Spices and Condiments (1+1)

Origin and distribution

• Cinnamon is a native crop of Sri Lanka and the Malabar coast of India. Besides India and Sri Lanka, the other major producer of cinnamon is the Seychelles Island, from where it has spread to Java and other places. It is also cultivated in Burma, Vietnam, China, Malayan Peninsula and Brazil.
• The cinnamon growing areas in India are the Naga hills in Assam, the coastal districts of South Karnataka and the Western Ghats. It is estimated that the area under cinnamon in India is about 350 ha. The cultivated type C. zeylanicum is confined to the lower elevation of the Western Ghats in Cannanore, Calicut and Kottayam districts of Kerala and the lower Nilgiris of Tamil Nadu.
• The biggest cinnamon estate in the world is the Randathara estate of Auyarakandy near Telicherry in Kerala with an area of 85 hectares and the cinnamon produced here is considered better in quality than that produced in Sri Lanka.
• The cinnamon produced in India is being exported to about 15 countries, of which Japan, Taiwan and France are the major importers.