flavor for two reasons: much of the crop is
smoke-dried, and the seeds are rich in the
penetrating terpenes cineole and camphor.
Large cardamoms are often used in India,
west Asia, and China in savory and rice dishes
and in pickles.
Cinnamon Cinnamon is the dried inner bark
of trees in the tropical Asian genus
Cinnamomum, a distant relative of the bay
laurel. Its inner bark or phloem layer, which
carries nutrients from the leaves toward the
roots, contains protective oil cells. When the
inner bark is cut and peeled from the new
growth of these trees, it curls to form the
familiar long “quills” or sticks. Cinnamon
was one of the first spices to reach the
Mediterranean; the ancient Egyptians used it
in embalming, and it’s mentioned repeatedly
in the Old Testament. Asian and Near Eastern
peoples have long used cinnamon to flavor
meat dishes, and thanks to the influence of the