Reddit Is Obsessed With This Oddly Satisfying Cinnamon Origin Reveal
"Wait. Wait wait wait wait wait. You guys don't know how cinnamon is made?" begins a video recently shared on the r/oddlysatisfying Reddit thread. The video then proceeds to show you how cinnamon is made. You find a cinnamon tree, cut off a branch, and peel off its bark layer by layer. Those shaved layers curl into what we usually think of as cinnamon sticks. On TikTok, where user Donald Modeste originally uploaded the video, the sight proved highly popular with its more than 3 million viewers.
On both social media platforms, the same realization has shaken people to the core: "Call me dumb for not knowing but CINNAMON COMES FROM A F***ING TREE!?!?" one user wrote on Reddit. "I am 35, and did a damn cookery apprenticeship, and cinnamon is one of my favourite flavours and I only learnt from this video. I'm in shock," another admitted. Evidently, many shoppers are used to buying cinnamon from a jar in the supermarket and don't give its origins a second thought. For some of those who live on the Island of Spice, however, it's all part of everyday living.
Why you may not have tried Grenadian cinnamon
At the end of the TikTok video, Modeste states that his relationship with spice plants is strongly rooted in the love that his home island of Grenada has for spices — hence its nickname as "The Isle of Spice." On that note, unless you were to buy cinnamon from a Grenadian seller, you are more likely to end up with cassia instead of cinnamon.
Cassia is another bark-based spice that is pretty similar to true cinnamon, which is what cinnamon plants descended from those of Sri Lanka are called. According to Bon Appétit, cassia cinnamon primarily comes from China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Cassia is still cinnamon, but like Champagne or Cheddar, people deem it to be a lower quality alternative to the real thing. The reason why most of us will end up consuming cassia more often than true cinnamon is because the former has a stronger but less complex flavor. That hard-hitting taste better lends itself to cinnamon-flavored products like Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Either way, though, the cinnamon you consume still comes from a tree.