Photo by Laurie Smith

There are few ingredients used in Mexican cooking that affect the taste of a dish more than canela (true Ceylon cinnamon or soft-stick cinnamon.)

It blends subtly with different seasonings and will not drown out other spices like the harsher cassia. The product sold as “cinnamon” in U.S. markets is not right for Mexican food. It actually comes from the cassia tree (Cinnamomum cassia) and other strong-flavored members of the cinnamon genus that are disdained in Mexico and many European countries as inferior substitutes for real cinnamon. I refuse to cook with this so-called cinnamon except in certain dishes where its sharpness is acceptable. Mexican cooks insist on a spice known as “true cinnamon” or “Ceylon cinnamon,” Cinnamomum zeylanicum, which we call canela. I had always assumed that it came from Mexico, since I had only seen it there. But it turns out that it is grown in Sri Lanka ( formerly Ceylon) and brought into the United States almost exclusively for re-export to Mexico at a hefty mark-up! When I published my book Food from my Heart cooks here were literally unaware of its existence but now experienced Mexican cooks know better.

Wherever one of my recipes specifies canela, I seriously beg you to use true cinnamon. It differs from U.S. “cinnamon” in both texture and flavor. The bark is softer and thinner, with concentric layers that splinter easily when you break off a piece. The color is medium tan, not reddish-brown. The pungent afternotes that U.S. cooks associate with the name “cinnamon” do not belong to our canela.

True cinnamon is now widely available (in both powdered and stick form) from a few specialty spice and herb dealers. To be sure of what you are getting, specify “Ceylon cinnamon” or “soft-stick cinnamon” but you should only buy it in stick form and grind it just before using. It loses its aroma very fast.

If you are obliged to cook with U.S. “cinnamon,” you could try to compensate by using ⅓ to ½ the amount suggested for the powdered form or by removing the stick from the dish after half the suggested cooking time. I can’t say that either of these expedients is very good. There is still a wrong note. Also, please be aware that when one of my recipes calls for putting a true cinnamon stick in a blender with other ingredients, using cassia stick is courting disaster because it is too hard and tough. If you don’t have the real thing, substitute a little ground U.S. “cinnamon.”