more
mucilaginous or gelatinous quality. The outer, corky bark is of a deeper
color and is the kind mixed with much coarser bark, known as “Cassia
Vera,” which is ground by our spice grinders in place of the true
cinnamon. This bark is imported in mats of from three to four pounds
each, bound up in bamboo splints, and is shipped in bales of about
eighty pounds.
Inferior cinnamon trees are found scattered over a large tract of
country in the Indian Archipelago, C. Tamala Nees, and Eberm, extending
into Silhet, Sikkin, Nepaul, Kumaon, and even into Australia. There are
two species of Archipelago C., Cassia Blume and C. Burmanii Blume, the
last being a Chinese variety found growing in Sumatra and Java, and the
Philippines furnish “Cassia Vera.” Several other cassia Cingalese
species of cinnamon cassia bark are found in their respective
localities.
In the Khasia Mountains of East Bengal there is the bark of Abtusifolium
Nees, and C. Pauciflorum Nees, and C. Tamala Nees, and Eberm found
growing at 1,000 to 4,000 feet elevations, shipped from Calcutta.
Cinnamomum iners reinw is a kind found in India, Ceylon, Java, and
Sumatra, and other islands in a variable state and has a paler and
thinner and different veined leaf than the true cinnamon. Young branches
of the tree are collected and tied up in fagots constituting cassia
twigs, which form a large article of commerce.
In order to powder cinnamon bark, it must first be passed through a
cracker machine, as it is called, to reduce it to a proper size for
feeding in a mill. The mill consists of a roller provided with very
coarse teeth, which revolve through similar stationary teeth. The
material is retained by a semi-circular, perforated plate, until it is
reduced to the size of the perforation, or about the size of a coffee
bean, when it is then ready for the burr stones.
True ground cinnamon (see Figs. 22 and 23, Chap. III) consists of long
cells of woody fiber which represent the thin layers found in the bark
and scattered through it, consisting of a little starch in stellate
cells. There is nothing more distinct between cinnamon and cassia than
the amount of volatile oil the bark contains, and yet some of the
inferior cinnamon bark does not contain as much volatile oil as does
good cassia, but cinnamon oil is of a much higher and more delicate
aroma. It is hard to detect cassia (see Fig. 41, Chap. III; adulterated,
Fig. 46) in ground cinnamon, as the flavor is so similar, but the cassia
contains but little wood fiber and few stellate cells and the presence
of starch is more marked. To test cinnamon, experts are required. The
usual test is by chewing, but this method soon makes the mouth sore. The
most inferior ground cassia, however, bears such a close resemblance to
the best cassia and to the true cinnamon that it may be substituted for
it or used as an adulterant without being easily detected. The following
instructions are useful in examining powdered cinnamon.
Make a decoction of pure ground cinnamon, also a decoction of the
suspected mixture, and filter both; when cold add to thirty grams of
each one or two drops of iodine, when the decoction of pure cinnamon
will be but slightly affected while the mixture will assume a
blackish-blue coloration. Although much depends upon the age of the
oils, the greater the age of the oil the smaller the quantity of iodine
solution absorbed by it. The cheap sort of cassia, or “Cassia Vera,” can
be distinguished from China cassia and from true cinnamon by its
richness in mucilage, which can be extracted by cold water as a thick
glary liquid, which on the addition of corrosive sublimate or neutral
acetate of lead yields a dense viscous precipitate. The most reliable
test for cassia in true cinnamon is to obtain the proportion of ash in
each, the ash in cinnamon being 4.59 and 4.78 per cent., cassia lignea
giving but 1.84 and “Cassia Vera” nearly the same as cinnamon, 4.08.
Another test is to ascertain the amount of ash soluble in water. The
quantities are 25.04, 28.98 per cent. in whole cinnamon, about 18 per
cent. in chips, and 8.15 in “Cassia Vera,” and 26.40 in cassia lignea.
Again the proportion of oxide of manganese is never more than 1 per
cent. (0.13-0.97) in cinnamon, but it is over (1.13-1.53) in “Cassia
Vera” and 3.65-5.11 in cassia lignea. The cinnamon ash will always be
found white or nearly so, while both the cassia ashes are gray or brown
and yield an abundance of chlorine on heating with hydrochloric acid.
