Cinnamon is widely used, with its derivatives used in the pharmaceutical, food, chemical, and fragrance industries. Yunfu City in Guangdong Province is the largest cinnamon-producing region in China, and cinnamon from Luoding County in Yunfu enjoys a strong reputation both at home and abroad.
A president of Coca-Cola once revealed that the distinctive "medicinal" note in Coca-Cola comes from deep-processed Chinese cinnamon oil. Without this cinnamon oil, Coca-Cola would not have its signature flavor.
Luoding Cinnamon, also known as Xijiang Cinnamon, features thick, full bark rich in essential oils. It offers a mellow sweetness with a long finish, along with a warm, gentle spiciness that is not harsh. Widely recognized within the industry as a premium cinnamon, it has received national honors, including designation as a Protected Geographical Indication Product of China.
As the "hometown of Chinese cinnamon," Luoding has a cultivation history of two thousand years. Its fertile lateritic red soil and warm, humid, rainy climate provide ideal natural conditions for cinnamon growth. By combining traditional craftsmanship with modern technology, Luoding cinnamon achieves a cinnamaldehyde content as high as 90%, ash content below 2.5%, high essential-oil yield, and extremely low impurities, making it a rare high-quality variety within the cinnamon family.
At present, the cinnamon planting area in Yunfu has exceeded 500,000 mu (about 33,000 hectares). Yunan County alone accounts for roughly 440,000 mu. Yunfu cinnamon products are exported to Vietnam, Europe, the United States, Japan, South Korea, India, and many other countries and regions, with Luoding Cinnamon representing more than 20% of China's total cinnamon exports.
Author: Liu Yue
Photo: Yunfu Fabu
