It took just three homespun goddess - Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia - to give their ancient Mediterranean world all the perfection it needed; its charm, beauty, and creativity. And so it is with the three great indigenous spcies of Sri Lanka: cinnamon, pepper, and turmeric. Native to the island, it is impossible to image how life would be here without them.

The greatest of these is cinnamon. Its perfumed bushes mark out the outer edge of the spice garden at The Flame Tree Estate & Hotel. No other thing, except perhaps Buddhism itself, water or Sri Lanka’s island status has had so marked an impact on the country as this miraculous spice, beloved of Herodotus, Aristotle, Nero; and such famous chefs as Vivek Singh and Emma Bengtsson. It is the magnetic North of the world’s spices, having enticed traders, colonists and planters to Sri Lanka, the invisible force field of its glittering commercial allure sucking them in, willing monopolist marketers, villainous vendors, wolfish merchants. The consequences of their commercial obsession were to remake the island - utterly.

But that is, of course, not the fault of the plant itself, and not even that fact that it has been expropriated in name by hotels and insurance companies, wellness spas, buns, babies, and kitchen ware can deter from its epic health and culinary properties. Unlike Cinnamon aromaticum or Cinnamon cassia, which comes largely from Vietnam and Indonesia, and is commonly known as Chinese cinnamon, Ceylon Cinnamon – or to give it its Latin name, Cinnamomum verum, comes almost only from Sri Lanka. It is, in fact just one of ten species that can credibly claim to be fully indigenous to the island – the other fourteen key ones being imports of one kind or another. 

The most significant difference between the two variants of cinnamon lies in their health qualities. Of the eighty or so chemical compounds that make up both varieties of cinnamon there is little to compare in how well they are known to improve insulin, increase blood sugar uptake, reduce cholesterol and, with their shared anti-inflammatory and antioxidant qualities, act against bacteria and fungi- - even to the extent of stopping the growth of tumours. Both also work to stop the built up of tau, a substance in the brain that can lead to Alzheimer’s disease. They way in which they metabolize into sodium benzoate mitigates the loss of proteins like Parkin and DJ-1 and so inhibits the progression of Parkinson’s Disease. The polyphenols both varieties have help to detoxify enzymes to protect against the growth of cancer cells. Their shared cinnamaldehyde component activates thermogenesis, a process that results in the enhanced burning of calories. 

But where they differ is in their inclusion of coumarin, an aromatic organic compound with known hepatotoxic and carcinogenic properties; and one that is known to cause liver damage. Compared to Chinese cinnamon, Sri Lankan cinnamon has extremely low levels of this dangerous chemical - 250 times less, to be exact. It is therefore they only sure variety to use for health benefits.

Gourmands would also argue for its preference in cooking. Sri Lankan cinnamon has a flavour that is arresting different – sweeter, more subtle, and less bitter than Cinnamon cassia. It has a softer texture and a lighter colour – and, commanding a much higher price than Chinese cinnamon, accounts for just nine percent of the world’s one billion pus dollar market. As one food writer put it: “cinnamon is the flavour equivalent of being hugged by your grandmother.”

From fruit pies and custards, sweet breads and rolls, teas, soup, lattes, pilaffs, baked meats, pancakes, cakes, dumplings and pot roasts, its delicate nature allows it to compliant dishes rather than dominate them, war-lord style. Image some of the world’s great dishes like Kanelbullar; beef rendang; lamb tagine; apple crumble; Franzbrotchen Buns or Teurgoule rice pudding – but without cinnamon to transform them. Across Sri Lanka the spice has found its way into dozens of classic island dishes including Watalappan, a spiced coconut and jaggery custard; Bibikkan; Dutch Lamprais; Kavum, sweet rice flour treacle fritters; as well as scores of common curries. Here at The Flame Tree Estate & Hotel our chefs have used it to create a morish breakfast bun – the Kanelbullar Crocodile Croissant – a pastry made like the classic Sri Lankan sugar crocodile bun, shaped like a croissant and flavoured like a Swedish cinnamon Kanelbullar.

The growing spice likes it hot but not blistering – a steady temperature of around 25˚C to 32˚C. Although the soils best suited for its are reckoned to be the sandy white soils of Negombo, its demand for plenty of moisture means that it is also a firm fixture in the central hilly area of the country. 

It is grown most easily from seeds, 3-4 per pot, and planted out about 4 feet apart in these clusters, whose competing roots ensure a beautifully shrubby plant, best able to give off many branches to peel, and so limit the dangers of any one plant racing to become a fifteen metre tall tree.

Pruning starts at about eighteen months with cross branches taken out and the plants kept to a height of around three metres. Twice yearly harvesting occurs after about three years at which point the branches are cut, the leaves removed, and the outer layer of bark scraped off with a Surana Kurutta knife. The raw stems are rubbed with brass rods to squeeze out the oils; and then, with the aid of a special curved knife – a Koketta – the softer inner bark is then peeled to a target width, with different widths determining the final garde of the spice. 

Thirteen different grades are recognised, determined largely by the diameter of the quill. The highest, known as Alba, has quills that are less than 6mm in diameter. More typically are C4 - around 13 to 15mm in diameter; and C3 - between 15mm to 17mm in diameter. All three are known as “Heen Kurundu” or Smooth Cinnamon. “‘Gorosu Kurundu” incudes quills that up to 38 mm in diameter - typically used for grinding into cinnamon powder. The cinnamon sheaths are then dried in shade, curling inwards upon themselves; and the quills then placed on strings or racks to dry still further.

Among the world’s key spices, Sri Lankan cinnamon holds its own, costing up to $60 a kilo – more than cloves though less than saffron ($500 to $5,000 per pound); vanilla ($200 to $500 per pound); or cardamom ($30 per ounce). Less labour intensive and climatically fussy than saffron; without any of the pollination drams of vanilla; the harvesting quagmires of cloves or the complex choreography of cardamon collecting; and less prone to animal attacks than any of these, cinnamon, by dint of experiment and experience, has recommended itself as the lead spice that we grow at The Flame Tree Estate & Hotel, with bushes populating not just the Spice Garden itself but also several acres of hilly land that lie to the east and south east of the hotel, on Singing Civet Hill, and underplanted beneath aged coconuts that know no straight line .

Pepper is the second great indigenous spice for which Sri Lankan is righty famous. It is one of only two food items (the other being salt) to have earnt a place as one of the immutable fixtures at every table in almost every part of the world. Yet this extreme popularity belies its opulent history. Food historians have dated pepper’s first origins to the Malabar Coast of India – present day Kerala; and to around 2,000 BCE, by which time Adam’s Bridge, that frail corridor of land that connects India with northern Sri Lanka was already several thousand years ol...