Ceylon Cinnamon, often called "True Cinnamon," comes from the inner bark of the Cinnamomum verum tree, native to Sri Lanka. Unlike common Cassia, it has a delicate, sweet flavor with notes of citrus and cloves. It's known for its thin, easily crumbled quills. Valued in cooking for both sweet and savory dishes, it's also favored for its potential health benefits due to a lower coumarin content, making it a safer, high-quality spice.
Black pepper, often hailed as the "King of Spices," is one of the most widely used and globally traded spices. It originates from the dried, unripe berries of the Piper nigrum flowering vine, native to the Malabar Coast of India. The distinctive pungent flavor and aroma of black pepper come from a compound called piperine.
Cloves are the dried, unopened flower buds of the Syzygium aromaticum tree, an evergreen native to the Maluku Islands (also known as the Spice Islands) in Indonesia. Renowned for their intensely warm, sweet, and pungent aroma, cloves are a versatile spice used globally in both sweet and savory cuisines. Their distinctive flavor is largely due to eugenol, an aromatic chemical compound also found in cinnamon and nutmeg.
