Ceylon Cinnamon Tree - Cinnamomum verum - Tropical/Patio/Indoors/Bonsai - 6" Pot
Cinnamon is an evergreen shrub or small tree with dark, leathery, aromatic leaves. In cultivation young trees are cut back twice a year and sucker shoots develop from the roots. These long slender shoots furnish the bark that is the commercial product. The leaves are used in tea. Cinnamon is a very popular culinary spice and it is also used in candy, gum, incense, toothpaste and perfumes. The oil is used in medicine as a carminative, antiseptic, astringent and as the source of cinnamon extract. Cinnamomum verum is considered to be "true cinnamon". The flavour of cinnamon is due to an aromatic essential oil that makes up 0.5% to 1% of its composition. This essential oil is prepared by roughly pounding the bark, macerating it in sea water, and then quickly distilling the whole. It is of a golden-yellow colour, with the characteristic odour of cinnamon and a very hot aromatic taste. The pungent taste and scent come from cinnamic aldehyde or cinnamaldehyde (about 90% of the essential oil from the bark) and, by reaction with of oxygen as it ages, it darkens in color and forms resinous compounds. Other chemical components of the essential oil include ethyl cinnamate, eugenol (found mostly in the leaves), beta-caryophyllene, linalool, and methyl chavicol.