What is Vietnamese Saigon Cinnamon
What is Vietnamese cinnamon or Saigon cinnamon? If we could put a stick of true Vietnamese cinnamon into the hands of every cook, Chef and epicurean, the food world would be a sweeter, more aromatic place. We’re that obsessively addicted and devoted to this amazing spice.
What is Vietnamese Cinnamon?
Vietnamese cinnamon comes from the bark of the Cinnamomum loureirii cassia tree that is native to the higher, mountainous regions of Central and Northern Vietnam. Regarded by many as the world’s most aromatic cinnamon, this Vietnamese variety has the highest concentration of essential oils of any cinnamon currently found in the world today. Because of the powerful amount of aromatic oils, Vietnamese cinnamon is extremely intense and concentrated with sweet cinnamon flavor. The oil concentration is so high that if you ignite the branch, it will spark!
What Does Saigon Vietnamese Cinnamon Cassia Taste Like?
It tastes like a red hot candy! Unlike other cinnamon, Vietnamese cinnamon is surprisingly sweet and robustly spicy, similar to that of a “red hot” candy. Often times other cinnamon is only subtly sweet, if at all. But true Vietnamese is sweet just like candy. It is highly prized among chefs around the world for the high level of flavor that it brings to both baked, stewed and soup stock dishes. When cooking with it, you use only a very small amount (depending on how fresh it is) to achieve the flavors that you would normally need when using a larger amount of other cinnamon.
Yes, it’s true! Fresh bark off the real Vietnamese cinnamon tree is slightly mottled on the outside and burgundy on the inside and when bitten, tastes just like CANDY. My mother (Diane) grew up in Central VietNam (Quang Nam Province), and my Father grew up in Northern VietNam (Hanoi). Both grew up very close to the mountain regions where Viet cinnamon trees grow. As a child, when the cinnamon farmers would bring down their freshly harvested cinnamon down from the mountains, they would eat the fresh, soft, sweet bark like it was candy. The adults would use the fresh cinnamon bark in soup, stocks, stews and desserts.
Mom Grew Up Eating Saigon Cinnamon Fresh
My mother was so spoiled eating and cooking with the soft, fresh cinnamon bark and now calls anything that is dried as…”No Good!”. Wow, how lucky she was! Unfortunately, anyone living a little further away had to only settle for the “dried” stuff. Still, lucky bums.
Even when the bark is dried, biting into it still gives an intensely, sweet, cinnamon flavor. And yes, it still tastes like a red hot candy!
Real vs. Fake Saigon Cinnamon?
After visiting with the cinnamon merchants in Central Vietnam and interviewing people who are familiar with Vietnamese cinnamon, we learned some fascinating facts about this amazing spice.
- The BARK strips: In Vietnam, REAL Vietnamese cinnamon will be sold as long (about 12″-16″) strips of curled bark. The bark is harvested in the summer when the oil content is at it’s highest. As the bark dries, it curls.
- Beware!! Because of the high demand of Vietnamese cinnamon, many merchants will “mix” in or “add” in other varieties of inferior cinnamon.
- TASTE it for confirmation. Just take small nibble of the bark (that’s all it takes), chew and mix with your saliva. Let the bark infuse and release it’s oils. You should taste the sweet/spicy/aromatic flavors.
- Break it into chunks and infuse to your liquid based dishes or grate cleaned bark on a microplane grater for a powdered form. Start with just a little amount first, because of the high oil content, it can overpower your dishes with cinnamon flavors. But is that a bad thing?
- The CHIPS (broken bark pieces): Often times, spice vendors will sell it in small chips. But again, from what we’ve been told, cheaters will mix these with bits of other bark.
- TASTE it for confirmation. Again, if the taste isn’t a sweet, intense flavor kind of like a “red hot”, you are getting hosed. That ain’t the real deal.
- Depending on the size of the chips that you buy, they might be too small to grate. If that is the case, then put the broken pieces in a food processor, grinder or microplane. The already broken pieces can be tossed into your soups and sauces.
- The POWDER: Most times, Vietnamese cinnamon is sold in the powder form. From local merchant rumors in the Quang Nam Province, some companies will “blend” Vietnamese cinnamon with these other varieties of powdered Indonesian cinnamon or just plain wood particles. Because real Viet cinnamon is so aromatic, no one really knows the difference, unless you taste the PURE stuff. Otherwise, if it’s delicious to your liking, then it’s all good.
- TASTE it for confirmation: Place a good sized pinch in your palm and lick the powder. Is it SWEET? Like a RED HOT candy? If it’s not sweet, then you have a blend of other varieties. It’s been grounded down with the a different cassia variety.
