Cocktails with Cinnamon stick
Cinnamon stick is the dried inner bark of trees of the genus Cinnamomum, rolled into a tubular quill and used whole as an aromatic spice.
Taste profile
Warm, sweet-woody aroma driven by cinnamaldehyde, over a mild bittersweet bark flavour; long infusion draws out a faint tannic, woody edge.
How it's used
A whole stick releases its flavour slowly, so it is infused into a hot or warm liquid, syrup or spirit rather than dropped into a cold drink, where the intact quill gives up little. It serves as a background aromatic or the defining note of a spiced syrup, and doubles as a garnish; Ceylon quills are soft enough to crumble or grind, whereas cassia sticks stay hard and woody.
Substitutes for Cinnamon stick
For a background warm note, ground cinnamon or a cassia stick of a related Cinnamomum species reproduces the aroma, differing only in infusion speed and clarity; an unrelated warm spice such as clove or nutmeg cannot stand in, because the specific cinnamaldehyde aroma is the whole point.
Often confused with
Cassia bark
Ceylon cinnamon (C. verum) is thin-layered, crumbly, more delicately aromatic and very low in coumarin; cassia (C. cassia and related species) is thicker, harder, more pungent and markedly higher in coumarin. Both are sold generically as "cinnamon" in stick form.
