Cassia Cinnamon?
Cassia cinnamon comes from the Cinnamomum cassia tree, also called Cinnamomum aromaticum. It originated in Vietnam, Indonesia and Southern China and is also known as Vietnam cinnamon.
Cassia tends to be a dark brown-red color with thicker sticks and a rougher texture than Ceylon cinnamon. This is the type most commonly consumed around the world. Almost all cinnamon found in supermarkets is the cassia variety.
Cassia has long been used in cooking and in traditional medicine. Roughly 95% of its oil is cinnamaldehyde, which gives cassia a very strong, spicy flavor.
In Vietnam, cassia is grown mainly in Yen Bai, Lao Cai, Thanh Hoa, Quang Nam province... Cassia in Yen Bai has the highest quality in terms of aroma, spiciness and oil concentration.
There are two main crops in the year: May and October.
- The May crop usually harvests split cassia and broken cassia. Cassia in this season usually has thin skin. This is the main crop, providing large quantities for export.
- In the October crop, the bark will be thicker, and people will harvest it to make cassia sticks.
Cassia is a highly valuable tree. Farmers harvest leaves, branches, bark and wood. When getting the bark, people have to cut down the tree, then peel the bark. Cassia wood will then be brought to wood processing factories.
Therefore, cassia is an asset that parents can leave to their children. Ethnic people often plant cassia when their children are 8 years old. After 10 years, when the child becomes an adult, the parents will hand over the cassia hill to the child.