Cinnamon

[1] “Cinnamon in medieval Europe,” Medium, https://indomedieval.medium.com/cinnamon-in-medieval-europe-da32bf836221 (accessed May 1, 2024).

[2] J. Lee, “Cinnamon: A complete guide to types, flavors, and how to use them,” King Arthur Baking, https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2021/11/04/cinnamon-a-complete-guide-to-types-flavors-and-how-to-use-them (accessed May 1, 2024).

[3] F. Czarra, Spices: A Global History. London: Reaktion Books, 2012.

[4] A. Paré, Les Oeuures d’Ambroise Paré: Diuisees En Vingt Huict Liures, Auec Les Figures & Portraicts, Tant de l’anatomie Que Des Instruments de Chirurgie, & de Plusieurs Monstres : Reueuës & Augmentees Par l’autheur. 1585.

[5] Le Menegier de Paris. 1393., https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/44070/pg44070-images.html (accessed May 1, 2024).

[6] E. G. Ravenstein, A Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco Da Gama: 1497-1499. London: Print. for the Hackluyt Society, 1898.

[7] C. A. Redmount, “The Wadi Tumilat and the ‘Canal of the Pharaohs,’” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 54, no. 2, pp. 127–135, Apr. 1995. doi:10.1086/373742

[8] “Canel,” Middle English Compendium, https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED6651 (accessed Aug. 2, 2026).

[9] Herodotus, The History of Herodotus, https://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.mb.txt (accessed Aug. 2, 2026). ~430 BC

[10] S. Pegge, The Forme of Cury: A Roll of Ancient English Cookery Compiled, about A.D. 1390. Project Gutenberg, 2005. 

[11] Athenæus, The Deipnosophists, or  Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, trans. C.D. Yonge trans. ~200AD. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/36921/36921-h/36921-h.htm. Accessed Aug 2026.

[12] Songs of Chu: An Anthology of Ancient Chinese Poetry by Qu Yuan and Others, trans. G. Sukhu trans. Columbia University Press, 2017 (~300BC).

[13] J. Munro, “The Consumption of Spices and Their Costs in Late-Medieval and Early-Modern Europe: Luxuries or Necessities?,” Spices and their costs in medieval Europe, https://www.economics.utoronto.ca/munro5/SPICES1.htm (accessed Aug. 5, 2026).

[14] S. Weerasuriya and R. Pathirana, “Germplasm Resources, Crop Improvement and Biotechnological Tools in aid of Cinnamon Breeding. In Senaratne, R and Pathirana, R. (Eds) Cinnamon: Botany, Agronomy, Chemistry and Industrial Applications.,” Springer Nature, Nov. 2020.

[15] “Pliny, natural history,” Pliny, Natural History, 12 (b), http://attalus.org/pliny/hn12b.html (accessed Aug. 5, 2026)

Cinnamon comes in many varieties, all subspecies of the same tree. These are below identified by their place of origin and their Latin Name:

• China (Cinnamomum cassia)

• Indonesia (Cinnamomum burmannii)

• Vietnam (Cinnamomum loureirii)

• Sri Lanka (Cinnamomum verum) [2]

Handout from class at Pennsic LIII about commerical cinnamon varieties

Spices, a global history [3]

P9 “a spices usually defined as an aromatic part of a tropical plant, be at its root, bark, flower or seed. With the exception of vanilla chili pepper and allspice, nearly all spices are Asian origin.”

P9 “a herb is a plant that does not have a woody stem and dies at the end of each growing season. Most herbs derive their okay medicinal and seasoned qualities from their leaves.”

P10 “ Cinnamon is derived from the Greek word for spice and the prefix Chinese”

P10 “ Cinnamon and cassia mentioned in the Old testament and Sanskrit text as well as Greek medical works”

P11 “ Cinnamon is distinguished from cassia by an oil called eugenol”

P22 “Greek historian Herodotus wrote of cinnamon”

P22 “cinnamon in these times, was known to come from India it was later found on the island of Ceylon ( present day Sri Lanka), south of india.

P23 “ in the ancient world, cinnamon was the most sought after spice. It was known in China as ‘’Kwei’ as early as 2700 BCE and was introduced into Egypt around 1500 BCE”

P25 “a spice closely related to Cinnamon is cassia. It is native to Assam in Northern India and Burma (known today is Myanmar ) and on some Indonesian Islands were a grew wild. Records of the spice go back about 6,000 years. Cassia is thicker and coarser than cinnamon, although the two are sometimes sold as the same product.”

