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Cinnabark

stack of cinnamon sticks

Do you enjoy the taste of tree bark? You do if you like the flavor of cinnamon.

The cinnamon tree is in the laurel family, and is grown in Sri Lanka. To make cinnamon, you break off a branch and peel away the outer bark, inside of which is a layer of yellowish bark. Scrape this yellow bark off and let it dry, then crumble it up into a powder. And there you have it, homemade, hand-picked cinnamon.

A second kind of cinnamon--a darker, Chinese variety--comes from a cassia tree.

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