The first spice referred to in the Old Testament is cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) when Moses is commanded to use both cinnamon and cassia in the holy anointing oil – then, in Proverbs we read of the ‘lover’s bed’ being perfumed with cinnamon, aloe and myrrh and in the Song of Solomon when he describes the woman he loves, he mentions that her clothes are perfumed with cinnamon.  In the Temple of Apollo in Miletus (still well preserved to this day), near the coast of western Turkey, there’s an inscription recording a gift of cinnamon and cassia that was given to the temple itself.

Cinnamon originated in Sri Lanka and the Egyptians were already importing it in 2,000 BC but it was very expensive which is probably why it was thought that  Nero burnt a year’s worth of the city’s supply at his wife’s funeral. Cinnamon was mentioned in Chinese writings in 2800 BC and Medieval physicians used cinnamon in medicines to treat coughing, hoarseness and sore throats – it was also used as a preservative for meat because the phenols  inhibit the bacteria responsible for spoilage – but I’m not sure whether that information was realily available at the time (and I’m not convinced that they used cinnamon to disguise the smell of meat that had gone off, either.)

Ingredients Batter

• 100 g white bread
• 200ml tepid milk
• 7g instant dried yeast
• 1 tsp light brown sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon

Dough

• 300g white bread flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp freshly ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
• ½ tsp cardamom seeds, ground (you remove the seeds from the green pods
• 1 orange, grated zest only
• 1 lemon, grated zest onlyh
• 50g butter, grated
• 50g light brown sugar
• 100 g mixed dried peel
• 100 g golden sutanas
• 1 egg, lightly whisked
• 2 tbsp plain flour (for the crosses)

Glaze

• 1 orange
• 50g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp brandy

Method

• Grease a baking sheet well before starting to make the batter and then mix the yeast, the sugar, the cinnamon and flour and stir in the milk to combine well and form a smooth batter, cover the bowl and allow to rise for half an hour – the surface must be covered with largish bubbles.
• Sift the flour, the salt, the cinnamon, the cardamom and the nutmeg together and stir in the orange and the lemon zest and then rub the grated butter into the flour – add the sugar, the sultanas and the dried peel last.
• Now add the dough mixture(the dried flour mixture) and the whisked egg to the batter, and mix well to form a soft dough.
• Place the dough on to a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and velvety – if it still sticks to your fingers, carry on kneading until it no longer does that.
• Make equally sized balls with the dough and put them on the greased baking sheet – apart from one another to enable rising and then cover (a shopping (or any large plastic) bag, well oiled will do the trick and allow them to rise for about 1 ½ hours until they have doubled in size.
• Preheat the oven to 220C.
• Blend the flour with two tbsp cold water to make a paste and then  pipe across each bun to form a cross.
• Bake  for 15-20 minutes until risen and golden brown and then glaze.
• Make the glaze with grated orange rind, the brandy and the sugar boiled in a little water – as soon as the water boils, stir well until the sugar has dissolved and sufficiently reduced to form a syrup (brush on the buns immediately, place on a rack and allow them to cool down).

Alexandria used to be the only Mediterranean port for the cinnamon trade – so much so that Jean de Joinville, a French noble that became counsellor and confidant of King Louis IX around 1250, was totally convinced that cinnamon was caught in nets somewhere along the Nile!

It’s quite understandable because the spice was unknown and many myths surrounded the spice at that time. Herodotus was convinced that it came from Arabia and that giant Cinnamon birds collected the sticks from undiscovered countries and built their nests with it (this myth was believed by some until the early Middle Ages). Pliny the Elder simply thought that the story was invented to justify the horrific prices (in his time 350 cost the same as five kilograms of silver, about fifteen times the value of silver per weight).  The first time mention was made of the cinnamon in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) was in a book written by an Arab, Al-Qazwini called the Monument of Places – the History of God’s Bondsmen, written in 1270.  This was confirmed shortly thereafter by an Italian, Giovanni da Montecorvino (a missionary who founded the earliest Catholic missions in India and China, translated the New Testament into Uyghur and became the Archbishop of Peking) when he confirmed this in a letter written in a few years later.

Ingredients

• 100 g basmati rice
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 large lemon, grated zest and juice
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp, fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped
• ½ bay leaf
• 2 tbsp flaked almonds , toasted
• 2 tbsp currants
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 110C.
• Fry the onion until translucent and then add the rice, the lemon zest, the  thyme, the bay leaf, and about 150ml water – bring to the boil.
• Season to taste and cover with a lid and place in the oven for about  10 – 15 minutes until just tender and then stir in the toasted almonds, the cinnamon, the currants and the lemon juice – check and correct the seasoning.
• Serve hot.

The cinnamon trade route started when Indonesian traders transported the cinnamon directly from the Moluccas to East Africa, where local traders took it north to the Roman markets. The Arabs brought the spice via overland trade routes to Alexandria in Egypt, where it was controlled by Venetian traders from Italy who held a monopoly on the spice trade in Europe. The disruption of this trade by the rise of other Mediterranean powers, such as the Mamluk Sultans and the Ottoman Empire, was one of many factors that led Europeans to search more intensively for other routes to Asia.

