Barks
A small group with an outsized naming problem: most of what is sold as cinnamon in the world is cassia, a different species with a different flavour and a different price. Barks are simmered rather than steeped, and whole quills give up far more slowly — and far more pleasantly — than ground powder.
3 recordsPeeled and rolled or dried in strips, and almost always simmered.
All 3
- CassiaHot, sweet and bluntly assertive, with more bite and less complexity than Ceylon cinnamon. It stands up to milk and to long simmering, which is why chai uses it.
- CinnamonDelicate and sweetly aromatic, quite unlike cassia’s blunt heat. The quill crumbles between the fingers, which is the practical test.
- EucommiaWoody and lightly bitter with a roasted depth when the bark has been toasted. The leaf version is greener, lighter and closer to a mild roasted tea.
Commonly confused within this group
- Cinnamon and Star anise — Both warm sweet spices in mulled drinks, and neither is what the other is. Cinnamon is a bark and star anise a fruit.
- Cassia and Cinnamon — The single most consequential substitution in the spice trade. Ceylon quills are thin and layered; cassia is one thick hard curl, and outside a few markets it is what 'cinnamon' means.
Guides covering this group
Other groups
Grouping is by the plant part used, which is a fact about the material rather than a judgement about flavour. A plant appears in one group only, so cinnamon is a bark and not a spice here even though every kitchen in the world files it the other way.