Cinnamon-Its morphology and cultivation practices

 

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. Length of peeled barks is reduced to small size and these are piled up in small enclosures covered with dried eaves to preserve moisture for next day’s operation and also to aid slight fermentation.

     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