The history of cinnamon

Cinnamon is one of the oldest spices known. It was used in ancient Egypt not only as a beverage flavoring and medicinal herb, but also as an embalming mixture.

Cinnamon was found in ancient Chinese texts on herbal medicines dating back about four thousand years, cinnamon has been used for a variety of purpose including medicinal, culinary and practical.

In ancient Egypt, because of its flavor and its scarcity, cinnamon was worth as much as fifteen times the value of silver. Cinnamon was used as a flavor in drinks and also as a preservative in their embalming process.

In the Bible, Moses used it in holy anointing oil.

The Greeks and Romans used it as a wine flavoring and an ingredient in incense. Funeral rotes also included the burning of incense to appease the Gods of the dead. Nero Emperor of Rome in the first century AD, burned a years’ supply of cinnamon at a ceremony for the death of his wife, Poppaea Sabina.

As early as 2000 BC, Cinnamon was imported to Egypt from China. Among Arabs, especially cinnamon was seen as an emblem of wealthy. Arab merchants controlled the lucrative trade in spices throughout antiquity and well beyond the Middle Ages.

Until the Middles Ages, the source of cinnamon was unknown to Europeans because it was concealed by the traders. This means that all the reported cinnamon until the Middles Ages may have been different origins.

Cinnamon was one of the first spices to be sought during the explorations of the ‘new world’ in the 15th and 16th centuries.

A cinnamon was prized in medieval Europe as a preservative and also as a staple in cooking. Meals including both meat and fruit were prepared in a single pot, and cinnamon along with ginger, helped the flavors blend together.  
The history of cinnamon