P30 “Ginger plant. Both ancient China and India use ginger. Rich in vitamin c, it was eaten by early Chinese Mariners to ward off scurvy”

P31 “cinnamon can be traced to Egypt in 500 BCE”

P31 excavations in Berenike Egypt have uncovered numerous peppercorns from the first century CE, peppercorns from this. Have been found as far north as Germany

P43 picture of quote

P46 picture of manuscript picture

P51 picture of woodcut gathering cinnamon

Spice Merchant 1453

https://online-service.nuernberg.de/viewer/image/5d64f831-7a9d-47b4-9a01-d6a28f29ad99/154/LOG_0154/

Harvesting Cinnamon 1585 [4]

https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-2274003R-bk?_gl=1*lnp7ul*_ga*ODA1NjM3OTg4LjE3NzQ1NDMzMzI.*_ga_P1FPTH9PL4*czE3ODQxMjUzMjUkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODQxMjUzNjYkajE5JGwwJGgw

Le Menegier de Paris (1393) [5]

"Firstly , in all sauces and thickening soups in which spices and bread are ground, one must first grind the spices and remove them from the mortar, because the bread which is ground afterwards retains what remains of the spices; thus one does not lose anything that one would lose if one did otherwise."

A Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama (1497-1499) [6]

p77 "The following spices are to be found in the city of Calecut, being its own produce: much ginger and pepper and cinnamon, although the last is not of so fina a quality as that brought from an island called Çillan [Ceylon], which is eight days journey from Calecut."

p77-79 "The Mecca vessels carry these spices from there to a city in Mecca called Judeâ [Jidda], and from the said island to Judeâ is a voyage of fifty days sailing before the wind, for the vessels of this country cannot tack. At Judeâ they discharge their cargoes, paying customs duties to the Grand Sultan. The merchandise is then trans-shipped to smaller vessels, which carry it through the Red Sea to a place close to Santa Catarina of Mount Sinai, called Tuuz, where customs dues are paid once more. From that place the merchants carry the spices on the back of camels, which they hire at the rate of 4 cruzados each, to Quayro [Cairo], a journey occupying ten days. At Quayro duties are paid again. On this road to Cairo they are frequently robbed by thieves, who live in that country, such as the Bedouins and others.

At Cairo the spices are embarked on the river Nile, which rises in Prester John's country in Lower India, and descending that river for two days they reach a place called Roxette [Rosetta], where duties have to be paid once more. There they are placed on camels, and are conveyed in one day to city called Alexandria, which is a sea -port. This city is visited by the galleys of Venice and Genoa, in search of these spices, which yield the Grand Sultan a revenue of 600,000 cruzados in customs duties, out of which he pays to a king called Cidadym an annual subsidy of 100,000 cruzados for making war upon Prester John. "

Canal of the Pharoahs [7]

Alternate Terms

Canel/Canelle/Canille/Cannel/Canella - All medieval terms for cinnamon. From Old French [8]

Cassia - This is a tree in the genus Cinnamomum and is one or more of the  commercial varieties of cinnamon.

Ceylon - Another term for True Cinnamon, named for the place it comes from (modernly known as Sri Lanka)

Herodotus - The Histories. Published ~430BC. Greek author writing about Egypt [9]

"Such, then, is the way in which the Arabians obtain their frankincense;

their manner of collecting the cassia is the following:- They cover

all their body and their face with the hides of oxen and other skins,

leaving only holes for the eyes, and thus protected go in search of

the cassia, which grows in a lake of no great depth. All round the

shores and in the lake itself there dwell a number of winged animals,

much resembling bats, which screech horribly, and are very valiant.

These creatures they must keep from their eyes all the while that

they gather the cassia. 

Still more wonderful is the mode in which they collect the cinnamon.

Where the wood grows, and what country produces it, they cannot tell-

only some, following probability, relate that it comes from the country

in which Bacchus was brought up. Great birds, they say, bring the

sticks which we Greeks, taking the word from the Phoenicians, call

cinnamon, and carry them up into the air to make their nests. These

are fastened with a sort of mud to a sheer face of rock, where no

foot of man is able to climb. So the Arabians, to get the cinnamon,

use the following artifice. They cut all the oxen and asses and beasts

of burthen that die in their land into large pieces, which they carry

with them into those regions, and Place near the nests: then they

withdraw to a distance, and the old birds, swooping down, seize the

pieces of meat and fly with them up to their nests; which, not being

able to support the weight, break off and fall to the ground. Hereupon

the Arabians return and collect the cinnamon, which is afterwards

carried from Arabia into other countries."

