Ceylon Cinnamon Country

True cinnamon, Cinnamomum verum, grows well in the sandy soils of the southwest coastal belt and almost nowhere else at this quality, and Sri Lanka produces most of the world's supply. The work is a hand skill: shoots are cut, the outer bark scraped off, the inner bark loosened with a brass rod and peeled in sheets, then rolled inside one another into quills and dried. Peelers train for years and the good ones are paid accordingly.

What you actually see

• The peeling - inner bark loosened with a brass rod and lifted in sheets.
• The quill rolling - sheets rolled inside one another and dried into sticks.
• The difference from cassia - true cinnamon in fine layered quills, not thick single bark.
• The coastal estates - the sandy belt where the tree grows best.

When to go

November to April is the drier window on this coast. Peeling happens year round and is best seen on a working estate on a weekday. Estate visits should be arranged.

Honest expectations

Much of what is sold as cinnamon worldwide is cassia, a different and cheaper bark; the distinction is the point of the whole industry. Tourist spice gardens demonstrate the peeling but a working estate shows it properly. Prices for genuine grades are high.

Nearby

Ambalangoda is north, and Galle is central to the belt.