true cinnamon

noun

: ceylon cinnamon

I went on to discover that what I'd tasted in Mexico was true cinnamon, a relatively mellow, subtly floral spice quite different from the one that I and most other Americans grew up eating in apple pie, cinnamon red hots, and cinnamon toast.

—Sara Dickerman, Saveur, October 2009

It's considered "true" cinnamon, as opposed to the thicker quills of cassia that are sold as cinnamon sticks in the U.S.

—Jane Daniels Lear, Gourmet, September 2003

Word History

First Known Use

1657, in the meaning defined above

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