Indonesian Cinnamon, Cinnamomum burmannii, Korintje-cassia

Indonesian Cinnamon scientifically known as Cinnamomum burmannii is one of several plants in the genus Cinnamomum and (Lauraceae) Laurel family whose bark is sold as the spice cinnamon. The plant is native to China and Vietnam and has been introduced throughout Asia, into the Réunion islands, and into Central, South, and North America. It is normally found in West Sumatra and western Jambi province, with the Kerinci region. Some of the popular common names of the plant are Batavia cinnamon, Batavia-cassia, cassia, cassia vera, Indonesian cinnamon, Indonesian-cassia, java-cassia, Malayan cinnamon, Malaysian cinnamon, Padang cassia, Padang cinnamon, Jawa cassia, Fagot cassia, and Korintje-cassia.

Indonesian Cinnamon is one of several plants in the genus Cinnamomum whose bark is sold as the spice cinnamon. The dried bark of the plant is found in the market in the form of rolls and quills, which is used for cooking and flavoring. The most common and cheapest type of cinnamon in the US is made from powdered Cinnamomum burmannii.  It is a traditional medicinal plant that has long been used as a spice, food preservative, and food flavoring. The pharmacological studies have shown antibacterial, anti-fungal, antioxidant, anti-thrombotic, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, dental plaque formation, and periodontal disease.

Indonesian Cinnamon Facts

Plant Description

Indonesian Cinnamon is an evergreen shrub or a small tree that normally grows about 20 m tall and about 12–30 cm in diameter with aromatic bark and smooth, angular branches. The plant is found growing in moist and wet forests, sparse or dense forests, thickets, and roadsides along streams. The bark is smooth, gray-brown to the dark brown outside and red inside, cassia-scented. Sapwood is yellowish colored. Branchlets are green or brown-green, slender, striate, and glabrous. Twigs are slender, terete, 2–3 mm diameter, apically subangular, glabrous, dark brown to blackish.

Leaves

Leaves are alternate or sub opposite, rarely opposite. Petiole is 0.5-1.2 cm long, plano-convex and sub glabrous.  Leaf-blade is glaucous green and opaque abaxially, green and shiny adaxially, ovate or oblong to lanceolate, 5.5-10.5 cm long and 2-5 cm wide, leathery, glabrous on both surfaces, tripli-nerved, midrib, and basal lateral veins very elevated abaxially, conspicuous adaxially, basal lateral veins arising 3-8 mm above leaf base, evanescent toward leaf apex, transverse veins and veinlets somewhat elevated on both surfaces, reticulate, base broadly cuneate, apex shortly acuminate. Older leaves are glabrous, glossy green above, and glaucous pruinose below.

Flower

The inflorescence is a short axillary panicle. Flowers are borne on 4-12 mm long pedicel, perianth 4-5 mm long and after anthesis, the lobes tear off transversely about halfway. Stamens are about 4 mm long, and staminodes 2 mm. These small yellow flowers bloom in early summer.

Fruits

Fertile flowers are followed by an ellipsoid berry, subtended by a small capsule that has the basal, truncate parts of tepals attached to the rim. Fruits are initially green turning to purple-black when ripe.

History

Chinese herbalists suggest that Indonesian Cinnamon bark was used by humans at least as far back as 2700 B.C. It was used as a treatment for diarrhea, fevers, and menstrual issues. The Ayurvedic healers of India used it as well to treat similar ailments.

Indonesian Cinnamon was brought to Egypt around 500 B.C. where it became a valued additive to their preserving mixtures. The Greeks, Romans, and ancient Hebrews were the first to use Indonesian Cinnamon bark as a cooking spice. They also made perfumes with it, and used it for medicinal purposes. The Judeo-Christian bible suggests that it was part of the anointing oil used by Moses. Cinnamon migrated with the Romans. It was established for culinary use in the 17th century in Europe.

