Cinnamon

What Cinnamon is

A warm, sweet whole spice bloomed in hot fat at the start of a biryani or curry, or boiled directly into masala chai. Most cinnamon sold in South Asian and Western shops is actually a related bark called cassia, not the more delicate 'true' cinnamon of Sri Lanka.

The dried inner bark of a tree in the laurel family, harvested in curled quills. What most recipes and spice boxes simply call cinnamon is usually Cinnamomum cassia, thicker-barked and stronger-flavored than Cinnamomum verum, the softer 'true' Ceylon cinnamon sold separately.

Taste profile

Warm, sweet and woody, with a faint peppery heat underneath. Cassia, the common form, is bolder and slightly more astringent than true cinnamon, which is why a single stick can carry flavor through an entire pot of biryani or a full pan of simmering chai.

Forms to buy

• Whole stick — Bloomed in hot fat or simmered whole; removed before serving.
• Ground — For baking and spice blends; too strong in ground form for most savory pots.

Halal note

Cinnamon bark and cinnamon powder carry no halal concern. Cinnamon-flavored extracts and some essential-oil-based flavorings use alcohol as a carrier, a point worth checking only in those concentrated products, not the whole or ground spice.

Dishes that use it

• Masala Chai — Tea boiled with milk, sugar and whole spices — not tea with milk added.
• Mutton Biryani — The same method as chicken biryani, but the meat sets the timing.
• Chicken Biryani — Rice and marinated chicken layered raw, then sealed and steamed together.

Cuisines

• Indian — Not one cuisine but a continent's worth, unified by how spices are handled rather than by what is cooked.
• South Indian — Rice, lentils and fermentation — a lighter, sourer tradition with almost no relation to a North Indian menu.
• Indo-Nepali — The most common restaurant format abroad: a Nepali kitchen cooking a mostly Indian menu, with momo on the side.

Other spices

• Turmeric
• Cumin
• Coriander Seed
• Cardamom
• Cloves
• Bay Leaf