China + Cloves = Ceylon?

To Americans, cinnamon means Cinnamomum cassia, known in the spice trade as Chinese cinnamon because it’s largely cultivated in China and Burma. A cinnamon stick is the bark from a 10-year-old cinnamon tree. Once in a while you’ll see a spice called cassia buds, which are dried unripe Chinese cinnamon fruits. They also have a heady cinnamon aroma.

But in many countries--including Mexico (where cinnamon is known as canela) and England--cinnamon comes from a different, though related, tree: Cinnamomum zeylanicum, or Ceylon cinnamon. It’s raised in many tropical and subtropical areas besides Sri Lanka, including Madagascar, Brazil and the Caribbean.

Our familiar Chinese cinnamon is highly aromatic. People who are used to Ceylon cinnamon find the Chinese variety harsh because it has a higher proportion of the aromatic compound cinnamic aldehyde than Ceylon cinnamon does. On the other hand, fans of Ceylon cinnamon praise its richer aroma. It contains a compound called eugenol, lacking in Chinese cinnamon.

Now, eugenol happens to be the chemical responsible for the characteristic aroma of cloves. Maybe this is why traditional American recipes that call for cinnamon often say to throw in a pinch of cloves as well.