CINNAMON CHEESE CAKE

Ingredients Base

• 6 large crunchybiscuits
• 30g butter, softened
• 1 tbsp freshly squeezed  lemon juice
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Filling

• 120 g fresh Mascarpone
• 120ml whipping cream
• 1 orange, zest only
• 1 lemon, zest only
• 1 large, fresh vanilla pod, seeds only or a tsp of vanilla extract
• 2  tbsp Calvados

Method

• For the base, pulse the shortbread biscuits in a food processor, add the butter and the lemon juice and press into a loose-bottomed cake tin put in the fridge for half an hour.
• For the filling, boil a tablespoon or two of water, add the zests and the vanilla seeds and bring to the boil for about 2 minutes, remove from the stove and set asid.
• Soften the Mascarpone, add the cooled down liquid with the vanilla and the zest, the whipping cream and the Calvados and mix well until everything has combined.
• Pour the Mascarpone mixture on top of the shortbread base and put into fridge again to chill until it has set.

CINNAMON PEARS WITH MASCARPONE STUFFING

Ingredients

• 6 pears
• 150 g Mascarpone
• 375 ml good white wine
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 large cinnamon stick
• 1 tbsp  Calvados

Method

• To cook the pears, peel them and slice off the base of each from to allow them to stand upright.
• Boil the white wine with the sugar and the cinnamon, add the pears and poach the until they are soft, remove them and allow them to cool down and as soon as they are cold, cut the top off the pears and core them.
• Combine the cream and the Calvados and fill each hole (where you have removed the cores) with the Mascarpone mixture and then pop the top of the pear back on.

The first European traders to arrive in Ceylon were the Portuguese when Lopo de Albergaria landed on the island in 1518 and built a fort – from that time onwards they held the cinnamon monopoly for over a century.

The Dutch East India traders toppled them when they joined forces with the Kingdom of Kandy and took over the Portuguese factories around 1640, improved the production of the wild trees and started to cultivate them. Naturally the British wouldn’t be left out of things and they formed the British East India company and soon took overthe whole lot and in time, a man by the name of Lord Brown established the Anjarakandy Cinnamon Estate which became the biggest in Asia and is operational to this day.  Eventually cinnamon was cultivated in other parts of the world (Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Mauritius, Réunion and Guyana) and the cassia bark (it was much cheaper) was offered to the markets with great success and began to gain popularity. Today it’s also grown in South America, the West Indies and other countries with tropical climates.

CINNAMON STUFFED APPLES

Ingredients

• 8 large green Granny Smith apples
• 300 ml apples juice
• 150 g seedless raisins
• 50g unsalted pistachio nuts, finely chopped
• 50 g toasted almonds, finely chopped
• 40g sliced white bread, crusts removed, roughly torn
• 100g butter
• 1 tsp lemon zest, finely grated
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground cloves
• ½ tsp ground cardamom
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp brandy

Method

• Put the raisins in the brandy and allow to soak for overnight.
• When you start making them, pre-heat the oven to  180C and grease a baking tray with some of the butter.
• Put  the soaked fruit, all the nuts, the bread, some of the butter, the zest, the spices and the sugar in a food processor and pulse until everything is finely chopped.
• Core the apples, peel them and stuff each apple with the filing – put them on a baking tray, dot with butter, cover loosely with foil and bake for an hour  until the apples are soft, basting occasionally with the apple juice.
• Serve with thick or whipped cream.

Today, most of the ground cinnamon you buy is usually a combination of cinnamon and cassia (and it’s perfectly legal) which is why (as with all spices) you should never buy pre-ground spices.

Cassia  (Cinnamomum cassia ) originates in Burma and is a member of the same family as true cinnamon but it is much stronger in flavour and you’ll always  need less  – it’s usually preferred for savoury dishes, rather than sweet dishes.  Dried cassia buds (looking a little like cloves) are often used for Eastern curries, pickles and meat dishes. The tiny yellow flowers taste a little like cinnamon and are often sold preserved in brine or are used to make sweets, fruit, teas and even wines.

VARIETIES OF CASSIA

• Chinese cassia (Cinnamomum cassia) – from Burma and South China and sold either as quills or rolled and the source of cassia buds.
• Indian cassia (Cinnamomum tamala) – from India where its leaves are also used as an herb known as tejpat.
• Indonesian cassia (Cinnamomum burmanni) or Padang cassia with a smoother bark and double quills and usually exported to North America.
• Saigon cassia (Cinnamomum loureirii) – from Indonesia and also grown in Japan and Korea.
• Oliver’s Bark (Cinnamomum oliveri) from Australia is not a true cassia but a really delicious spice and a good substitute for cassia and cinnamon.
• Mossoia Bark (Cinnamomum) is from Papua New Guinea and is  an inferior substitute for cassia and cinnamon.