"The difference is all in the bark. Ceylon cinnamon, the premium stuff often called "true" cinnamon, has incredibly thin, soft layers that snap cleanly without any fight. You'll get a neat break and maybe a few delicate crumbs. Cassia cinnamon is an entirely different story. The bark is thick and woody, so if you're struggling to break the quill, and when it finally snaps, it shatters into sharp splinters and jagged bits, well, there's your answer."
"Once you've snapped a cinnamon quill, take a look at the "core" of the snapped pieces. If you find several layers of bark forming concentric rings inside, then it's likely true Ceylon. Because of its flexibility, to make a quill, people usually take several layers of bark and roll them together, not unlike how you'd roll a cigar. Meanwhile, the best way to describe the shape of Cassia is a straw."
Cinnamon quills reveal their type by how they break: Ceylon has thin, flexible layers that snap cleanly into neat pieces, while Cassia has thick, woody bark that resists breaking and shatters into sharp splinters. Cassia is often regarded as lower quality and contains higher concentrations of the compound coumarin, which can pose health risks if consumed above recommended limits. Inspecting the snapped core shows concentric, rolled layers for Ceylon because multiple thin layers are rolled together to form quills. Cassia typically forms a tube-like straw structure with only two or three hard layers.
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