"There are a set of men in Egypt who practice the art of embalming,

and make it their proper business. These persons, when a body is brought

to them, show the bearers various models of corpses, made in wood,

and painted so as to resemble nature. The most perfect is said to

be after the manner of him whom I do not think it religious to name

in connection with such a matter; the second sort is inferior to the

first, and less costly; the third is the cheapest of all. All this

the embalmers explain, and then ask in which way it is wished that

the corpse should be prepared. The bearers tell them, and having concluded

their bargain, take their departure, while the embalmers, left to

themselves, proceed to their task. The mode of embalming, according

to the most perfect process, is the following:- They take first a

crooked piece of iron, and with it draw out the brain through the

nostrils, thus getting rid of a portion, while the skull is cleared

of the rest by rinsing with drugs; next they make a cut along the

flank with a sharp Ethiopian stone, and take out the whole contents

of the abdomen, which they then cleanse, washing it thoroughly with

palm wine, and again frequently with an infusion of pounded aromatics.

After this they fill the cavity with the purest bruised myrrh, with

cassia, and every other sort of spicery except frankincense, and sew

up the opening. Then the body is placed in natrum for seventy days,

and covered entirely over. After the expiration of that space of time,

which must not be exceeded, the body is washed, and wrapped round,

from head to foot, with bandages of fine linen cloth, smeared over

with gum, which is used generally by the Egyptians in the place of

glue, and in this state it is given back to the relations, who enclose

it in a wooden case which they have had made for the purpose, shaped

into the figure of a man. Then fastening the case, they place it in

a sepulchral chamber, upright against the wall. Such is the most costly

way of embalming the dead."

"Arabia is the last of inhabited lands towards the south, and it is

the only country which produces frankincense, myrrh, cassia, cinnamon,

and ledanum."

Forme of Cury ~1390 [10]

One of many mentions of Cinnamon (canel) in this recipe book form late 14th cen. England

The Deipnosophists by Athenæus [11]

This is a Greek text written around 200AD set in Rome during a series of Banquets. This contains a few references to cinnamon and cassia.

Songs of Chu ~300BC, [12]

"The first man ever to be known for his poetry in China was Qu Yuan 屈 原 (340?–278? B.C.E.). His work is the core of the Chuci 楚㣘, or Songs of Chu, the second-oldest anthology of Chinese verse. He was a high minister in the southern state of Chu, serving both King Huai (r. 328–299 B.C.E.) and his successor, King Qing Xiang (r. 298–263 B.C.E.). So distinctive and influential is his work, which includes some of the most beautiful liturgical poetry in the world, that literary historians think of it as the “second beginning” of Chinese poetry, the first being the ancient and quasi-scriptural Shijing 詩經, or Book of Songs. Yet the Dragon Boat Festival, held in his honor every year, is less a celebration of his poetry than a commemoration of his suicide. " [12]

Both of the bellow excerpts mentioning Cassia Wine are in Book One.

The Consumption of Spices and Their Costs in Late-Medieval and Early-Modern Europe: Luxuries or Necessities?[13]

Germplasm Resources, Crop Improvement and Biotechnological Tools in aid of Cinnamon Breeding [14]

"The oldest known spice cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum Blume.) has been in cultivation for less than three centuries since the Dutch established the first plantations in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1765. Considering the long periods between replanting, it is still in the early stages of domestication. There is appreciable genetic variation in plant morphology, bark and leaf yield, bark recovery percentage, and oil content and quality." [14]

Pliny Natural Histories Book 12, ~77AD[15]

{42.} L   [85] In regard to cinnamomum and casia a fabulous story has been related by antiquity, and first of all by Herodotus { 3.111 }, that they are obtained from birds' nests, and particularly from that of the phoenix, in the region where Father Liber was brought up, and that they are knocked down from inaccessible rocks and trees by the weight of the flesh brought there by the birds themselves, or by means of arrows loaded with lead; and similarly there is a tale of casia growing round marshes under the protection of a terrible kind of bats that guard it with their claws, and of winged serpents - these tales having been invented by the natives to raise the price of their commodities. [86] However, there goes with them a story that under the reflected rays of the sun at midday an indescribable sort of collective odour is given off from the whole of the peninsula, which is due to the harmoniously blended exhalation of so many kinds of vapour, and that the first news of Arabia received by the fleets of Alexander the Great was carried by these odours far out to sea - all these stories being false, inasmuch as cinnamomum, which is the same thing as cinnamon, grows in Ethiopia, which is linked by intermarriage with the Troglodytes. [87] The latter buy it from their neighbours and convey it over the wide seas in ships that are neither steered by rudders nor propelled by oars or drawn by sails, nor assisted by any device of art: in those regions only man and man's boldness stands in place of all these things. Moreover they choose the winter sea about the time of the shortest day, as an east wind is then chiefly blowing. [88] This carries them on a straight course through the bays, and after rounding a cape a west-north-west wind brings them to the harbour of the Gebbanitae called Ocilia. On this account that is the port most resorted to by these people, and they say that it is almost five years before the traders return home and that many perish on the voyage. In return for their wares they bring back articles of glass and copper, clothing, and buckles, bracelets and necklaces; consequently that traffic depends principally on having the confidence of the women.

