Cassia

This is dried bark used as small pieces or ground. It has a similar taste to cinnamon but has less flavour and is harder and coarser. Cassia is used in curries, rice and vegetable dishes and is an ingredient of Chinese five-spice. Cassia also has buds that are sold dried with the stalk attached, used in pickles and ‘paan’, a betel leaf parcel filled with nuts, seeds and spices. Dried cassia leaves, also called Indian bay leaves, are used in Indian curry and rice dishes.