Cassia or cinnamon? Why the species belongs on your contract

Walk into most kitchens in most countries and the jar labelled cinnamon contains cassia. This is not fraud; it is nomenclature. In much of the world both barks are legally called cinnamon, and they have been traded under the same name for a very long time. But they are different species with different chemistry and different prices, and a contract that says only cinnamon has not actually specified anything.

What they are

Ceylon cinnamon is Cinnamomum verum, grown principally in Sri Lanka. The bark is thin and papery, rolled into fragile multi-layered quills that crumble easily. The flavour is lighter and more floral.

Cassia covers several related species — Chinese, Indonesian and Vietnamese cassia among them. The bark is thick and hard, rolls into a single heavy curl, and tastes stronger, sweeter and more assertively of what most people think cinnamon tastes like.

Indian tej patta comes from a related tree again, and its bark is occasionally traded as cinnamon too.

Why the difference matters commercially

Cassia is markedly cheaper and is what the great majority of the world’s industrial and retail volume actually is. Ceylon cinnamon is a speciality product at a speciality price, and buyers who want it must ask for it by species.

The regulatory part

Cassia contains coumarin, a compound present at much lower levels in Ceylon cinnamon. Several jurisdictions set limits on coumarin in food, which means that in some applications and some markets cassia cannot simply be substituted for cinnamon at any inclusion rate. Where those limits apply, the species is not a preference, it is a compliance question, and it needs to be on the specification with the botanical name spelled out.

The limits and the applications they cover differ by market and change over time. Confirm the current position for your destination rather than relying on a supplier’s summary, this one included.

What to put on the order

Name the species in Latin. State the form — quills, splits, broken, chips or ground — and for quills, the length. State the origin if the origin matters to you, because Indonesian and Vietnamese cassia are not interchangeable in flavour even though both are cassia.

Then, if the destination regulates coumarin, say so in the enquiry. It changes which material can be offered, and it is much better raised at the quotation than at the port.