The difference between cinnamon and cinnamon
Release time : 10/27/2025 09:30:03
Cinnamon and cassia are similar in appearance and taste, and people often confuse them as if cinnamon is simply called cassia or vice versa.
In fact, although cinnamon bark and cinnamon sticks have similar appearances and flavors, they serve different purposes and have different nutritional values. Moreover, their methods of consumption and selection are also different.
Cinnamon and cassia are the important ingredients in five-spice powder.
Cinnamon alone is also an important food flavor and seasoning in daily cooking.
Furthermore, cassia bark is also commonly used as a traditional Chinese medicine. It can be utilized to alleviate postpartum abdominal pain in women, cold pain during menstruation, and amenorrhea.
Ginger and cinnamon are similar in appearance and taste, making them easy to confuse. Let's take a look at the differences between ginger and cinnamon together.
1. Cinnamon is the dried bark of a cinnamon tree. Cassia bark is the bark of various cinnamon species, including Tsui Yuan, Yin Xiang, Fine Leaf Cinnamon, and Sichuan Cinnamon.
2. Cinnamon, which is considered superior when its bark is fine and meaty, its cross-section is purplish red, its oil content is high, its aroma is strong and pungent, its taste is sweet with a slight spicy note, and it has no grit upon chewing.
Ginger, with a fragrant and cool aroma similar to that of camphor, has a slightly sweet and slightly spicy taste. The quality of ginger is best when the skin is thin and the aroma is strong.
3. Cinnamon: Pungent, sweet, and highly pungent.
Its effects are attributed to the kidney, spleen, heart, and liver meridians.
Supplementing fire to boost yang, guiding fire back to its source, dispelling cold pain, promoting blood circulation and unblocking meridians.
Used for impotence, cold in the genital and abdomen regions, cold sores, palpitations due to deficiency of yang, dizziness due to deficiency of yang, redness of the eyes and throat, pain in the middle and lower abdomen, diarrhea due to deficiency of yang, colic, spontaneous dysentery, painful menstruation, painful menstruation.
Individuals with Yin deficiency and excessive fire should avoid taking this medication. Pregnant women should also exercise caution when taking it.
Cinnamon: Pungent, warm.
Return to the heart, liver, spleen and kidney meridians.
Warming the spleen and stomach, dispelling wind-cold, promoting blood circulation.
For cold in the abdomen and chest, vomiting and choking due to obstruction, rheumatic arthralgia, injuries leading to bloody diarrhea, and intestinal wind.
Individuals with Yin deficiency and excessive fire should avoid taking this medication.
4. Cinnamon and cassia are similar but different.
Generally, cinnamon is used for medicinal purposes, while cassia bark is mainly used as a condiment in dishes.
The Differences Between Ginger and Cinnamon Ginger and cinnamon are similar in appearance and flavor, making it easy to confuse them. Many people mistake ginger for cinnamon, even though they are different names for the same food. However, there are significant differences between ginger and cinnamon, especially their respective functions.
Ginger is a common Chinese medicine and food seasoning, which is widely used in daily life. It can be used for medicinal treatment and also for cooking food. It is a good helper for homemakers and chefs.
In traditional Chinese medicine, cinnamon is often used to treat postpartum abdominal pain, amenorrhea, and cold dysmenorrhea in women.
Ground cinnamon is often used as a spice or garnish in cooking and baking.
Cinnamon is primarily used medicinally, and when consumed as a seasoning, it's typically used in soups.
The main function of cinnamon is to warm the spleen and stomach, dispel wind-cold, and unblock the blood vessels.
Treatment for abdominal coldness, chest fullness, vomiting, choking, wind-dampness rheumatism, and injuries with bloody diarrhea and intestinal wind.
Cinnamon primarily acts to replenish primal yang, warm the spleen and stomach, eliminate coldness, and unblock blood vessels.
Treatment for Yin-Deficiency Fire Exhaustion, with cold limbs and faint pulse, loss of Yang, deficiency and collapse, abdominal pain and diarrhea, cold hernia, and the collaterals of the kidney. For menstrual irregularities, uterine fibroids, and ulcers at the abdomen and lower back, as well as for yin sores and spreading diseases.
The nutritional value of cinnamon and chaijiu are both pungent and warm-natured tree barks from the Cinnamomum family, but chaijiu is different. It adds a spicy flavor.
