Nonya cooking ingredient Kayu Manis or Cinnamon, common name for a bushy evergreen tree of the laurel family, and
for the spice made from its dried bark. native to Sri Lanka, the Malabar Coast
of India, and Myanmar it is cultivated in many other tropical countries.
Kayu Manis or Cinnamon is light brown in colour and has a delicately fragrant aroma and warm,
sweet flavour. It has been used since early times as a spice and in medicine and
witchcraft, it was once more valuable than gold.
Today Kayu Manis or Cinnamon is used to flavour a variety of foods, from confections to
curries; in Europe and the United States it is especially popular in baked
goods.