Saigon Cinnamon (Royal Cinnamon) from the highlands of central Vietnam — Burlap & Barrel single-origin

Aromatic profile

Culinary use

• When to add : ground in at the mixing stage for baking, or simmered whole as a quill in a braise or syrup — its punch survives the oven where milder cinnamon fades
• Dosage : scale back about a third versus a generic supermarket cinnamon — a teaspoon of this hits like a tablespoon of the cheap stuff
• Ideal pairings : cinnamon rolls, snickerdoodles and coffee cake, apple and pumpkin pie, oatmeal, French toast and a dusting on cappuccino, Mexican mole and chili (use sparingly), mulled cider and chai
• Avoid with : delicate Ceylon-leaning dessert custards, where it bulldozes the subtlety, any recipe asking for 'true' cinnamon — this is cassia, a different, hotter animal, heavy-handed dosing: the coumarin in cassia means restraint isn't just flavor, it's prudence

The grain in detail

Saigon cinnamon is the dried inner bark of Cinnamomum loureiroi, a species native to the highland forests of central Vietnam — and despite the name, it isn't botanically 'true' cinnamon (that's Cinnamomum verum, Ceylon). It's a cassia, and the distinction matters on the tongue. Where Ceylon is delicate, floral and fragile, Saigon is loud: it carries one of the highest essential-oil concentrations of any cinnamon, often 4 to 6 percent versus roughly 1 to 2.5 percent for Ceylon, and that oil is rich in cinnamaldehyde, the compound that reads as hot, sweet, red-hot-candy spice. Snap a quill and the smell hits you across the counter. That intensity is the whole reason to reach for it. In a cinnamon roll, a snickerdoodle, a pumpkin pie or a pot of chili, mild cinnamon evaporates into background sweetness; Saigon stays in the foreground and survives a hot oven. Burlap & Barrel's Royal Cinnamon is the single-origin version worth knowing — Cinnamomum loureiroi grown in the highlands around the old imperial capital of Huế and the forests of Quảng Nam, an heirloom grade that rarely reaches US shelves and was the spice that put the company on the map after its Shark Tank appearance. One honest caveat that no shop selling cassia will lead with: cassia cinnamons, Saigon included, contain coumarin, a compound that's mildly hepatotoxic in large, sustained doses. For a Sunday baker this is a non-issue — you'd have to eat industrial quantities daily — but it's the real reason to dose with a light hand rather than a heavy one, and the reason people who cook with cinnamon every single day sometimes keep low-coumarin Ceylon on hand too. For flavor, though, when you want cinnamon to taste unmistakably like cinnamon, Saigon is the grain to buy. Use it ground and fresh for baking; simmer it as a whole quill in mulled cider, chai or a braise and fish it out. Buy whole sticks if you can and grind as you go — like all cinnamon, the ground powder loses its top notes within a year.

History & origin

Vietnamese cinnamon has been traded for centuries, but 'Saigon cinnamon' as a US grocery term is a postwar story: the variety largely vanished from American shelves during the trade embargo that followed the Vietnam War, and only returned in force after normalization in the 1990s, when it quickly became the default 'good' cinnamon for American bakers. Burlap & Barrel, founded in 2016 by Ethan Frisch and Ori Zohar to buy spices directly from farmers, sources its Royal Cinnamon as a single-origin heirloom from the central Vietnamese highlands — a sourcing model the company built its reputation on, and which it pitched on Shark Tank in 2021.

Indicative price

Reference format : 100g equivalent (Royal Cinnamon sold as 1.8oz / 51g jar) — from $5.00 to $22.00 (median : $12.00).

Storage

Airtight jar, away from light and heat. Whole sticks hold their oils 18 to 24 months; ground Saigon stays vivid about a year, then flattens — grind quills as you need them for the full hit.

Where to buy?

Tags

• saigon cinnamon
• vietnamese cinnamon
• cassia
• Cinnamomum loureiroi
• Burlap and Barrel
• Royal Cinnamon
• baking spice

Frequently asked questions

How do you store Saigon Cinnamon?

Airtight jar, away from light and heat. Whole sticks hold their oils 18 to 24 months; ground Saigon stays vivid about a year, then flattens — grind quills as you need them for the full hit.

What dosage for Saigon Cinnamon?

scale back about a third versus a generic supermarket cinnamon — a teaspoon of this hits like a tablespoon of the cheap stuff

When should you add Saigon Cinnamon in cooking?

It's best used ground in at the mixing stage for baking, or simmered whole as a quill in a braise or syrup — its punch survives the oven where milder cinnamon fades.

What should you avoid pairing Saigon Cinnamon with?

Avoid with: delicate Ceylon-leaning dessert custards, where it bulldozes the subtlety, any recipe asking for 'true' cinnamon — this is cassia, a different, hotter animal, heavy-handed dosing: the coumarin in cassia means restraint isn't just flavor, it's prudence.