Cinnamon Powder, Saigon

Saigon cinnamon is an extraordinarily intense and flavorful cinnamon, with a whopping 5% essential oil content (as opposed to most other cinnamons which have about 2.5% oil content). It packs a full punch of cinnamon intensity, and features well in dishes where cinnamon is key, such as in desserts, cinnamon rolls, etc. Cassia cinnamon is native to Southeast Asia, especially southern China and northern Vietnam, and has the strong, spicy-sweet flavor most Americans are familiar with. This spice is obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savory foods. Cassia has a much stronger (somewhat harsher) flavor than Ceylon cinnamon. Cinnamon cassia is used for strong, spicy, main dishes. Cassia is often used in stewed fruits, especially apples and with mixed spices for pudding spice, pastry spice and mulling spices. In main dishes it is used in curries, pilaus and spicy meat dishes.