[89] The actual shrub of the cinnamon is only about two cubits high at the most, the smallest being only a span high, and 4 digits {7½ cm} thick, and it throws out shoots as low as six digits {11 cm} from the ground; it has a dried up appearance, and while it is green has no scent; the leaf is like that of the wild marjoram; it likes a dry soil and is less fertile in wet weather; and it stands constant clipping. Though it grows on level ground, it flourishes among the thickest bushes and brambles, and is difficult to gather. It can only be cut 'with the leave of the god' - which some understand to mean Jove, but the Ethiopian name for him is Assabinus. They sacrifice 44 oxen, goats and rams to obtain leave to cut it, though this does not include permission to do so before sunrise or after sunset. [90] A priest divides the twigs with a spear, and sets aside a portion for the god, while the rest is packed up in clumps by the dealer. Another account is also given, that a share is assigned to the sun, and that the wood is divided into three portions, and then lots are cast twice to assign the shares, and the share that falls to the sun is left, and bursts out in flames of its own accord.

[91] The finest quality with cinnamon belongs to the thinnest parts of the boughs, for about a span's length; the second best to the next pieces for a shorter length, and so on in order; the worst in quality is the part nearest to the roots, because it has the least amount of bark, which is the part most favoured, and consequently preference is given to the tops of the plants, where there is most bark. The actual wood, however, is held in no esteem, because it has the bitter taste of wild marjoram: it is called wood-cinnamon; [92] it fetches 10 denarii a pound. Some writers mention two kinds of cinnamon, one lighter and the other darker in colour; and in former days the light kind was preferred, but now on the other hand the dark is praised, and even a mottled kind is preferred to the pure white. Still, the most certain test of value is that it must not be rough, and that when rubbed together it must crumble slowly. The lowest value is attached to it when it is soft or when the bark is falling off.

[93] The right of controlling the sale of cinnamon is vested solely in the king of the Gebbanitae, who opens the market by public proclamation. The prices formerly were 1000 denarii a pound, but this was raised to half as much again after the forests had been burnt, so it is said, by infuriated barbarians; but it is not absolutely certain whether this was incendiarism provoked by injustice on the part of those in power or was due to accident, as we find it stated in the authorities that the south winds that blow there are so hot that they set lire to the forests in summer. [94] The emperor Vespasian Augustus was the first person to dedicate in the Temples of the Capitol and of Peace chaplets of cinnamon surrounded with embossed gold. We once saw in the Temple of the Palatine erected in honour of the deified Augustus by his consort Augusta a very heavy cinnamon-root placed in a golden bowl, out of which drops used to distil every year which hardened into grains; this went on until the shrine in question was destroyed by fire.

{43.} L   [95] Casia also is a shrub, and it grows close to the plains of cinnamon, but on the mountains; it has thicker stalks, and a thin skin rather than bark, which, in the opposite way to what we said in the case of cinnamon gains value when it falls off and thins away. This shrub grows to a height of 3 cubits and it has three colours: when it first sprouts up, to the length of a foot it is white, then for the next half a foot it is reddish, and beyond that point it is black. [96] The black part is most highly esteemed, and next the part nearest to it, but the white part has no value at all. They cut the shoots to the length of two inches, and then sew them up in newly flayed hides of animals slaughtered for the purpose, so that as they rot maggots may gnaw away the wood and hollow out the whole of the bark, which is protected from them by its bitter taste. [97] The bark is valued most highly when fresh, when it has a very pleasant smell and is hardly at all hot to the taste, and rather gives a slight nip with its moderate warmth; it must be of a purple colour, and though bulky weigh very little, and the pores of the outer coats should be short and not liable to break. This kind of casia is called by a foreign name, lada. Another kind is near-balsam, so called because it has a scent like that of balsam, but it has a bitter taste and consequently is more useful for medicinal purposes, just as the black kind is more employed for unguents. No substance has a wider range of price - the best qualities sell at 50 denarii a pound and the others at 5.

[98] To these varieties the dealers have added one which they call Daphnis's casia, with the further designation of near-cinnamon, and they price it at 300 denarii. It is adulterated with styrax, and with very small sprigs of bay because of the similarity of the barks. It is also grown in our part of the world, and I have seen it on the extreme edge of our empire, where the Rhine washes our frontier, planted among beehives; but there it has not the scorched colour produced by the sun, and for the same reason also it has not the same scent as the southern product. [15]