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| Indonesian cinnamon tree with flowers (this year's leaves are red) |
Rather surprisingly, Indonesians do not use cinnamon frequently. It sometimes appears in sweets, or is added to (Indian or Arabic influenced) meat stews in small amounts; a well-known example is rendang, a spicy beef stew very popular in Western Sumatra (see galanga).
Ceylon cinnamon is traded in form of slender and fragile quills, composed of very thin (thickness one millimeter or less) bark layers. The colour is a light reddish-brown.
Indonesian cinnamon, in contrast, is much thicker (1 to 3 mm) and therefore less easy to break. The quills are outside reddish-brown, similar to Ceylon cinnamon, but the inner side of the bark is much darker gray-brown.
Chinese cinnamon or cassia is normally not peeled that carefully as the former two; therefore, the outer surface looks uneven and rough, dark brown in colour. Sometimes, originating points of branches are discernible. The bark chunks are very thick (3 mm to 1 cm), strong but brittle; it does not roll up regularly and is sold in small pieces or irregular shape.
Vietnamese cinnamon or Saigon cinnamon looks
similar to the Chinese species, but the pieces are usually smaller and thinner;
on the outer surface, remainders of lichen growth are frequently discernible.