The cinnamon or cassia in the bark is easily distinguished, as the
inferior kinds are thicker and appearance coarser and their color darker
brown and duller and have a more pungent taste, which is less sweet than
the true cinnamon, succeeded by a bitter taste.
The Ceylon bark is characterized by being cut obliquely at the bottom of
the quill while other kinds are cut transversely. Ground cinnamon will
deteriorate very rapidly. Cinnamon is so singularly sensitive in the
bark that great care has to be taken in regard to its surroundings in
shipping aboard vessels to prevent loss. Recourse has been made to
various expedients, but it is found that the only effective safeguard is
to pack bags of pepper between the bales. Ceylon alone exports 6,000
pounds of bark to this country annually in gunny bags of about 100
pounds each. Colombo (see illustration), which has one of the largest
botanical gardens and the largest cinnamon grove in the world, is the
principal city of export.
Cassia Buds (flores cassiæ immature clavelli cinnamomi) are the calyces
of the immature flowers of the cassia tree which yields cassia lignea.
The cassia buds of commerce bear a resemblance to cloves but are smaller
and have the odor and flavor of cassia lignea or cinnamon. They are
gathered in an unripe state at about one-fourth their normal size and
are exported from Canton in piculs of 150 pounds each. Canton exported
about 100,000 pounds in the first quarter of 1905, and Canton exports
19,000 piculs of cassia cinnamon of 133 pounds each and 500 piculs of
twigs annually, and it is the principal city of export in the world for
cassia barks. In Southern India the cassia buds are gathered from a
variety of wild Cinnamomum iners reinw in a mature state, but they are
inferior to the Chinese cassia buds. They have the appearance of nails
with roundish heads of various sizes, and if completely dried the
receptacle is nearly dark, firmly embracing the embryo seed, which
protrudes.
Seeds which are used for seeding are obtained from trees ten years old
and upward, which are not cut back but are allowed to grow naturally
from fifty to sixty feet apart, while the balance of the orchard is cut
down every six years for the bark. The seed trees are cut only in cases
of necessity to supply a great demand for the thick bark on the trunks,
when some can be sacrificed.
The Chinese frequently adulterate the oil of cassia with colophony,
which may be easily detected, as it has a greater specific gravity.
Extra pale colophony has a specific gravity of 1.070 and the pale
colophony has a specific gravity of 1.110. Any oil heavier than 1.070
should be handled with suspicion. The darker the sample and the higher
the specific gravity, the greater the adulteration. The tips of the
branches and the other trimming which collects are carefully dried and
distilled and sold as cinnamon oil.
Oil of cinnamon or cassia depends entirely upon the amount of cinnamyl
aldehyde it contains. Oil of the true cinnamon bark (cinnamomum
Zeylonicum) is the finest essential oil to be had. It is worth $5 per
pound, while common cassia is worth only about seventy cents. True
cinnamon oil is obtained in Ceylon and is of a golden color when fresh,
with an aromatic odor, and is very pungent, being powerful enough to
blister the tongue, but varies by age from cherry to yellow-red, the
paler varieties being the most esteemed. Cinnamon leaf is redistilled in
London to obtain the desired color, although at a loss of about 10 per
cent. (formula C_{10}H_{14}), with a small quantity of benzoic acid.
Fine cinnamon oil has a taste of intense sweetness, far sweeter than
sugar, and a clove-like taste is at first developed. It is largely used
in perfumery and medicine. Ceylon ships about 15,000 to 40,000 ounces
annually. China exports as much. After a time it loses its sweetness and
is no better than cassia oil. The tree yields essential oils from the
leaves, bark, and root, each oil differing in composition and value,
which accounts for the many different grades or prices for cinnamon oil
found on the market. Cinnamon and cassia oils are of the same chemical
compositions, their value being estimated by the amount of cinnamyl
aldehyde they contain. That obtained from the roots is light, while that
obtained from the leaves is so heavy as to sink in water.