- Tourist Trap in Viet-Nam: When in Viet-Nam, don’t settle for the powdered stuff so quickly. Since you’re in the homeland of Vietnamese Cinnamon, ask to see the bark or to buy the bark. Pretend like you know exactly what you are talking about, even if you don’t. If they think you are a serious buyer, they’ll bring out the “good stuff.” Then take a bite out of it, chew, mix with your saliva and look for the sweetness.
Saigon Cinnamon – It seems like the term “Saigon Cinnamon” is the most popular marketing term for this spice. It’s unfortunate because it is not grown anywhere remotely near Saigon. But spice companies seem to assume that the world would associate a Vietnamese spice with one of it’s largest cities, which might make it more marketable. My elders who live in the Quang Nam Province region are confused as to why Western spice companies call it “Saigon Cinnamon”. Would it be appropriate to label anything that came from France as…”Paris”? Or anything that was made in USA as “New York”, “LA”? This is something to think about but we like to just call it, Vietnamese Cinnamon.
Where to buy Vietnamese Cinnamon, “Saigon Cinnamon”:
- The Spice House – sells them in three forms: Whole, cracked and powder. But their whole is only about 3″-6″ long.
- Penzys Spices – calls it Extra Fancy Vietnamese Cassia and is only available in powdered form. Has anyone bought their cinnamon? We’re curious to see if it’s sweet and fragrant at all.
- Savory Spice Shop – Sells both ground and chips.
- King Arthur Flour – Only sells the ground form, but they say it best, “…tasting Vietnamese cinnamon next to supermarket cinnamon is like drinking a cup of espresso vs. coffee from a highway vending machine”. So true!!!
if you read my posts with any regularity, you know that i’m obsessed with cinnamon too. it’s a magical spice.
thanks for the very informative post, by the way! methinks i’ll hunt some true cinnamon down regardless. 🙂
I would love to try this type of cinnamon!!!
Yes! Those woody things sold as cinnamon in the US is really poor quality cassia and not true cinnamon! True cinnamon is said to curl only in one direction. There is also Indian cinnamon which is really malabrathum.
I’d love to try your Vietnamese cassia cinnamon!
I love cinnamon and I actually had no idea that this specific type of cinnamon existed! It’s hard to imagine what the difference must be like if you’ve never actually tried it. It’s quite beautiful too – I love the pictures you’ve posted of it.
You mentioned it being used in soup stocks, but I’ve never personally used cinnamon in a savory dish. I’m going to have to try and dig up a recipe for it. It sounds so warm and lovely. ^_^
Great, informative post. 🙂
love to try these famous barks.
i am glad you included an image of these beautiful cinnamon sticks on fire because if i ever got my hands on one i couldn’t bare to light it! …but i’d really want to try it…haha! thank you for all of the information, i can’t wait to get cooking!
PICK US PICK US!!! PLEASE!!!! PRETTY PLEASE! 😉
Oh … you should suck on some to get rid of that tooth ache or at least numb it!!
Thanks for the informative posts. I wonder if the type of cinnamon here is the same as the one used in pho? ps. I started my garden with four thai basil and some tia to..the basil is doing okay but the tia isn’t doing as well. 🙁
…mmmmmmm…. I’m drooling a little. sounds delish. bet it would be great in ice cream (and so many other things, but that’s the first one that comes to mind). thanks, too, for the wonderfully informative post.
What a lovely post. That cinnamon is so gorgeous. I’ve used it before, but I’ve never seen any that color before. Wow!
oooh, I just found your site from Tastespotting and am delighted to read about this spice, the real deal! I’d be willing to part with a jar of my family’s organic raw Michigan wildflower honey for a couple sticks. 😉 Either way, your site is really nice and I am now going to sift through the rest of it!
Anne
I remember seeing a cinnamon tree in Singapore when we were there recently. So interesting to see how it grows! Please enter me in the contest 🙂
T&D,
Thanks to your generosity, I already have my pair of sticks–and with just one bite I became a Vietnamese cinnamon addict. The spicy-sweetness of the cinnamon has my mind boggled. I love the flavors so much, I feel like Golum with his ring…I don’t want to loose one precious bite of cinnamon! Soon I’ll have a recipe worthy of the spice…but until then…I’ll just keep nibbling bite after bite of the precious bark.
That is so cool that it catches on fire (though I suppose you wouldn’t want to do it very often). I may have to stop by Penzey’s. 🙂
I would love this on rice pudding! Or… the chips mixed into rice pudding.
I’m a cinnamon fanatic, using it in practically everything from eggs to desserts! This is totally up my alley.