- Region
- Asia
- Origin
- Sri Lanka and southern India (Ceylon cinnamon); cassia from China and Southeast Asia
- Sanskrit
- Twak
Asia · Food · № 38
Cinnamomum verum
Food · Asia
Cinnamon
Cinnamomum verum
A spice made from inner bark. Research on health effects is preliminary; cinnamon is not a treatment.
Safety notes
Likely safe as a spice. Cassia cinnamon contains coumarin, which can strain the liver in large amounts. Never take part in the 'cinnamon challenge'.
Cautions by tradition (6)
- Herbal medicine worldwide: Not in pregnancy, oil not internally.
- Ayurvedic materia medica: Do not take the oil internally yourself.
- Herbs for viral infections: Not with blood thinners such as warfarin.
- Natural skin and hair care: Cinnamon oil can irritate skin and mucous membranes: stick strictly to the small amounts and test first on a small patch of skin.
- Chinese food therapy: Chinese cinnamon (cassia) contains coumarin: not daily in large amounts. Not in medicinal amounts with heat complaints or pregnancy.
- Chinese materia medica: Not with heat, febrile infections, bleeding or yin deficiency with heat; caution during pregnancy. Cassia contains coumarin: not in high doses for long periods.
Preparation
Dried bark as quills or ground into dishes, tea, and baking.
Use in traditions
NCCIH describes a long tradition of culinary and traditional medicinal use of the bark, leaves, flowers, fruits, and roots in China, India, Persia, and elsewhere.
Applications
Use by tradition
How different herbal traditions describe this herb. Amounts are traditional guidelines checked for obvious errors; they are not medical advice. For poisonous plants no dosage is given on purpose.
Herbal medicine worldwide
Attributed effects
Carminative, warms digestion, induces sweating, antispasmodic, antiseptic, tonic; oil antibacterial and antifungal.
Preparation and amount
Bark decoction for chronic diarrhoea and kidney weakness; tincture diluted in hot water for chills and colds; powder/capsules; twigs (cassia) for colds and a cold stomach, with ginger; steam inhalation of 5 drops of oil for cough; massage oil for abdominal cramps.
Caution: Not in pregnancy, oil not internally.
Ayurvedic materia medica
Attributed effects
Carminative, antispasmodic, aromatic, stimulating, stops bleeding, astringent, antiseptic, stomachic; for indigestion, wind, diarrhoea, vomiting; for heavy menstruation and slow labour; oil toxic in large doses.
Preparation and amount
Powder 0.5–1.5 g; tea or decoction of the bark.
Caution: Do not take the oil internally yourself.
Herbs for viral infections
Attributed effects
Warming; volatile oils inhibit the multiplication of viruses; especially against flu; improves circulation and digestion, improves glucose and lipid levels.
Preparation and amount
As juice, powder, in food, tablets or capsules; 1–6 g a day, no longer than 6 weeks.
Caution: Not with blood thinners such as warfarin.
Everyday Ayurveda
Attributed effects
Warming, strengthens digestion.
Preparation and amount
½ tsp powder in spiced milk; in stewed fruit.
Natural skin and hair care
Attributed effects
Warm, sweet scent. Cinnamon oil is strong and can irritate skin and mucous membranes.
Preparation and amount
External: a few drops of cinnamon oil in a plumping lip gloss and a massage oil (see the recipes).
Caution: Cinnamon oil can irritate skin and mucous membranes: stick strictly to the small amounts and test first on a small patch of skin.
Chinese food therapy
Attributed effects
Cinnamon bark warms the yang energy, especially with cold hands and feet, and gives the whole energy system a boost; hence a tonic for recovery after long illness or an operation and for general fatigue. In the doctrine of the four natures it is regarded as hot, for cold in stomach and abdomen. By the year 65 Rome already had so much cinnamon that it could spice the funeral of Poppaea, Nero's wife, for a year.