There is but a small amount of oil in the bark, the yield being but 1 to
1.5 per cent.; six and one-half ounces of heavy oil and two and one-half
ounces of light oil to eighty pounds of bark. It consists chiefly of
cinnamyl aldehyde or the hydride of cinnamyl and a variable quantity of
hydrocarbon. The oil derived from the coarser bark is a dark-brownish
color. The oil distilled from the true bark is worth about eighteen
times as much as the oil distilled from the leaves or leaf stalk or
flower stalk. The latter oil is chiefly of eugenol, a hydrocarbon having
an odor of cymene, a little benzoic acid and cinnamyl aldehyde. When
mixed with the young twigs and cassia buds of cassia shrubs, this oil
becomes a beautiful bright oil of excellent taste—characteristics which
denote a higher percentage of aldehyde. Twigs show a familiar sweet
cinnamon taste, but they yield a smaller percentage of essential oil
than is distilled from the leaves, and has a specific gravity of 1.45 at
15 degrees C., showing 90 per cent. of aldehyde. The leaves yield sweet
oil at 15 degrees C., specific gravity 1.056, aldehyde 93. Cassia buds
yield essential oil 1.550 per cent., specific gravity 1.026, aldehyde
80.4 per cent. Stalk of cassia leaves, leaf stalk, and young twigs mixed
yield essential oil 0.77 per cent., gravity 1.055, aldehyde 93 per cent.
The oil from the root contains cinnamyl aldehyde, hydrocarbon and
ordinary camphor, and is lighter than water, both the oil of the bark
and of the leaves being heavier. Oil from cinnamon bark and shoots is
seldom exported. The oil is obtained in Ceylon by macerating the
powdered bark or roots with a saturated solution of common salt for two
days, after which the whole is distilled.
Cinnamyl aldehyde, which is a very pleasant smelling colorless liquid,
may be separated from hydrocarbon, which is also found in the oil, by
bringing the oil in contact with concentrated nitric acid. The crystals,
which separate in long rhombic prisms or small plates, are decomposed by
water into nitric acid. Free cinnamyl aldehyde may be prepared by
allowing a mixture of ten parts benzolaldehyde, fifteen parts
acetaldehyde, 900 parts of water, and ten parts of a 10 per cent.
solution of caustic soda to stand eight or ten days, at a temperature of
30 degrees, the whole being frequently agitated. Finally the aldehyde is
extracted by means of ether.
The pure Chinese cassia lignea bark, essential oil 1.5 per cent., has a
specific gravity of about 1.035 to 1.060; aldehyde, 89.9 per cent., and
at 15 C. should have a specific gravity of 1.050 to 1.070. On
distilling, about 90 per cent. of pure cassia oil should pass over, and
the balance, 10 per cent. residue, must not become solid in cooling,
must not be brittle but must be in a semifluid state. If the oil
contains less than 70 per cent. of cinnamyl aldehydes it may be
considered adulterated, and at 75 per cent. should be handled with
suspicion.
14 to 9 years old, 79 per cent. Cinnamyl aldehyde
15 years old, 70 per cent. Cinnamyl aldehyde
16 years old, 73 per cent. Cinnamyl aldehyde
Cinnamic acid occurs in the flowers of cinnamon and forms in small
quantities by oxidation of the cinnamyl aldehyde when it comes in
contact with the open air. It will dissolve in 3,500 parts of water at
17 degrees and is more readily soluble in boiling water and crystallizes
from it in lustrous plates. From the cassia buds, refuse bark, young
shoots and roots a fragrant volatile substance is obtained which floats
on water, and when removed and allowed to cool, it becomes a suet,
giving a delicious odor in burning, called a cinnamon suet, or wax,
which is used largely by the Catholics and Buddhists in worship and at
high native weddings. It was formerly used in Ceylon for making candles.
When true ground cinnamon and cassias are examined microscopically with
polarized light, differences are revealed at once which are
characteristic enough to distinguish the specimens, as shown in Figs. 41
and 23, Chap. III. But of the proximate chemical composition of any of
the barks but little is known. Numerous determinations and analyses of
the ash have been made with a view to detecting peculiarities or the
addition of mineral matter. The percentage of ash is extremely variable,
depending on the age and quality of the bark. Saigon chips have been
known to have 8.23 per cent., while unknown cassia bark has been found
with but 1.75 per cent. Cinnamon bark will be likely to average less
than cassia. Fiber-like ash is very variable, Saigon yielding 26.29 per
cent., true cinnamon 33.08 per cent., while unknown cassia gives 14.20;
that containing the least fiber contains the smallest amount of lime.
The albuminoids are also variable; the Batavia and Saigon barks appear
to contain the most. The presence of over 4 per cent. is an indication
of an inferior quality.
