Ceylon Cinnamon Sticks vs Powder

Buy sticks. Ceylon cinnamon sticks hold their smell for a year or more, you can see what you're buying, and the bark is soft enough to grind in a mixie whenever you need powder. Ground cinnamon is handy for baking, but it fades within a few months and is hard to check, so buy it in small amounts or grind your own.

Sticks and powder side by side

Why sticks stay fresh longer

The smell comes from volatile oils inside the bark. In a whole quill most of the bark is shut away from air. Grind it and you open up a huge surface to air, light and damp all at once, and the oils start to leave.

Cardamom and pepper behave the same way. Our guide to storing spices explains what to do about it.

Why powder is harder to trust

Once ground, Ceylon and cassia look very alike. A stick shows you what it is the moment you look at the end. Powder doesn't, and a blend with cheaper cassia is hard to spot without a lab.

If you already have sticks at home and aren't sure what they are, the two-minute check for Ceylon cinnamon will tell you.

When powder makes sense

• You bake often and need a teaspoon at a time.
• You want cinnamon on toast, fruit, oats or coffee.
• You're making a dry rub or a spice mix.
• You'll finish the pack in two or three months.

Even then, powder ground from a stick that morning beats the packet. If you do buy powder, choose a small pack from a seller who can say what's in it.

Grinding Ceylon cinnamon at home

Ceylon is easier than cassia here. Cassia can strain a small grinder. Ceylon crumbles in your hand.

1. Break the sticks into small pieces with your fingers.
2. In a humid kitchen, warm the pieces in a dry pan on low heat for a minute. Don't let them darken.
3. Let them cool completely.
4. Grind in the small jar of your mixie, in brief pulses, for 20 to 30 seconds.
5. Sieve through a fine tea strainer and grind the bigger bits again.
6. Store in a small, dry, airtight jar and use within a month or two.

Two sticks make enough for several bakes. Grind more only when that's gone.

Which form for which dish

Sticks

Chai and cinnamon tea, payasam, biryani and pulao, ghee rice, meat and vegetable curries, poached fruit, and anything simmered where you can lift the stick out at the end.

Powder, ideally fresh ground

Cakes, banana bread, cookies, cinnamon toast, porridge, fruit salad, garam masala and dry rubs. If you'd like to make your own blend, we've written about what goes into garam masala.

Common mistakes

• Buying a big tub of powder because it looks cheaper per gram, then finding it flat by month four.
• Grinding it hot from the pan, which makes it clump.
• Using the same mixie jar you use for chilli or masala, so the cinnamon smells of last week's grinding.

How much powder equals one stick?

Sticks vary in size and thickness, so there's no exact rule. A 5 to 7 cm piece is often swapped for about half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Taste and adjust, since Ceylon is milder than cassia.

We sell our cinnamon sticks whole, with nothing added, in resealable pouches. Our guide to buying Ceylon cinnamon online lists what to look for in any pack.

Keep a few sticks in the jar and grind a little when a recipe calls for it.