Ingredients
Cinnamon
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Cinnamon is a spice made from the dried inner bark of trees in the genus Cinnamomum, most prized in its true form, Cinnamomum verum, native to Sri Lanka and the Malabar coast of South India. Cinnamon was among the most valuable commodities of the ancient long-distance spice trade, reaching ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome by routes that traders deliberately obscured to protect their monopoly and markup, giving rise to fanciful ancient accounts of its origin. Its high value and remote true source made cinnamon, alongside pepper and other spices, a driver of the medieval and early modern spice trade that connected South Asia to Europe and, eventually, motivated the European voyages of exploration that opened direct sea routes to the spice-producing regions of Asia.
Facts
Earliest Documented Use, From (Year)Sourced to the subject's own accountAncient authors (Herodotus, Aristotle and others) claimed cinnamon came from Arabia, gathered by giant "cinnamon birds" from nests in an unknown land; Pliny the Elder recorded this as a traders' fiction invented to obscure the spice's real Southeast Asian source and justify a higher price. Captured here as a documented legend, not fact, per the food DataBrief's own precedent for named origin myths (Shennong, Kaldi). Origin RegionSourced to the subject's own accountSri Lanka and the Malabar coast of South India 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Expresses Tradition
Cinnamon was among the most valuable commodities of the ancient and medieval long-distance spice trade.
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