Cinnamon is one of the spices that were introduced in the Seychelles by Pierre Poivre. When the spice plantation was destroyed by fire, cinnamon prospered on all the hills of the islands by virtue of its seeds being dispersed by birds. It now grows wild on every island, giving rise to a prosperous cinnamon export industry from the 1930s and 1970s.
Cinnamon is a spice that appears in two forms in the market namely the quill and the powdered form. The quill is made from the rolled, dried inner bark of the cinnamon tree or the tender bark of the branches. The powder is made from the ground bark or quill. The ground powder is the most common form but it tends to deteriorate quickly and should be kept dry in an airtight container and away from sunlight. It produces a volatile oil, which gives it its spicy, warm aroma and a very refined, sweet-hot taste. Large doses of cinnamon can be very potent.
Fresh cinnamon bark or leaves are far superior in quality and with a much more prominent aroma and taste. The Creole cook uses mainly the leaves in his kitchen for flavouring savoury rice and curries, especially curries with coconut milk. The Creole desserts make very little use of cinnamon.
Some interesting statistics.
Seychelles exported its first cargo of 740,123 kilos of cinnamon in 1908 for a value of Rs 50,166. Between 1915 and 1918, 52,162 litres of cinnamon oil were exported. By 1919, it became evident that cinnamon, together with coprah and vanilla, had become the three pillars of the colony’s agricultural economy. During that particular year, forty-four cinnamon distilleries worked producing 24,430 litres of oil for the export market. All the crown lands were leased for cinnamon cultivation.
Between 1909 – 1913, the export of cinnamon brought over 4 million rupees. Essential oil distillation had become such a lucrative and widespread business all over Mahe that the colonial government appointed an inspector of distilleries, who ensured that owners conformed to established standards of operation. In 1909, the inspector was Antoine Louis Despilly Jorre de Saint Jorre, who earned R1,200 a year. He was then 25 years old.
Between 1915 and 1937 the following were exported:
1915 – 1918: 52,162 litres of cinnamon oil
1924 – 1928: 237,944 litres of cinnamon oil
1930 – 1934: 275,238 litres of cinnamon oil
1949 – 1952: 335,863 litres of cinnamon oil
1933 – 1937: 151 tons of cinnamon barks
In 1947, 861 tons of cinnamon barks were exported for a value of Rs 71,002
Between 1955 and 1960, 4,694 tons of cinnamon barks were exported, compared to 472 tons of oil. 9 inches cinnamon quills were first exported in 1959 to the United Kingdom to establish it on the spice market. In 1960, 8,920 kilos of quills valued at Rs 25,760 were exported. In 1968, 9 tons of quills were sold for Rs 98,144. That very same year 3,059 tons of cinnamon brought Rs 7,485,731 to the colony. By then, approximately 14,000 acres of land were under cinnamon cultivation.
In 1970, 8 tons of quills sold for Rs 106,000.
Nowadays, cinnamon trees have become part of the natural scrubland and grow wild on many of the islands and we have no distillery left!
We will feature a longer post on cinnamon in Seychelles in a future post.
Source: The Agricultural History of Seychelles, www.virtualseychelles.sc
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