China / Cinnamon
Over the centuries Cinnamon has been regarded as a gift fit for deities and royalty. It was considered to aid in digestion, lower blood pressure, reduce inflammation and in ancient Egypt it was used as an embalming agent. Nero burned a year’s worth of the city of Rome’s supply in honor at the funeral of his wife, Poppaea Sabina in 65 AD.
Eleanor Ford in The Nutmeg Trail “Cinnamon was the subject of ancient tales woven by Arab traders in an effort to keep a stranglehold on the spice trade. It was said a fearsome cinnamologus bird used cinnamon sticks to make its mountaintop nest, and only by luring it out with large chunks of meat could plucky merchants gather the sweet bark. It was enough to fool the Greeks and Romans, warding off curiosity to find its true source in Sri Lanka.
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