The market · Spices · South Asia, The Middle East, The Americas, Northern and Central Europe
Cinnamon
The dried inner bark of trees in the laurel family — sweet and warm, used in savoury dishes as often as sweet.
sweet-spiced · warm
What to do with it
MinahasanKlappertaartA soft baked custard of young coconut, milk and eggs, with raisins and cinnamon, often topped with almonds or meringue.No one here has made it yetKoreanHotteokA yeasted pancake, pressed flat on a griddle around brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts that melt into a molten syrup.No one here has made it yetPersianFesenjanChicken or duck stewed slowly in ground walnuts and pomegranate molasses until dark, thick and glossy — sweet and sour at once.No one here has made it yetTurkishDolmaVegetables hollowed and filled, or vine leaves rolled, round rice with herbs and spices and sometimes meat.No one here has made it yetMoroccanPastillaA round pie of paper-thin warqa pastry filled with spiced pigeon or chicken, eggs and sugared almonds, dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon.No one here has made it yetGreekMoussakaLayers of fried aubergine and minced lamb or beef in a cinnamon-scented tomato sauce, under a thick crust of béchamel, baked.No one here has made it yetGreekPastitsioLong tubes of pasta layered with a spiced meat sauce under thick béchamel, baked and cut in tall squares.No one here has made it yetGreekBougatsaThin layers of filo wrapped round a warm semolina custard, baked, cut into squares and dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon.No one here has made it yet
Nordic and Baltic ryeKanelbullarSoft, cardamom-scented yeasted buns rolled around butter, sugar and cinnamon, and topped with pearl sugar.No one here has made it yetMexicanMole negroOaxaca's black mole: chilhuacle and other dried chillies toasted almost to char, ground with nuts, seeds, fruit, spice and chocolate into a near-black sauce.No one here has made it yet
Nordic and Baltic ryeKanelbullarSoft, cardamom-scented yeasted buns rolled around butter, sugar and cinnamon, and topped with pearl sugar.No one here has made it yetMexicanMole negroOaxaca's black mole: chilhuacle and other dried chillies toasted almost to char, ground with nuts, seeds, fruit, spice and chocolate into a near-black sauce.No one here has made it yetKinds
- Ceylon / true cinnamon
- Soft, papery layered quills; delicate. The canela of Mexico.
- Cassia
- Thick, hard bark; stronger and sweeter. What most ground cinnamon is.
Goes with
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- Latin American and South Asian grocers for Ceylon; anywhere for cassia.
- Worth knowing
- Sticks go in whole and come out; ground goes in at the end.
Kitchens that keep it in
Goa — the Konkan coast of western IndiaGoanCoconut, chilli and vinegar: a coastal kitchen where Konkani fish curry and rice meet pork, bread and sweets from four and a half centuries of Portuguese rule.9 classicsKashmir and Jammu — the Kashmir Valley and the hills below it, in India's far northKashmiriLamb, saffron and fennel in a high valley ringed by mountains: meat slow-cooked in yoghurt or red with Kashmiri chilli, greens from the lake, and kahwa against the cold.9 classicsSri Lanka — an island in the Indian Ocean, off the southern tip of IndiaSri LankanRice and curry, coconut and heat: an island's cooking of dark-roasted spice, sour goraka and fierce sambols, shaped by Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Malay and Burgher kitchens.10 classicsMoroccoMoroccanSlow tagines, steamed couscous and sweet-savoury pastries, scented with warm spice, preserved lemon and handfuls of fresh herbs.11 classics