Burnished brown, aromatic, flavourful and woody – cinnamon is all this and more. Used in baked dishes, flavoured dishes, curries and desserts, cinnamon adds a warm, sweet and amiable aroma to any dish. It is also an essential part of the standard blend of garam masala. Garam masala is the magic spice mixture which gives many Indian dishes that rich, heady fragrance.
Cinnamon is the dried inner bark of various evergreen trees belonging to the genus Cinnamomum. At harvest, the bark is stripped off and put in the sun, where it curls into the familiar form called "quills. There are suggested to be between 50 - 250 different species, depending on which botanist figures are collected from. Cassia is predominant in the spice blends of the East and Southeast Asia.
Cinnamon is available in either stick or powder form. While the sticks can be stored for longer, the ground powder has a stronger flavour. If possible, smell the cinnamon to make sure that it has a sweet smell, a characteristic reflecting that it is fresh.
Cinnamon should be kept in a tightly sealed glass container in a cool, dark and dry place.
http://www.cookinggoddess.com/category/Basics-of-Indian-Cooking/Cinnamon-or-Dalchini/
by Chandana Banerjee
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