Health benefits of Indonesian Cinnamon

Cinnamon is an aromatic spice that has been used extensively as medicinal purposes and for seasoning for many dishes. This spice has a unique characteristic with its dark brown or red-brown color. Indonesian cinnamon or Korintje cinnamon is classified as one of the Cassia cinnamon. From its name, you already know that this cinnamon is originated from Indonesia. Uniquely, this spice has a spicy and intense taste compared with Ceylon cinnamon which has a sweet taste. So, as an herbal spice, you must be already known that Indonesian cinnamon has a lot of health benefits which are mentioned below

1. Prevents Cancers

Indonesian cinnamon would be very beneficial to protect you from various kinds of cancer. There are many reasons why cinnamon would be very useful in order to prevent cancer. First, cinnamon would improve the health of your colon, and therefore, it will prevent you from colon cancer. Second, cinnamon would prevent you from DNA damage, cell mutations, and the excessive growth of cancerous tumors because of its antioxidant properties. Third, cinnamon has a specific compound called cinnamaldehyde, which will trigger the cancerous cells to self-destruct.

2. Prevents Heart Disease

Consuming Indonesian cinnamon on a regular basis is quite beneficial for your heart. This herbal spice would protect the health of your heart by shutting down all of the common sources of the heart problems, such as cholesterol or high blood pressure. As already mentioned above, cinnamon would be very good to reduce the number of bad cholesterol levels (LDL) while keeping the good cholesterol levels stable. Also, cinnamon would be very good to reduce blood pressure.

3. Cures Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Indonesian cinnamon is quite beneficial to fight against numerous diseases related to your gastrointestinal system, mostly Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). IBS is a disorder that causes discomfort around your large intestine. The symptoms are bloating, constipation, diarrhea, and inconsistent bowel movement, and it is commonly caused by bacteria. Since cinnamon has perfect antibacterial properties, then there is no doubt that it can get rid of harmful bacteria out of your gastrointestinal tract.

4. Boost Your Mood

If you have a stressful day and you feel really exhausted, then Indonesian Cinnamon might help you a lot. Indonesian cinnamon would be very useful to increase the overall mood because cinnamon has a very good smell and it could relax our mind. So, there is no surprise that you will find cinnamon as aromatherapy in several grocery stores easily. Furthermore, cinnamon has antibacterial properties, which will fight against gut bacteria that could encourage the symptoms of depression.

5. Fight against Free Radicals

As a traditional spice, Indonesian cinnamon would be beneficial to fight against harmful free radicals. Indonesian cinnamon consists of numerous strong antioxidants, which will fight against free radicals and protect your body from various health issues. Apart from that, many antioxidants contained in Indonesian cinnamon would be beneficial to prevent damage to your body cells.

6. Treats Parkinson’s

Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disease that normally occurs in elderly people. Noticeable symptoms of this disease are excessive shaking in your hands, rigid muscles, slowed movement, lightheadedness, and many more. In accordance with the research, Indonesian cinnamon would be very good to treat Parkinson’s because it stimulates the change of the anatomical and biomechanical cellular. Although that research was carried out on the animal models, it showed a very good potential to treat Parkinson’s.

7. Supports Blood Clotting

Indonesian cinnamon would be very good in order to support healthy blood clotting too. This herbal spice makes the blood become thin and protects you from the unwanted clumping of platelets. In a matter of fact, there was so much research on cinnamon’s effect on platelets which will contribute to blood clotting. They were concluded that cinnamon would help to make the blood thinner. Thus, Indonesian cinnamon would be very good as an anticoagulant.

8. Beneficial for Skin

Whenever you apply it externally, Indonesian cinnamon would be very useful to boost the health of your skin. Normally cinnamon is an exfoliating agent, which will be beneficial to make your skin become smooth and clean. Additionally whenever you’re consuming cinnamon on a regular basis, then your skin will be looking firmer than before as cinnamon stimulates the production of collagen, which is a protein that would be very important to improve the health of the skin.

