- cassia
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/kash"euh, kas"ee euh/, n.1. Also called cassia bark, Chinese cinnamon. a variety of cinnamon derived from the cassia-bark tree.2. any of numerous plants, trees, and shrubs belonging to the genus Cassia, of the legume family, several species of which yield medicinal products.3. Also called cassia pods. the pods of Cassia fistulosa, a tree widely cultivated as an ornamental.4. Also called cassia pulp. the pulp of these pods, used medicinally and as a flavoring.
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Spice, also called Chinese cinnamon, consisting of the aromatic bark of the Cinnamomum cassia plant, of the laurel family.Similar to true cinnamon bark, cassia bark has a more pungent, less delicate flavor and is thicker. It is used as a flavoring in cooking. Whole buds, the dried, unripe fruits of C. cassia and C. loureirii, taste like the bark and are added to foods for flavoring. Confusion sometimes arises with another group of plants because Cassia is the name of an extensive genus of legumes, the source of various medicinal products and of senna leaves.* * *
▪ spicespice consisting of the aromatic bark of the Cinnamomum cassia plant of the family Lauraceae. Similar to true cinnamon, cassia bark has a more pungent, less delicate flavour and is thicker than cinnamon bark. It contains from 1 to 2 percent oil of cassia, a volatile oil, the principal component of which is cinnamic aldehyde. Cassia bark is used as a flavouring in cooking and particularly in liqueurs and chocolate. Southern Europeans prefer it to cinnamon, but, in North America, ground cinnamon is sold without distinction as to the species from which the bark is obtained.Cassia bark is peeled from stems and branches and set aside to dry. Some varieties are scraped. While drying, the bark curls into quills. The colour varies from light reddish brown for the thin, scraped bark to gray for the thick, unscraped bark. Ground cassia is reddish brown in colour. Cassia from China is less aromatic than that from Vietnam and Indonesia. Cassia from all three countries has a sweet, aromatic, and pungent flavour. Vietnamese, or Saigon, cassia is particularly highly esteemed.Cassia buds, the dried, unripe fruits of Cinnamomum cassia and Cinnamomum loureirii, have a cinnamon-like aroma and a warm, sweet, pungent taste akin to that of cassia bark. The whole buds are added to foods for flavouring. The brown, immature fruit is snugly held in a cuplike, hard, wrinkled, grayish-brown calyx (the whole commonly called a bud) varying in size but ordinarily 0.4 inch (11 millimetres) long, including the calyx tube; the upper part of the bud may be about 0.25 in. in diameter.Confusion sometimes arises with another group of plants because Cassia is the generic name of an extensive genus of leguminous plants, which, in addition to various other medicinal products, is the source of senna (q.v.) leaves.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
