Often, not natural cinnamon is sold on store shelves, but cassia - the bark of Chinese cinnamon tree, which can not only have a laxative effect on the body, but also provoke diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. To protect yourself from fakes, it is recommended to purchase cinnamon in sticks, and then chop it.
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Cinnamon and cassia - how to distinguish a fake
Cinnamon, or, as it is also called, ceylon cinnamon, is an evergreen tree of the Laurel family. However, in everyday life, cinnamon is the dried bark of this tree. It is widely used as a spice in cooking, as well as in the form of essential oils in medicine and cosmetology. Cinnamon is sold, as a rule, in the form of pieces of bark rolled up into a tube, and more often in a ground form.
For the production of spices, cinnamon is grown for two years. Then it is cut to the root. In the next vegetative year, about a dozen young shoots are formed on a cut tree, from which the bark is cut. Then it is dried, the outer layer is removed and only a thin inner layer is left. As a result, meter-long cinnamon strips remain, which, after drying, curl into long tubes. These tubes are then cut into pieces 5 to 10 cm long. They are the ones that go on sale.
In order to distinguish cinnamon powder from cassia powder, it is enough to carry out a check with iodine, which is easily carried out even at home. When iodine is applied to cassia, it is painted in a dark blue color, while with a similar procedure, cinnamon gives only a weak bluish tint.