9. Prevents Diabetes

Diabetes is one of the most deadly health conditions since it will lead you to more severe health problems in the future. Indonesian cinnamon is very essential to prevent the development of diabetes, particularly diabetes type II. Several types of research have concluded that cinnamon would regulate the blood sugar level and lower the body’s insulin resistance among pre-diabetic patients.

10. Good for Your Diet

If you have a diet program and you want to lose some weight, then consuming Indonesian cinnamon on a regular basis would be a huge advantage. As mentioned before, Indonesian cinnamon has the perfect capability to regulate blood sugar levels. Because of that, you will lose some weight in a short amount of time. In addition to that, Indonesian cinnamon would also regulate insulin levels, which will improve the health of your body’s metabolism. Whenever you have a healthy body metabolism, then the carbohydrates in your body would be changed into energy and also, you will be allowed to burn more calories.

11. Cures Candida

Candida Albicans is a kind of dangerous yeast that will cause Candida to overgrowth and cause autoimmune symptoms in our body. It is necessary to suppress the amount of Candida Albicans in our bodies. Indonesian cinnamon is one of the best natural sources that can lower the amount of Candida Albicans in our body and therefore, we will be prevented from Candida. Aside from that, cinnamon would also very essential to regulate blood sugar, which will prevent from Candida being caused by too much sugar in the digestive tract.

12. Fight Allergies

Whenever you have a continuous problem related to a health condition caused by allergies, then consuming cinnamon on a regular basis would be a perfect solution. Allergies are commonly caused by numerous factors like bacteria or dust. Indonesian cinnamon would be very good for allergies because it has anti-inflammatory properties, which will reduce inflammation. This herbal spice could protect you from histamine reactions, which is also the common cause of allergies.

13. Healthy Teeth

Indonesian cinnamon would be a perfect spice to support the health of your teeth because of its antibacterial properties. As you all know, bacteria play a big role in the build-up of the plaque in our teeth, which then will lead you to gum disease. So, Indonesian cinnamon would be beneficial to fight against these bad bacteria, and therefore, you will be less likely to have diseases associated with your teeth in the future. Whenever you have a toothache, consuming Indonesian cinnamon would alleviate your pain before you can see the doctor.

14. Prevents Cholesterol

Cholesterol is also considered one of the most dangerous health conditions because it will lead you to more severe problems. Indonesian cinnamon has a great ability to protect you from cholesterol because it can reduce the number of bad cholesterol levels (LDL) and increase the number of good cholesterol levels (HDL). Earlier research has concluded that patients who ate cinnamon had up to 27% reduction of LDL in their bodies.

15. Fight against Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Aside from its benefit to ease the pain caused by pre-menstrual syndrome, Indonesian cinnamon would be very good too to protect you from Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). This is a condition whenever there are some cysts around women’s ovaries. Those cysts are normally caused by a hormonal imbalance between progesterone and estrogen. So, many researchers concluded that cinnamon would be very beneficial to improve the profiles of metabolic hormones and improve the fertility. As the information, infertility is one of the symptoms that will occur whenever you have PCOS.

16. Anti-Inflammatory Properties

Indonesian cinnamon has perfect anti-inflammatory properties, which will be beneficial to protect you from various diseases related to inflammation. This natural spice would prevent you from having heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and many more. Many research studies have already shown that there are seven kinds of flavonoid compounds contained in cinnamon. Flavonoid is a kind of antioxidant that will be beneficial to fight against any kind of inflammation.

17. Insect Repellent

Indonesian cinnamon oil would be very good in order to keep the mosquitoes away from your skin. Cinnamon has a very good smell for humans, but surely the mosquitoes wouldn’t feel the same as you do. Earlier research has shown the mosquito larvae being killed after the application of cinnamon oil. So, after knowing this fact, avoid the harmful insecticides and use this natural spice as an insect repellent.

18. Treat HIV

Through detailed research is needed, there are some signs that Indonesian cinnamon would be very beneficial to treat HIV. Earlier research concluded that cinnamon could block type-1 HIV from infecting the body cells and also, it can prevent the growth of HIV into AIDS. But, you need to take notice that you shouldn’t use this herbal spice as the only medication for HIV. It would be very good if you use it together with other medications.

