CINNAMON

[Heb., qin·na·mohnʹ, Gr., kin·naʹmo·mon].

The cinnamon tree is part of the laurel family, to which both the cassia and the camphor trees belong. It grows best in light, sandy, moist soil, and is abundant in Ceylon and Java. The Hebrew name is possibly of foreign origin, and the product seems to have been an import into Palestine.

The cinnamon grows to a maximum height of about thirty feet (9.1 meters), has a smooth ash-colored bark and wide-spreading branches. The lancehead-shaped evergreen leaves are green on top but white on the bottom and measure about eight or nine inches (20.3 to 22.8 centimeters) in length and about two inches (5 centimeters) in width. The flowers are small, white or yellowish and grow in clusters. The white or grayish outer bark is almost odorless and of little value. The commercial cinnamon is obtained from the darker inner bark. This is done by first making two lengthwise incisions on each side of a branch with a sharp knife. The cylinder of bark or “quill” is then removed and tied in bundles of about a pound (453 grams) and marketed. Golden-yellow cinnamon oil is obtained by soaking small pieces of bark in seawater and then distilling this solution. It has a very agreeable, aromatic odor and is used as a perfume.

Cinnamon was used in the preparation of the holy anointing oil as one of the “choicest perfumes.” (Ex. 30:23) It was sprinkled on beds (Prov. 7:17), was figuratively used in describing the beloved Shulammite girl (Song of Sol. 4:13, 14), and is included among the products the traveling merchants sold to “Babylon the Great” before her destruction.—Rev. 18:11-13.