Caution: Chinese cinnamon (cassia) contains coumarin: not daily in large amounts. Not in medicinal amounts with heat complaints or pregnancy.
Chinese materia medica
- Nature and taste
- sweet, pungent, warm (twig); pungent, sweet, hot (bark)
- Meridians
- lung, heart, bladder (twig); kidney, spleen, liver, heart (bark)
Attributed effects
In Chinese medicine cassia (Cinnamomum cassia) is used. The twig (gui zhi) warms and disperses, balances defensive and nourishing energy when sweating does not resolve a cold, drives cold from the meridians in rheumatic pain and lets yang and blood flow in the chest. The bark (rou gui) warms kidneys and spleen in cold from yang deficiency: cold limbs, early-morning diarrhoea, impotence, cold lower back and menstrual pain from cold.
Preparation and amount
Traditional dosage: twig 3–9 g, bark 1–6 g a day. The twig is added only at the end of cooking.
Combinations
- Twig with white peony in gui zhi tang for a cold with sweating and aversion to wind
- Twig with fu ling, peach kernel and tree peony bark in gui zhi fu ling wan for menstrual pain and lumps from blood stagnation
- Bark with fu zi and rehmannia in the kidney yang formula ba wei di huang wan
Caution: Not with heat, febrile infections, bleeding or yin deficiency with heat; caution during pregnancy. Cassia contains coumarin: not in high doses for long periods.
Folklore and herbal magic
Symbolic meanings from folk use and modern herbal magic. These are handed-down associations, not effects.
Deepens spiritual connection, success, power to change everything, love enchantment, action, healing, protection, energy, love, prosperity, purification, lust, money, psychic awareness.
Herbal magic and rituals
Attributed effects
In herbal magic associated with success, love, warmth and money.
Preparation and amount
In antiquity cinnamon was one of the most precious spices; Arab traders told tall tales about its origin to protect their trade. In the seventeenth century the Dutch East India Company fought the Portuguese for the cinnamon of Sri Lanka. In the Bible cinnamon is an ingredient of the holy anointing oil.
Home, kitchen and folk use
Preparation and amount
Add a pinch to increase the power of any working; in money spells; love tea; prosperity oil; prosperity bath salt; winter bath; cinnamon sugar and spice sugar.
- Ways to prepare herbs
- Tea (infusion)DecoctionTinctureHerbal oil (oil infusion)Salve and balmSteam and bathPowder and kitchen
- Recipes
- Cooling sun teaCurry rice with Chinese cinnamonSteamed pears with bei muHaldi doodh, warm turmeric milkSpelt biscuits with nutmeg ('Nervenkekse')Plumping lip glossMassage oil for lovers
- Formulas
- Ba wei di huang wan (jin gui shen qi wan)Chai hu gui zhi gan jiang tangChai hu gui zhi tangChai hu jia long gu mu li tangDang gui si ni tangDu huo ji sheng tangGe gen tangGuan xin su he wanGui zhi fu ling wanGui zhi long gu mu li tangGui zhi shao yao zhi mu tangGui zhi tangJiao tai wanLing gui zhu gan tangMa huang tangShi quan da bu tangTao he cheng qi tangWei ling tangWen jing tangWu ling sanWu mei wanXiao jian zhong tangXiao qing long tangYi yi ren tangYou gui wanZhi gan cao tang
Tags
Sources
- www.nccih.nih.gov
- en.wikipedia.org
- Michael & Lesley Tierra, Chinese Traditional Herbal Medicine, vol. II: Materia Medica and Herbal Resource (1998)
- Owen Jackson, Chinese Herbal Medicine (2020)
- Penelope Ody, The Complete Medicinal Herbal (1993; 2017)
- L. D. Kapoor, CRC Handbook of Ayurvedic Medicinal Plants (1990)
- Stacey Dugliss-Wesselman & Susan Gregg, Herbal Remedies Made Simple (2018)