Cinnamon

Cinnamomum verum

Also: Ceylon cinnamon, Cassia, Cinnamomum cassia, Cinnamomum zeylanicum

WarmingMoisteningTonifying

Warms cold hands and steadies blood sugar.

The curled inner bark of an evergreen tree of the laurel family, peeled from young shoots and rolled into quills as it dries. Cinnamon warms cold digestion and cold extremities and steadies blood sugar, and steeped in water it turns slightly slippery and soothing, unusual for a warming spice.

Energetics: Warming, moistening, toning
Taste: Pungent, sweet, astringent
Family: Lauraceae (laurel family)
Parts used: Inner bark

Medicinal uses 6

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Traditional useLab and mechanism studiesClinical studies

Blood sugar balanceTLC
Helps lower blood sugar; trials in type 2 diabetes show improved fasting glucose.
Cold hands & feetTLC
Moves warmth out to cold hands and feet.
Indigestion & bloatingTLC
Wakes up a slow, chilly stomach and moves gas.
Menstrual crampsTLC
Eases period cramps; a clinical trial found cinnamon reduced pain and bleeding.
Loose bowelsTLC
Swallowed as a dry powder, cinnamon tightens and firms loose bowels.
Colds & fluTLC
A warming tea for chills at the start of a cold.

Preparations

Simmered sticks and chips, powder with food, and warming blends.

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Cautions

Cinnamon lowers blood sugar, sometimes within a week. If you take insulin or metformin, check your sugar every day and let your doctor know as the readings drop, since your dose may need to come down.
Cassia carries coumarin, which can strain the liver. With liver disease, keep cassia under 2 grams a day, about 2/3 teaspoon, or use Ceylon cinnamon.
Cassia may thin the blood; take care alongside blood thinners. The essential oil burns skin and mucous membranes.

Medication interactions

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Pregnancy & breastfeeding

PregnancyCulinary amounts

Cinnamon in food is a normal part of pregnancy. High-dose supplements wait, since cassia's coumarin can strain the liver, and the essential oil is avoided.

BreastfeedingCulinary amounts

Kitchen amounts are considered compatible while nursing; avoid the essential oil.

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Folklore

Herodotus repeated the story that cinnamon sticks were gathered from the nests of great birds in Arabia, brought down by baiting them with joints of meat, a tale Arab traders may have spread to hide their sources. Cinnamon and cassia appear in the Hebrew Bible's holy anointing oil. For three centuries the Portuguese, then the Dutch, then the British fought over the cinnamon gardens of Sri Lanka.

How to grow

A tropical evergreen for frost-free gardens or a warm, bright room. Growers coppice the trees and peel the inner bark from two-year-old shoots in the rainy season, when it lifts away easily.

In the wild

Native to the forests of Sri Lanka and southern India; cassia comes from southern China, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

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