CINNAMON

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4323, 20 July 1937, Page 2

CINNAMON

A ROMANTIC HISTORY As the dawn came up over the harbour one morning more than 400 years ago a little boat raised sail and set out from the coast of Portugal to solve a strange and exciting mystery (says a writer in the 1 Christian Science Monitor ’). Not many months before Vasco da Gama had returned from his exp.oratory trip around the tip end of Africa with proof that India and the islands of the East Indies could be reached by water as ®ell as by the long, difficult overland route through the deserts of Egypt and Arabia. This knowledge had kindled hopes and stirred up dreams in the hearts of the mo,re adventurous Portuguese sailors —dreams of valuable silks, gold, jewels, and—cinname*.

Yes, if, was cinnamon, a spice you buy so nonchalantly at the store for a few pennies, that these sailors were most interested in. Cinnamon had been known and used as a food flavouring and as an ingredient in perfumes for almost 4,000 years. Yet it was a mystery. The Chinese Emperor, Shen Nung, who lived about 2700 8.c., mentioned cinnamon in his herb book, and it was well known in Egypt as early as 1600 n.c. The Greeks and Romans obtained it from Arab traders, yet no cinnamon trees were ever found in Arabia. This gave rise to many fabulous myths as to where and how it grew. The wily Arabs, however, knew all the time where cinnamon grew, but purposely shrouded their activities in mystery They obtained the valuable spice from the natives in India, Ceylon, and perhaps even China, and transported it by caravan and boat to Greece and Rome. During the reign of Augustus, Roman merchants invested about £403,000 annually in cinnamon, figuring on 100 per cent, profit. At one time cinnamon sold for £5 a pound, and was one of the most valuable articles of commerce being exported from Asia. With the rise of Western European Powers, the Venetians gradually came to control the lucrative cinnamon trade, but the spice was still obtained through the Arabs and its origin still a mystery. Few Europeans adventured further east than the Rod Sea, for the Arabs and Egyptians were not friendly to Occidental travellers. It was no wonder, then, that these sailors setting out from Portugal entertained exciting dreams and hopes. It it were possible to reach India by water, perhaps they could solve the age-old secret. For weeks the little boat was beset by pounding storms and monotonous calms. Some of the sailors wished to turn back, but others continued to believe that certain success and fortune lay just beyond the horizon.

WAFTED ON THE BREEZE. Then one day an off-shore breeze wafted a subtle, spicy odour towards the ship. The sailors sniffed, then sniffed again. Cinnamon! It was unmistakably cinnamon. As the air grew heavier and heavier with the scent, the vague outlines of

land appeared on the horizon—the outlines of Ceylon, that island off the tip of India. The Portuguese sailors found great forests of cinnamon trees growing wild

on the island, some of them reaching a height of 40ft, others kept cut by the natives to about loft. They were amazed at the beautiful scarlet foliage,

which gradually changed to a dark glossy green as the season advanced, the pale yellow blossoms, and the acornshaped fruit. They built a fort on the present site of Colombo to protect themselves against the Arabs who opposed their landing, and shortly afterwards made a treaty with the King of Kandy, the most powerful native chieftain on the island. They agreed to assist him and his successors in maintaining his position as leader in return for 124,0001b of cinnamon annually. Soon more Portuguese ships came to Ceylon to fill their holds with cinnamon and still more, until the sailors who dared the Cape of Good Hope controlled the lucrative spice trade in all Europe. But after nearly a century Dutch trading ships began to appear on the Indian Ocean and Dutch traders began to laud on Ceylon. They visited the incumbent King of Kandy, bearing gifts and promises, and this chieftain, wearied of the Portuguese, agreed to sell to the Dutch East India Company all the cinnamon he could collect in his kingdom. The Portuguese refused

to abide by this ruling, and after a long contest a treaty of peace was signed whereby both nations were to share the cinnamon crop equally. The

treaty was not in effect very long, however, and in 1658 the Portuguese wore expelled from the island. The Dutch, in attempting to hold

a monopoly ou the trade, made strenuous efforts to cultivate the cinnamon tree and to restrict its growth to Ceylon, although the spice had been discovered on neighbouring islands and also on the mainland. But the strict laws regarding cultivation and cutting so retarded planting and harvest-

ng that the annual yield rapidly Iropped to almost nothing. The na-

tives who did all the work in the forests preferred to use the cut cinnamon for fuel rather than abide by the Dutch edicts. Finally in 1796 the English captured Ceylon and put an end to the cinnamon abuses. Since then the tree has been freely and extensively cultivated not only in Ceylon

hut along the .Malabar coast and in other sections of Asia.

Although 100 years have elapsed since the groves of Ceylon were first discovered by white men, the manner of harvesting cinnamon is much the same. The whole tree contains the flavour of cinnamon, and every part-

roots, loaves, bark, fruit—is turned to some good purpose. The cinnamon used as a food flavouring comes from the bark, the quality of which varies with its position on the tree and the locality in which the tree is growing. Some hark is poor and woody. Some is so hard that it cannot he cut with an ordinary steel knife. The best quality is thin and brittle, and comes from the middle of the branch or stalk. Two harvests are gathered every year, one in April and one in November. An expert first goes through the groves to test the branches and mark those suitable for cutting—usually the three-year-old growth. Then the native

workers swarm in and make quick work of chopping the stalks, tying them in bundles and carrying them to the peeling sheds. Here the leaves and small twigs are stripped off and the outside pellicle of hark scraped away. Then the branches arc deftly ripped lengthwise, and the bark loosened until it can be peeled off. Testing and sorting the bark is done by chewing or tasting samples a very disagreeable job. A taster can only last at this occupation for two or three days at a time. Because cinnamon is very sensitive to moisture ami deteriorates rapidly, great care is taken in packing and transporting it.