CINNAMON has been known to European nations from very high antiquity. That which is now chiefly consumed in England is the aromatic bark of a small tree found in the island of Ceylon. The time for stripping off the bark is from May to October. The bark, after being removed from the branches, is tied up in bundles for twenty-four hours, du ring which time a sort of fermentation takes place, which greatly facilitates the separation of the outer part of the bark from the cuticle and the epidermis, which is very carefully scraped off the Ceylon cinnamon. It is then rolled up into quills, or pipes, about three feet in length, the thinner or smaller quills being surrounded by larger ones, a mark which al ways distinguishes cinnamon from cassia. It is then conveyed to Colombo, where it is sorted by government inspectors into three tinds, of which the two finest alone are al owed to he exported to Europe, while the ,bird, or inferior kind, is reserved to be dis• tilled, along with the broken pieces of the )ther two, for the purpose of obtaining the ail of cinnamon. The select cinnamon is 'ormed into bales of about 921 lbs. weight, containing some pepper or coffee, andwrapped in double cloths made of hemp.
This fine cinnamon occurs in pieces about forty inches in length, generally containing from six to eight rolls or quills in each, one within the other, of the thickness of vellum paper, of a dull golden yellow coloqr. It is very fragrant, agreeably aromatic, taste plea sant, warm, aromatic, slightly astringent. Analysed by Vauquelin, it yielded volatile oil, tannin iu large quantity, an azotised colouring matter, a peculiar acid, mucilage, and fecu lum.
The root of the cinnamon tree yields a kind of camphor, and the leaves yield an oil which resembles oil of cloves, which it is often used to adulterate. This is quite distinct from the oil of cinnamon obtained from the bark. The ripe berries yield by decoction a solid volatile oil, similar to the oil of junipers.
Cassia is often mistaken for cinnamon; but they differ in the following particulars : The bales in which Cassia arrives are much smal ler, containing only from two to four pounds, bound together by portions of the bark of a tree. The quills are thicker, rolled once or twice only, and never contain thinner pieces within ; the diameter of the bark is much thicker than that of cinnamon, and harder, and the outer rind less carefully removed. It has the odour of cinnamon, but fainter and less grateful; the taste more acridly aromatic, pungent, less sweet, at the same time more powerfully astringent, yet mucilaginous.
Oil of Cinnamon is obtained chiefly from the fragments which fall from the quills during the inspection and sorting at Colombo. These fragments are coarsely powdered, and, after being immersed for forty-eight hours in sea water, are distilled, when a milky fluid comes over, which separates into two parts, a light oil which floats on the water, and a heavy one which sinks. In time a spontaneous separa tion takes place, and there are forined trans parent crystals of stearopteu, or cinnamon camphor. Oil of Cassia is also obtained by distillation ; at first it is whiter than oil of cinnamon, afterwards it becomes yellow, but never of such a fiery yellow as cinnamon-oil. The odour is agreeable, but not so delicate ; the taste, acrid, burning, but different from'' cinnamon.
Oil of cinnamon, as a costly article, is often' adulterated with oil of cassia ; with the oil of cassia-buds ; with the oil of the 04rasus lauro cerasus, or cherry-laurel; and it is also said with oil cf bitter almonds, an exceedingly dan gerous intermixture.
Cinnamon is an extremely valuable aroma tic stimulant, useful both in cookery and in medicine. Cassia has similar properties in a less degree.
347,368 lbs. of cinnamon were imported in 1848.