Cinnamon is native to the Caribbean, South America and Southeast Asia. There are two main species of cinnamon: Cassia and Ceylon.
Cinnamon is commonly used as a spice or flavoring, and can be used in powdered, whole, or bark form. Additionally, people can also use cinnamon essential oil and supplements.
In Traditional Medicine, cinnamon is a medicinal herb used to treat colds, flatulence, sore throats, arthritis, etc. The special smell and flavor of cinnamon is due to its high content of the compound cinnamaldehyde. One of the main ingredients that provides biological activities to the body.
Compounds in cinnamon have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antidiabetic properties, and they can also protect cells in the body against cancer and cardiovascular disease.
About the origin of the Vietnamese Tea tree
According to ancient Vietnamese bibliographies, tea trees have existed since ancient times in two forms: household garden tea trees in the Red River Delta and forest tea trees in the northern mountains.
Le Quy Don in the book “Van Dai Loai Ngu” (1773) wrote in section IX, Items as follows:
” … Tea trees already exist in the mountains of Am Thien, Am Gioi and Am Cac, Ngoc Son district, Thanh Hoa province, growing green and filling the forest. Earthmen pick up tea leaves, crush them, and dry them in the shade. When dried, boil it in water to drink. It is slightly cold. Drink it to cool your heart and lungs, quench your thirst, and sleep well. Flowers and tea stamens are better, have a natural fragrance…”
In 1882, French explorers surveyed tea production and trade between the Da River and the Mekong River in the northern mountainous region of Vietnam, from Hanoi up to the Moc Chau plateau, through Lai Chau; as far as Ipang, Xipxoongpanná region (Yunnan), where there are ancient tea trees.
“Every day, large caravans of 100-200 donkeys are loaded with salt and rice when they go and heavy with tea when they return. Ipang is famous for the quality of tea that reaches the level of royal tea paid to the Emperor of China. High quality tea. This grade is not sold on the market..; and everyone tries to hide a small portion, even at the risk of being severely punished. I have seen a handful of this type of tea, which is ivory white in color, including very small tea leaves Small and very curly. The land area of Deo Van Tri in Lai Chau is a close neighbor of Ipang, the Xip xoongpanna region.
After surveys of ancient tea forests in Ha Giang province, Vietnam (1923), and southwest China (1926), French and Dutch scientists wrote “…tea forests, always growing on the banks of major rivers, such as the Yangtze River, Tsi Kiang River in China, Red River in Yunnan and Tonkin (Vietnam), Mekong River in Yunnan, Thailand and Indochina, Salouen and Irrawadi Rivers in Yunnan and Myanmar, Bramapoutre River in Assam.”
In 1976, an academician informed the Soviet Academy of Sciences, after studies on the evolution of tea plants, by analyzing catésin in wild tea, in the tea regions of Sichuan, Yunnan China, and ancient tea regions of Vietnam (Suoi Giang, Nghia Lo, Lang Son, Nghe An…), wrote:
… The ancient Vietnamese tea tree synthesizes more simple catechins than the Yunnan tea tree…. From there, there is the following world tea tree evolution chart “Camellia → Vietnamese tea → Yunnan big leaf tea → Chinese tea → Assam tea (India)”
In short, up to now, world scientists have confirmed: The tea plant generally originates from a fan-shaped ecological region, between the Naga, Manipuri and Lushai hills, along the border between Assam and Myanmar in West, across China in the East, and south through the hills of Myanmar and Thailand into Vietnam, the West-East axis from longitude 95o to 120o East, the North-South axis from latitude 29o to 11o North .
The origin of the anise tree
Star Anise – Star Anise – Star Anise is an English name with other names: Anise, octagonal anise, star anise,… Scientific name: Illicium verum. Chinese name: 八角 (eight wings). Family: Anise (Illiciaceae).
What is anise? Effects, how to use, where to buy dried star anise? Star anise is both a cooking spice and a long-standing medicinal herb in traditional Chinese and Asian medicine. Anise has a spicy taste, warm properties, and treats headaches, colds, arthritis, and indigestion. Anise is actually anise fruit. In Chinese, it is called octagonal anise, meaning “eight-petaled” fruit with fragrance.
The Anise plant is essentially a fruit, each flower consists of 5-8 diamond-shaped petals arranged in a star or spoke shape. This plant does not take much care, just take the seeds or seedlings and stick them in the ground and let the plants grow on their own. Sometimes people clear the bushes around the anise base, without needing fertilizer.
Each year, the anise tree produces two crops, in August and April of the lunar calendar, each crop lasting 3-4 months. Anise sets fruit on small branches at the edge, some branches hang down heavily, and some branches reach all the way to the top. Anise plants are not only found in Lang Son but are also grown in some other provinces of our country such as Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Quang Ninh… and some localities in China. However, due to nature’s favorable climate and soil characteristics of the locality, Lang Son Anise products are still considered to be the products with the best quality, high and special essential oil content. No toxins.
The image of star anise contains a lot of essential oils
Anise flowers grow well in Lang Son because they are suitable for the soil type and grow in high terrain. The people of Lang are attached to the anise forest in a hereditary manner. Plant once and harvest hundreds of years later. In the province, anise is grown scatteredly in most districts (mostly in districts: Van Quan, Binh Gia, Van Lang, Loc Binh, Cao Loc) with a total area of more than 35,000 hectares, accounting for over 70%. area of the whole country.
Anise essential oil is a valuable raw material for the production of massage and digestive medicine, cosmetics and aromatherapy. Anise stems have a characteristic flavor like seeds and are eaten as vegetables. The seeds are processed and used in a number of food products. Star anise powder is very suitable for baking and is the main spice for many recipes such as duck meat, pork…