19. Better Sex Life

If you’re consuming Indonesian cinnamon on a regular basis, then you will have a better sex life. So, there are so many findings that correlate between cinnamon and sex life. According to those findings, eating some hot spicy foods like cinnamon would increase your body heat and also boost your sexual passion.

20. Fights Alzheimer’s

Indonesian cinnamon would be beneficial to fight against any sign of Alzheimer’s.  Alzheimer’s is a kind of neurodegenerative disease, which will cause its patient to forget about everything. Although Indonesian cinnamon couldn’t cure it, this herbal spice would be very good to treat Alzheimer’s. In fact, many research studies have shown that cinnamon could improve general motor function and inhibit tau aggregation, which is a common characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.

21. Fight against Food Poisoning

Food poisoning is a condition whenever you feel something wrong in your stomach soon after you eat raw meats, raw eggs, or raw seafood. The most common form of food poisoning is diarrhea and cramping. This health issue is normally caused by Salmonella, a kind of bacteria commonly found in raw foods. Indonesian cinnamon has perfect antibacterial properties. Thus, this herbal spice would kill Salmonella, before it will do harm to your body.

22. Treats Pre-Menstrual Syndrome

If you’re a woman with constant problems with pre-menstrual syndrome, then start to consume cinnamon. As already mentioned before, cinnamon would be good to deal with several stomach issues. Also, it contains anti-inflammatory properties, which soothe the pain related to PMS. Various nutrients contained in cinnamon such as manganese and calcium would ease the pain from cramping during PMS too.

23. Beneficial as Food Preservatives

Whenever you have cinnamon, you could use it as a natural preservative for foods. Nowadays, most foods use artificial preservatives, so that they will last for a long amount of time and sometimes, it would cause negative effects on your health. In order to avoid that, use cinnamon as a food preservative, since it comes from a natural source and has antibacterial properties. Indonesian Cinnamon would be beneficial to prevent the action tyrosinase, which then will stop the discoloration among fruits and vegetables.

24. Beneficial to Sweeten the Food

Whenever you’re cooking something, then you will be likely to add some sugar to your dish in order to make it sweeter. The problem is, too much sugar wouldn’t be healthy for your health in the long run. Too much sugar in your body would lead you to various dangerous health conditions, such as diabetes. So, it is very good if you use a natural sweetener in your dish instead of sugar. Cinnamon would be a perfect sweetener to add to your dish because it has a sweet taste. Also, this herbal spice has no sugar and calories, which will be beneficial for your diet, the cinnamon benefits.

Traditional uses and benefits of Indonesian Cinnamon

• C. burmannii has some medicinal properties where it is used as a tonic and stimulant.
• In Indonesia, it is a very popular medicinal plant and is used for curing a variety of ailments.
• Dried bark, twigs, and leaves are used in local and traditional medicine.
• The therapeutic effect of the bark is believed to be due to the phenolic compounds, as well as tannins and condensed tannins present in the bark.
• The dried bark is used in the treatment of inflammation, headache, pyrexia, diarrhea, nausea, flatulence, and also as a tonic.
• It is also used for the treatment of traumatic injuries, abdominal pain, anemia, lumbago, and arthralgia.
• Powdered bark is a remedy for flatulent dyspepsia or colic with nausea.
• Powdered bark is used for the treatment of nausea, flatulent dyspepsia, coughs, chest complaints, diarrhea, gripe, and malaria.