The amount of the tannin runs extremely small, any addition of which can
be readily detected. One-fourth of the ash of cinnamon is soluble in
water, but less of “Cassia Vera,” and less yet of cassia lignea. Little
has been learned which would form a sound basis for distinguishing these
barks. The presence of manganese cannot be considered as indicating that
substance an essential element of the ash, nor is the fact one from
which such definite conclusions could be drawn as to serve as the basis
of legal testimony, but it is what gives to the different barks their
different colors. True cinnamon contains less than 1 per cent. of oxide
of manganese; “Cassia Vera” more than 1 per cent., and cassia lignea as
high as 5 per cent.
The essential oil is but 0.5 to 1 per cent. of the bark of cinnamon and
much less in inferior cassia.
We also find the presence of mucilage, coloring matter, resin, acid,
starch, and lignea as well as volatile oil. Aside from the determination
of volatile oil upon which the properties of cassia bark depends,
chemical analysis seems to be of little value; the principal dependence
must, with our present knowledge, be placed on the mechanical and
microscopic examination.
To detect the adulteration of oil of cassia by oil of cloves, a drop of
the oil should be heated on a watch glass. Genuine cassia evolves a
fragrant vapor possessing but a little acridity. When, however, clove
oil is present, the vapor is very acrid and excites coughing. With
fuming nitric acid, cassia merely crystallizes; but if cloves be present
it swells up, evolves a large quantity of red vapor and yields a thick
reddish-brown oil. Pure cassia oil solidifies with concentrated potash
but will not when mixed with clove oil.
A good test for cassia oil substituted for oil of cinnamon is to add
nitric acid, specific gravity 1.36, to oil of cinnamon (one part of the
latter to two parts of acid), and shake the mixture. A bright
orange-colored liquid is first obtained, upon the surface of which
floats an orange, resinous substance, slowly becoming deeper in color,
until a beautiful cherry-red color is visible, by which time it has
changed to a liquid that floats on a lighter-colored substratum, which
also in a short time becomes nearly of the same tint. Bubbles then
commence to appear and shortly afterwards spontaneous ebullition occurs,
with the evolution of nitrous fumes and vapors of benzoic aldehyde. By
the time this ebullition has ceased the amber-colored liquid commences
to clear itself and finally a clear amber liquid is left with orange
globules floating on its surface. Upon oil of cassia, nitric acid,
specific gravity 1.36, has a different action, as, after mixing one part
of oil of cassia with two of nitric acid, a dirty green supernatant
resinous mass (slowly turning brown) is seen floating on a yellowish
liquid, and no further change takes place. If a large excess of the acid
be added after the first addition, the resinous mass changes to a deep
reddish brown and the subnascent liquid takes a cherry-red color. The
same reaction occurs if a large excess of nitric acid be added to oil of
cassia at first, but in neither of these cases is there any spontaneous
ebullition or evolution of the nitrous fumes and benzoic aldehyde
vapors.
If oil of cassia be mixed with oil of cinnamon, the reaction with nitric
acid takes place as with oil of cinnamon, but more tardily, according to
the amount of cassia oil present; and, at the end of the process, a
turbid subnascent liquid is seen, instead of a clear one, as is the case
with pure oil of cinnamon. Spirits of nitrous ether can also be used to
distinguish between these oils, as it forms a clear solution with that
of cinnamon, but a turbid one with cassia.
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF CASSIA AND CINNAMON
Samples examined, ash of the whole being about 8 per cent. and powdered
5 per cent.:
Ash Saigon, 8.23
Unknown Cassia, 1.75, extreme
Fiber Saigon, 26.29
Fiber of Cassia 14 to 20, extreme
Cinnamon,
Fiber True Cinnamon, 33.08
Albuminoids Saigon, 4.55
Albuminoids Unknown 2.45, extreme
Cassia,
Lime True Cinnamon, 40.09, 36.98, 40.39, in three specimens
Lime Cassia Lignea, 25.29
Lime “Cassia Vera,” 52.72
Magnesia, True 2.65, 3.30, 3.86, in three specimens
Cinnamon,
Magnesia, Cassia 5.48
Lignea,
Magnesia, “Cassia 1.10
Vera,”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration: CLOVES
(Eugenia Caryophyllata of Caryophyllus Aromaticus)
1 Zanzibar
2 Amboina
3 Penang
4 Bencoolen
5 Calyx
6 Calyx
7 Flowering stem with leaves]