CINNAMON

Cinnamon is a little tree that is grown in India, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Indonesia,Vietnam, and Egypt. It is one of the oldest spices known to mankind. To make it, the bark of the cinnamon tree is dehydrated and rolled into cinnamon sticks, which is also called quills. Cinnamon can also be dried out and ground into fine particles. Cinnamon plants are cultivated as bushes. They normally measure at about 2 meters in height and 8-12 cm at the bottom, when the plants are about two years old. It is at this period they are prepared to be harvested. There are two kinds of cinnamon, the Chinese one and the Ceylon one. Both have the same kind of flavor, but the cinnamon from Ceylon is a little sweeter, more polished and harder to locate in the local market places.


Cinnamomum verum is the scientific botanical name of the plant. In the common languages of India ie., in Hindi it is called as Dalchini, Darchini; in Bengali it is called as Dalchini; in Kannada it is called as Lavangapattai; in Gujarati it is called as Dalchini; in Malayalam it is called as Karuvapatta; in Marathi it is called as Dalchini; in Sanskrit it is called as Darushila; in Oriya it is called as Dalchini; in Tamil it is called as Karuvapattai, Sannalavangapattai; in Urdu it is called as Dalchini; in Punjabi also it is called as Dalchini.

Cinnamon has been known from distant artifact. It was brought into Egypt as early as 2000 BC, but those who give details that it had been brought in from China confuse it with cassia. The Hebrew Bible makes definite mentioning of the spice a lot of times. First while Moses commanded to use both cinnamon and cassia in the holy rubbing oil. Then in Proverbs where the lover's bed is sweet scented with myrrh, aloe veras, and cinnamon. In the Song of Solomon, a song recitating the gorgeousness of his beloved, the line was- "Cinnamon perfumes her clothes like the smell of Lebanon". Cinnamon was a constituent of the Ketoret that is used while referring to the sacred anger portrayed in the Hebrew Bible and Talmud.

It was presented on the dedicated rile altar in the occasion when the Tabernacle was situated in the First and Second Jerusalem shrines. The ketoret was a significant part of the Temple service in Jerusalem. It was so extremely valued amongst the ancient countries that it was looked upon as a present for monarchs and even for the gods. A well written text records the presence of cinnamon and cassia to the shrine of Apollo at Miletus. However its basis was kept unexplained in the Mediterranean planet for centuries by the middlemen who looked after the spice trade, to guard their control over suppliers. Cinnamon is native to Sri Lanka, Burma, the Malabar Coast of India and Bangladesh. It is moreover alluded to by Herodotus and other traditional writers.

It was too costly to be normally used on memorial service in Rome, but the royal leader Nero is said to have set ablaze a year's value of the city's supply of Cinnamon for the final rituals of his wife Poppaea Sabina in AD 65. Dutch merchants lastly dislodged the Portuguese by becoming friends with the domestic Kingdom of Kandy. They time-honored a trading post in 1638, which took power of the factories by 1640, and barred all left over Portuguese by 1658. The shores of the isle are full of cinnamon and it is the best in all the Orientation reported a Dutch captain. When one is downwind of the isle, one can still smell the fragrance of cinnamon eight leagues out to the sea.

The Dutch East India Company sustained to renovate the methods of harvesting in the uncultivated lands and ultimately began to grow its personal trees. In 1767, Lord Brown of East India Company set up cinnamon lands near Anjarakkandy in Cannanore which is now named as Kannur district of Kerala, and this estate became Asia's major cinnamon estate. The British took power over the island from the Dutch in 1796. However, the significance of the domination of Ceylon was already on the way out, as growth of the cinnamon trees spreaded to further areas and the more widespread cassia bark became more adequate to consumers and consequently tea, sugar, coffee and chocolate began to outdo the status of conventional spices.

Cinnamon leaf and bark oil are got by distilling the leaf and bark individually. Cinnamon bark is a well-known spice with an insubstantial scent and a warm pleasant taste. It is used in small pieces or powder. It is broadly used as a flavoring agent in confectioneries and liquors too.

Studies have confirmed that just 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon eaten every day can lower LDL cholesterol. Cinnamon is thought to have a dogmatic outcome of blood sugar level specially very much helpful for people with Type 2 diabetes. In several researches, cinnamon has exposed an astonishing capability to end medication-resistant yeast linked diseases. In a study released by researchers of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Maryland it is shown that cinnamon condensed the production of leukemia and lymphoma cancer cells. It can give an anti-clotting result in the blood.

It provides a major relief in arthritis ache . When used in food, it slows down the bacterial expansion and food spoilage, which makes it a natural food preservative. One study instituted that smelling cinnamon can boost cognitive working and memory.Cinnamon eradicates the E.coli bacteria that are found in unpasteurized juices. It is one of the great sources of manganese, iron, fiber, and calcium. With respect to the dynamic components contained in its essential oils and its nutrient composition, cinnamon is also highly valued in energy-based medical systems, such as conventional Chinese Medicine, for its temperate qualities. In these traditions, cinnamon is used to provide a great relief to one facing with the beginning of a cold or flu, particularly when it is mixed in a tea with a few fresh ginger. But pregnant women must stay away from excessive amounts of cinnamon and should not take it as a supplement.