Compared with cinnamon, cassia has a more delicious taste and thinner bark.
Ginger and cinnamon are used in different ways. Ginger is used as a food flavor, while cinnamon is mainly used for medicinal purposes.
Let's take a look at the nutritional value of cinnamon and cassia.
The nutritional value of cinnamon is that it contains volatile oil, which makes the aroma of cinnamon delicious and pleasant. It can remove fishiness and make the dishes delicious and tasty so that people's appetite increases.
Adding cinnamon to the daily diet could help prevent or delay Type 2 diabetes in older people.
Cinnamon can reactivate the fat cells' insulin response, greatly accelerating the metabolism of glucose.
Consuming 1/4 to 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder in drinks or liquid foods every day may help prevent type 2 diabetes.
Cinnamon contains cinnamoyl compounds, and it has a therapeutic effect on prostate hyperplasia. Furthermore, it can increase blood flow in the prostate tissue, promoting the improvement of local tissue blood circulation.
Ginger also has medicinal effects, and traditional Chinese medicine believes that ginger is warm in nature. It can warm the stomach, eliminate coldness, promote blood circulation and flexibility, relieve pain, stop diarrhea, etc.
Aged or moldy cassia bark is not safe to eat.
The amount should not be too large, as excessive fragrance might overshadow the taste of the dish.
Ginger has a strong fragrance and contains eugenol, which can cause cancer. Therefore, it is best to consume less of it and avoid prolonged use.
Ginger is considered hot, so it should be avoided during the summer.
Ginger has the effect of promoting blood circulation, so it is advised that pregnant women should not consume it in large amounts.
The nutritional value of Cinnamon includes: warming yang, warming the spleen and stomach, eliminating coldness, promoting blood circulation.
Treatment for deficiency of vital energy in the kidney and liver, manifesting as cold limbs and faint pulse, loss of yang, and collapse; abdominal pain, diarrhea, cold hernia, and genitourinary disorders; amenorrhea, fibroids, ulcerative necrosis of the uterus, and soft tissue infections; as well as excessive yang dispersion with upper heat and lower cold.
The edible methods of cinnamon and cloves are similar, but cloves have a more intense flavor than cinnamon due to the additional spice it contains.
Ginger and cinnamon have different functions. Ginger is mainly used as a food spice, while cinnamon is primarily used in medicine.
Cinnamon and cassia are not only different in taste, but also in their uses and nutritional value.
Let's take a look at how to use cinnamon and cassia.
Method of Using Ginger: 1. Ginger Stewed Pork Trotter: Ingredients: Pork Trotter, Ginger, Star Anise, Dried Red Chili Peppers, and Fresh Ginger Slices Instructions: In a pot, boil water, then add cleaned and sliced pork trotters. After boiling for about 3 minutes, remove and set aside.
Prepare the ingredients such as cinnamon, star anise, dried red peppers and ginger slices. Make sure they are thoroughly washed.
Put these materials into the stew pot and stew over 3 hours to eat. Before eating, add an appropriate amount of salt.
2. Authentic Braised Pork Recipe: Ingredients: Pork, cinnamon sticks, fresh scallions, fresh ginger, star anise, dried tangerine peel, bay leaves. Instructions: Place the pork in a pot and boil it over high heat for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it cool. Then cut into small pieces.
In a pan, add oil and heat. Add pork chunks and stir-fry until the oil is spilt.
After washing the pot, add two tablespoons of water and sugar. When the sugar turns into bubbles, put the pork in the pot to stir-fry. Then add cooking wine and soy sauce.
Add green onions, ginger, star anise, tangerine peel, cinnamon and fragrant leaves into the pan, then pour in half a cup of water, cover the lid, and simmer until it is done. The secret braised pork is complete.
How to eat cinnamon: 1. Mutton and cinnamon soup: Put 6 grams of cinnamon in about 1 kg of stewed meat. After stewing, whether you eat meat or drink soup, it can warm the middle and stomach, warm the waist and knees, treat abdominal cold and flatulence. effect.
2. Cinnamon Powder: 3 grams of cinnamon bark, ground into a fine powder, taken twice daily with warm water to treat gastric distention and cold stomach pain.
Adding cinnamon powder to the dish can help control blood sugar and cholesterol.
3. Cinnamon Brown Sugar Tea: 3 to 6 grams of cinnamon bark, 12 grams of brown sugar, decocted in water until the residue is removed, and taken warm in two divided doses.
