If you live in North America or Europe, that jar of “cinnamon” in your cupboard is probably not truly cinnamon at all, but a very similar spice known as cassia.
True cinnamon is usually labeled “Ceylon cinnamon” and comes principally from Sri Lanka (called Ceylon in colonial times), India, Madagascar, Brazil, and the Caribbean. Cassia, on the other hand, is often designated as “Chinese cinnamon” or “Saigon cinnamon” and comes principally from Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Japan, and Korea.
Cinnamon is one of the oldest and most popular spices, and has been used for millennia both for its flavor and medicinal qualities. In ancient Egypt, it was used to fill body cavities of corpses as an embalming agent. In ancient Rome, it was considered so valuable that the emperor Nero burned a year’s supply on his wife’s funeral pyre as proof of his devotion to her….