Ingredient: Cinnamon

Cinnamon is one of the most popular spices worldwide, used in both savory and sweet dishes and beverages, thanks to its distinctive spicy-sweet kick. This spice is made from the inner bark of the Cinnamomum tree. Strips from the inner bark are dried until they curl into rolls known as cinnamon sticks or quills. These are then ground into powder or made into an extract to use. There are two main types of cinnamon that you should know: The first type is the Cassia cinnamon, also known as the Chinese cinnamon. It tends to have a dark brown-red color with thick sticks and a rough texture. Cassia cinnamon is considered to have lower quality, it is very cheap and is the most commonly used around the world as almost all cinnamon found in supermarkets is the cassia variety. The second type is Ceylon cinnamon, also called the true cinnamon. It has a tan-brown color and contains many tight sticks with soft layers giving it a highly desirable quality and texture. It is also safer in larger quantities than cassia cinnamon. Ceylon cinnamon is quite expensive compared to the cassia variety, and it is usually used to prepare desserts as it has a delicate and mildly sweet flavor.