Economic Botany of Cinnamon
Botanical Name: Cinnamomum vernum Family: Lauraceae
Common Name: Dalchini Part used: Bark
The most useful part of the cinnamon tree is
the outer bark which is generally used as a spice and for several natural
medicinal applications. The inner bark of the cinnamon tree has more medicinal
effects and it also contains more essential oil.
The cinnamon bark spice is known to be
available throughout the year and is most ideal to be consumed as a tea
especially during winter as it has a warm and sweet taste and is also very
aromatic.
Sri Lankan cinnamon contributes to 70% of the
world’s true cinnamon bark production.
Origin:
Cinnamon is indigenous to Sri Lanka.
In India this tree is grown in Kerala and forests of Western ghats.
Botanical
Description
· Cinnamomum verum earlier known as Cinnamomum zeylanicum
is an important evergreen tree of family Lauraceae. It is also known as True
Cinnmon. The name was derived from Ceylon (the oldest name of
Sri Lanka).
· Cinnamomum zeylanicum (Dalchini) is an evergreen tropical shrub
with thick, smooth, reddish-brown bark.
· C.
verum attains a height of 10–15 m long. Its leaves are
opposite, ovate to oblong in shape, glabrous and usually have leathery texture
on both surfaces. The dark green leaves are 7–18 cm long with pointed tips. The
lamina is greenish-white abaxially and shiny green adaxially. The opposite or sub-opposite leaves
are glabrous, ovate and lanceolate, hard and coriaceous, and opposite or
sub-opposite. Red leaves
when young and dark green when matured.
· Leaves are generally greenish above and dull
grey greenish below with three or five prominent ribs.
· The
greenish or yellowish-white flowers are arranged in terminal panicles at end of
branches with a unique odour. Its fruit is one cm long berry which contains a
single seed.
· Its
bark is known as milled bark and is of great economic importance. The
right time for peeling off the bark is when the red flush of the young leaves
turns green. The dried bark turned into a tubular form known as quill or
cinnamon stick is chiefly used in food preparation.
Cultivation
Practices:
Cinnamomum is adapted to a wide range of climatic conditions.
Cinnamon requires a warm and humid climate with a well distributed annual rainfall of around 2000-2500 mm, and average temperatures of about 27°C.
Wild cinnamon trees are adapted to
tropical evergreen rainforests. It grows best at low altitudes, and is usually
grown without shade, but being essentially a forest tree, light shade is
tolerated. It grows well on different soils in the tropics, but soil type has a
pronounced effect on bark quality.
Harvesting: Cinnamon bark is harvested twice a year immediately after each of the rainy seasons when the humidity makes the bark peel more easily. The trees are first harvested when they are three years old.
Processing:
Processing accounts for about 60% of the cost of production of cinnamon as removal of bark from the stem is very labour intensive and is usually done by hand and by skilled labourers.
The quality of cinnamon depends on how well the bark is removed from the stems.
The larger pieces of bark known as quills are sold at higher rate than the smaller broken pieces. Drying is also one of the important stages of cinnamon processing as it adds to the quality of the final product.
Step 1: Peeling and extraction of bark
Two
longitudinal slits are made lengthwise in the severed shoots and the bark is
peeled off in one-meter lengths with the help of specially designed tools. Branches
which have attained brown colour are cut. The branches should be 1 to 2 years
old. Cutting of shoots for extraction of bark is done in May and November.
The cut shoots are collected, bundled and tied to shed for peeling. Peeling is
done with a small knife having a round edge at the end.
Step
2: Rolling
Peeled barks are packed together and placed one above the other and pressed.
Step 3 Piping
Peeled and rolled slips are bundled and taken to piping yard. These slips are kept on a horizontal stick supported on a stand. The outer skin of the slip is scrapped-off with a curved knife. These scrapped slips are then graded according to thickness. The graded slips are rolled to form pipes by fitting them over the outer cover of pipes. After piping, slips are dried. Such piped slips are called “quills”. After drying, they are packed in mats for marketing.
Step 4: Grinding
Most
consumers, from wholesalers to individual customers, prefer to buy whole
spices. Cinnamon is sometimes ground to powder form prior to sale. The ground
powder should be packaged in moisture proof packaging (polypropylene bags) to
retain the flavour.
Step
5: Storage
Dried
cinnamon quills must be stored in moisture-proof containers away from direct
sunlight. If they have absorbed moisture, they should be re-dried to a moisture
content of 10%.
Nutritional
Properties
As far as nutritional properties are
concerned, cinnamon is known to be a very good source of iron, calcium and
dietary fibre as well as manganese. There are various nutrients present in
cinnamon such as sodium, carbohydrates, sugar, fatty acids, amino acids and so
on. Bioactive compound: Cinnamaldehyde
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