Korintje cinnamon

Korintje cinnamon is the dried inner bark of Cinnamomum burmannii, an evergreen laurel native to the highlands of western Sumatra, sold almost universally in the United States as simply "cinnamon." The name comes from the Kerinci Valley -- rendered Korintje by Dutch colonial traders -- a high caldera lake region straddling West Sumatra and Jambi provinces where the species grows wild and has been cultivated for export since at least the seventeenth century. The bark carries cinnamaldehyde at 2 to 4 percent, lower than Saigon cassia but with a sweeter, less aggressive profile that bakers prefer. The grading system is uniquely Indonesian: Type A (also called AA or KA) denotes the thinnest, most tightly rolled quills with the highest volatile-oil content; Type B and C are progressively thicker and woodier. Korintje dominates about 70 percent of the US cinnamon market by volume, though most consumers never learn its name. The coumarin content is the persistent controversy: Cinnamomum burmannii contains 0.3 to 1.2 percent coumarin by dry weight, far above the European tolerable daily intake of 0.1 milligrams per kilogram body weight, which has led Germany and the EU to impose import limits that do not apply in the US.