Can be used for treating postpartum abdominal pain in women: 3 grams of cinnamon bark, 9 grams of hawthorn fruit, and 30 grams of brown sugar. Decoct them with an appropriate amount of water for three to five minutes, and take it twice a day.
May relieve abdominal distension and pain during menstruation.
4. Cinnamon Paste: 6 grams of cinnamon bark and 6 grams of cloves are finely ground together and added to the plaster, which is then applied to the navel of a child with diarrhea for treatment.
5. Cinnamon and Aconitum Egg Soup: 3 grams of cinnamon bark, 9 grams of aconitum, one egg, and decoct with cinnamon bark and aconitum in water. After removing the residue, crack the egg into it. Once cooked, consume both the egg and the soup. Consume this twice a day.
Can be used to treat excessive vaginal discharge.
6. Take two spoons of honey and one spoon of cinnamon powder mixed with boiling water before breakfast and before bedtime every day, drink it down.
Regularly drinking, even consuming high-calorie foods, will not cause fat accumulation in the body.
Ginger and Cinnamon: How to Choose Them Although ginger and cinnamon are similar in appearance, they differ significantly in terms of their functions, nutritional value, and methods of use.
However, many people who sell cinnamon and cassia are not distinguishing between them.
Then if you want to buy the right cinnabar and cinnamon, you need to learn how to choose them.
Let's take a look at how to choose cassia and cinnamon.
The selection methods of cinnamon are as follows: 1. The layer cells of Tianzhu cinnamon are slightly small, arranged unevenly, the walls are thick, and the shape is square-shaped, containing small crystals.
The stone cells are sparsely scattered throughout the cortical sheath, not forming continuous rings. The stone cells are rectangular or circular in shape, with a diameter of 28-40μm. Their walls are mostly thin, measuring approximately 6-8 (-12)μm thick.
The phloem contains few sclerenchyma cells, with scattered parenchymatous cells containing brownish internal substances and secretory cells.
The ray cells contain small crystals and sand grains.
2. The cortical cells of Chuangupi are small, square or triangular, arranged in a regular manner, with thickened walls or internal walls, and have pits. They contain brown inclusions and calcium oxalate crystals.
There are scattered sclereids, with those of the circular type measuring 20-40μm in diameter and those of the oval type measuring 24-72μm in length and 20-30μm in width. The walls are thick (6-14) μm.
The number of sclereids in the central column is relatively low.
The resin canals are rounded.
The cells contain calcitic needles, 4 to 6 μm in diameter and rectangular crystals, 4 to 12 μm wide and 28 μm long.
Thin-layer chromatography for chemical identification: Take 0.5g of the powder, add ethanol 10ml, stopper tightly, shake well, and keep at room temperature for 20 minutes. Then filter through a filter paper. The filtrate is the test solution.
Another cinnamon aldehyde was taken and dissolved in ethanol to make the reference solution, with each milliliter containing 1μl. 10-15μl of the test solution and 2μl of the reference solution were respectively spotted on the same silica gel G TLC plate, and eluted with petroleum ether (60-90°C) -ethyl acetate (85:15). After drying, sprayed with a 0.1% 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine reagent.
The test solution chromatogram showed the same colored spot at the corresponding position as that of the control solution chromatogram.
Here are the methods for selecting cassia: 1. The powder features reddish-brown color.
2. The fibers are mostly scattered individually, elongated and slender with a wave-like or domed appearance, ranging in length from 195 to 680 μm, with diameters of 24 to 50 μm. The septum is extremely thick, with the pores being not prominent.
3. The quartz cells are either square or round, ranging from 32 to 88 μm in diameter. Their walls are thick, with some being very thin and a few containing needle crystals.
4. The oil cells are round or oval, 68-108 μm in diameter, with pale yellow droplets.
5. The crystals of calcium oxalate are fine, measuring up to 43μm in length and are found in clusters or scattered sporadically. They especially occur within the cells of the radii.
Crystals were also found to be long rectangular, up to 6μm in width.
6. The surface of wood whole cells is polygonal, with slightly thick walls and pits. Some sides are thin and often contain red-brown substances.
In addition, there are red-brown parenchyma cells and starch grains.
*The medical information provided in this text is for reference only.
If you feel unwell, it is recommended to seek medical attention immediately, and the medical diagnosis and treatment will be subject to offline diagnosis.