Ceylon cinnamon is native
to just one region of the world,
and producing it requires hours of delicate work.
Even the most skilled workers can make only
a few pounds of quills a day.
One pound of cinnamon quills can cost $27,
but not all spices labeled cinnamon are the Ceylon variety.
Many in the Western market are actually
cheaper types of cinnamon called cassia.
So what makes Ceylon cinnamon so favorable?
And why is it so expensive?
Ceylon cinnamon is named after the old British name
for Sri Lanka, and it is often considered "real" cinnamon.
It is made from the dried inner bark
of a tree called Cinnamomum verum.
Growing these trees is an investment.
Farmers must wait four years after a tree is planted
before they can begin harvesting.
At harvest, workers break down the branches
early in the morning, when the bark is still moist.
Ruwanpura must continuously care
for the trees throughout the year,
otherwise the branches won't be suitable
for making cinnamon at all.
The rigorous nature of this job has only just begun.
Now peelers must do the delicate and essential work
of stripping the inner bark of each branch by hand.
This is the most labor-intensive part of the process,
and it's not as easy as simply shaving the outside
of the bark as you would the skin from a potato.
To produce the most valuable cinnamon,
the bark must be made extremely thin.
The thinner the quills are, the more costly they will be.
Ruwanpura has spent 40 years mastering this skill.
Soon after the bark is removed,
each piece dries under the sun
and curls up within a few minutes.
After drying, the small pieces are stuffed
inside a straight piece of bark,
forming one 42-inch quill.
By the end of a long day, workers will have only produced
about 3 pounds of quills.
Those then need to dry for three to four days
before they're packed into bales
and sent off to a separate facility.
That's where there'll be graded and officially priced
based on their width.
PDRomanis and Sons buys bales of cinnamon
from various peelers.
At its facility, quills are graded over 10 scales.
The most valuable quills are classified as Alba.
It takes a peeler four times longer
to produce one kilogram of Alba
than to produce the same quantity of lower grades.
The leftover, smaller cuts are turned into ground cinnamon
and make up the cheapest form.
But even the most valuable quills are often confused with
a more widely accessible and cheaper variety of cinnamon.
Cassia comes from another kind of cinnamon tree,
called Cinnamomum cassia,
and it doesn't require as much time or effort to make.
Cassia bark is hard and sturdy,
so quills are made as one curled piece of bark
without the fillings.
Ceylon cinnamon, on the other hand,
is tender and soft and needs those inner layers
to prevent the quill from breaking.
Cassia is very fragrant and brown,
whereas real cinnamon is paler, with a milder flavor.
Cassia also contains, on average,
higher levels of coumarin, an organic compound
that can cause liver damage if consumed in large amounts.
This is why researchers say Ceylon cinnamon
is ultimately the healthier option.
But if you're buying cinnamon in the US,
it can be hard to tell the difference between them.
Part of the confusion between the two
comes from the use of the label cinnamon.
In the US, it is legal to label
both Ceylon and cassia cinnamon as cinnamon,
while in the UK and other countries,
cassia must be labeled cassia
and cannot be classified simply as cinnamon.
Regardless of what it's called in the US,
consumers worldwide prefer the real thing.
In 2018, Ceylon cinnamon accounted for
more global revenue than any other variety.
And even as demand is expected to grow through 2025,
climate change already poses
a serious threat to cinnamon production.
In recent years,
Sri Lanka has experienced droughts over several months.
And these long periods of dry weather
can kill cinnamon trees,
which need marshy, wet soil to survive.
There's also a shortage of cinnamon peelers,
another threat to production
that's likely to drive up prices.
This industry relies on experienced peelers
who can practice the difficult work
of making these quills over many years.