Culinary Uses

• Indonesian cinnamon is a widely used spice, mostly in the USA.
• Cinnamon powder is widely used in home cooking and the extract is mostly used in processed foods, in which Indonesian cinnamon improves the overall aromatic flavor and palatability.
• In the food industry, it is used in bakery products such as cakes, buns, biscuits, steamed puddings, pies, candies, and chewing gums.
• It is also used in marinades, beverages, ice creams, and many other products all over the world, most prevalently in North America.
• It is a component of the spice mixes used in Indonesian cooking and also in various Southeast Asian countries.
• Bark and leaf oils are used in flavoring pharmaceutical products, perfumes, and also in processed foods and beverages.
• In-home cooking, it is used widely in many types of meat and fish dishes and also vegetable cuisines.
• In Mexico, it is also used for brewing chocolate and flavoring confectionery and liquors.
• The dried inner bark of the plant is used as a flavoring agent in foods, beverages, chewing gums, etc.

How to Select and Store Indonesian Cinnamon

After you already know all of the health benefits related to Indonesian cinnamon, we bet that you want to consume it as soon as possible and go to the nearest market to buy it. But, in order to get the full benefits of this spice, you need to buy the proper one and after that, you need to store it in a proper way. So, in the information below, you will find the easy way how to select and store Indonesian cinnamon properly.

• Go to the proper store and choose the Indonesian cinnamon which has a red-brown color and also has an empty cavity around its center.
• After you buy it, then it is better if you keep it in the closed glass which is free from air.
• After that, store the Indonesian cinnamon in a dry and cool place such as in your pantry or in your refrigerator to keep its fresh of it. Be sure that you keep away your cinnamon from direct sunlight or any kind of heat source.
• Ground Indonesian cinnamon normally will last for about six months. But, the stick one would last for about a year, if you store it in a closed glass

Other Facts

• Wood is heavy, soft, finely grained, and used for house construction.
• Its timber is used for decoration, furniture, cabinet, and plywood manufacture.
• It has tough timber used for construction and house building.
• Distilled bark oil and the oleoresin of the bark of the plant are used in soap and perfume manufacturing.
• The plant also acts as a source of timber in Malaysia.

Precautions and Warnings about Indonesian Cinnamon

Although Indonesian cinnamon would bring you a lot of benefits, this herbal spice has some side effects for certain people too. So, in the information below you will find out what are some side effects of Indonesian cinnamon:

• People with Liver Problems should avoid consuming Indonesian Cinnamon. This is because Indonesian cinnamon has a very high amount of coumarin. Coumarin is a substance commonly related to potential liver damage. But, using this cinnamon as seasoning should be fine.
• The effect of Indonesian Cinnamon on pregnant women is still unknown. So, it is better that whenever you’re pregnant, you have a consultation with your doctor first about whether you’re allowed to consume Indonesian cinnamon or not.
• Indonesian Cinnamon would cause allergies to certain people. Whenever you’re consuming cinnamon and after that, you’re suffering from the symptoms of allergies such as itchy skin, diarrhea, itchy eyes, nausea, red skin, and many more, then you need to stop consuming cinnamon. This is because potentially, you are allergic to cinnamon.

Prevention and Control

Due to the variable regulations around (de)registration of pesticides, your national list of registered pesticides or relevant authorities should be consulted to determine which products are legally allowed for use in your country when considering chemical control. Pesticides should always be used in a lawful manner, consistent with the product’s label.

Prevention

Eradication

Due to forestry-style plantings and significant spread in Hawaii, no attempts have been made to eradicate this species completely from individual islands. But such eradications could be valuable in certain cases where spread has not been prohibitively extensive.

Control

Cultural Control and Sanitary Measures

Plants of this species should be prohibited from sale as ornamentals in warm tropical climates.

Physical/Mechanical Control

Seedlings and saplings of C. burmannii can be pulled by hand.

Chemical Control

High concentrations of triclopyr applied to machete hacks around the circumference of trees can be effective in controlling C. burmannii.

Control by Utilization

Logging of large stands could be an effective means of reducing propagule pressure on surrounding areas.

Monitoring and Surveillance

In certain situations the distinctive dark green leaves of C. burmannii could stand out from surrounding vegetation in satellite or areal imagery.

Ecosystem restoration

Wherever control of C. burmannii is attempted it is advised to plant desirable species of trees and shrubs. This can be an effective means of preventing the regeneration of non-native invasive species.

 

References

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