Mark. I'm just damn glad that you're on this forum/roundtable/discussion group. Delighted, in fact! From my point of view (culinary aspect only) it's a particular ground up bark--sold in little curled up sticks to put in tea, and on toast and used as a flavoring in ice cream, cake, cookies and candy. Because I learned this when I was about 4 and did't know doodly about botany. That came when I was about 5 and has continued ever since Thank you again. . ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark McDonough" <antennaria@charter.net> To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 2009 7:02 AM Subject: [pbs] Will the real Cinnamon please stand up... (off-topic) > Still on the cinnamon trail, I'm glad that someone (Phil Andrews) > mentioned the important fact that there is true cinnamon, and "substitute" > cinnamon. Allow me to elaborate. > > True cinnamon is Cinnamomum verum (syn. C. zeylandicum) from Sri Lanka. > There are 250-300 species of Cinnamomum, members of the Lauraceae family. > True cinnamon is rare in the United States. When available from a few > specialty spice purveyors, it'll be labeled as Ceylon