Barks of the world

A stick: bark dried and rolled into quills, one inside the next. The shape of cinnamon and cassia.

Bark spices come from the inner bark of tropical trees. Cinnamon and cassia are the two best known, sold as rolled quills or broken sticks.

What they are

Cinnamon is the dried inner bark of Cinnamomum verum, grown mainly in Sri Lanka, and cassia is from related species grown in China, Indonesia and Vietnam. The bark is stripped from shoots, left to dry and curls into a quill. True cinnamon is thin and fine, and cassia is thicker, darker and stronger.

How they are used

Bark is added whole to rice, curries, stews and drinks, and ground into baking mixes. It appears in sweet and savoury foods alike, from Mexican chocolate and Moroccan tagines to Indian garam masala and Vietnamese pho.

Buying and keeping

Whole sticks keep their scent for a long time in a closed jar. Ground bark loses its flavour faster. Because cinnamon and cassia are often sold under one name, check the label for the species if the difference matters to you.

Bark on EveryMasala

The spices written up so far, best known first.

🇱🇰 Sri Lanka and 5 moreCinnamon The dried inner bark of Cinnamomum trees, prized for its sweet warmth and essential oil.Bark · Warm and sweet-spiced · Sweet and mellow

🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreCommon prickly ash An aromatic North American tree whose bark and berries give a sharp, numbing biteBark · Bitter · Numbing and tingling

🇱🇰 Sri Lanka and 3 moreCeylon cinnamon The inner bark of a Sri Lankan evergreen, prized for its delicate, sweet spice.Bark · Sweet and mellow · Warm and sweet-spiced

🇨🇳 China and 2 moreChinese cassia The thick-barked spice tree of southern China, yielding a bold and sweet bark used in cooking and medicine.Bark · Sweet and mellow · Warm and sweet-spiced

🇮🇩 Indonesia and 5 moreIndonesian cinnamon A strong, affordable bark from Sumatra used as a common spice and oil source.Bark · Warm and sweet-spiced · Sharp and pungent

🇻🇳 Vietnam and 1 moreSaigon cinnamonquế Trà My, quế Thanh, quế Quỳ, quế Trà Bồng A potent bark from central Vietnam with a complex aroma and high coumarin content.Bark · Warm and sweet-spiced · Sharp and pungent

🇮🇳 IndiaWild cinnamon The aromatic leaves and bark of a Western Ghats tree, once known as malabathrum.Leaf · Warm and sweet-spiced

🇯🇲 Jamaica and 4 moreCanella The aromatic inner bark of a Caribbean tree, often called white cinnamon.Bark · Warm and sweet-spiced · Sharp and pungent

🇺🇸 United States and 4 moreSassafras An aromatic tree of North America and East Asia, famed for filé powder and root teaLeaf · Citrus and bright · Anise and liquorice

Barks