HOw is cinnamon processed and transported?!
Answers: It is dried and either left in the stick form, or grated and put in jars. It is transported from the processing plant by truck to supermarkets.
Cinnamon
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Cinnamon
Cinnamon foliage and flowers
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Laurales
Family: Lauraceae
Genus: Cinnamomum
Species: C. zeylanicum
Binomial name
Cinnamomum zeylanicum
J.Presl
Cassia ("Chinese cinnamon") is also commonly called (and sometimes sold as) cinnamon.
For other uses, see Cinnamon (disambiguation).
Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum, synonym C. zeylanicum) is a small evergreen tree 10–15 meters (32.8–49.2 feet) tall, belonging to the family Lauraceae, native to Sri Lanka and South India. The bark is widely used as a spice due to its distinct odour. In India it is also known as "Daalchini".
The leaves are ovate-oblong in shape, 7–18 cm (2.75–7.1 inches) long. The flowers, which are arranged in panicles, have a greenish color, and have a distinct odor. The fruit is a purple one-centimetre berry containing a single seed.
Its flavour is due to an aromatic essential oil which makes up 0.5% to 1% of its composition. This oil is prepared by roughly pounding the bark, macerating it in seawater, and then quickly distilling the whole. It is of a golden-yellow colour, with the characteristic odour of cinnamon and a very hot aromatic taste. The pungent taste and scent come from cinnamic aldehyde or cinnamaldehyde and, by the absorption of oxygen as it ages, it darkens in colour and develops resinous compounds. Chemical components of the essential oil include ethyl cinnamate, eugenol, cinnamaldehyde, beta-caryophyllene, linalool and methyl chavicol.
The name cinnamon comes from Greek kinnámōmon, from Phoenician and akin to Hebrew qinnam?n, itself ultimately from a Malaysian language, cf. Malay and Indonesian kayu manis which means sweet wood.