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No space for a tree? Plant your Philippine cinnamon in a container, as we did. We like that we have planted the Philippine cinnamon at home to participate in conservation and that we have a stash of the fresh leaves at home for cooking, drinking tea, inhaling steam (tuob), cooking rice, and many others. Be…

Let’s bring back the Philippine cinnamon into our homes! Before the Spaniards came, cinnamon (Cinnamomum Mercadoi) was extensive in what is now known as Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Cinnamon is local! Here’s what it is called in various parts of Visayas and Mindanao. Be sure to plant your own cinnamon at home, in a pot…

Many thanks to DOST TUPV HIVE for funding the trip and to ever committed team Zapphire, Ramon, Cathy, TUPV Greg Crisostomo, PEMO, Negros Occidental Samuel Maja, and cinnamon farmers for their generosity. It was raining heavily the whole day, so it was very slippery. Buwis-buhay ang pagkuha ng pictures at dahon (taking pictures of the…

How to sustainably harvest Philippine cinnamon bark and leaves.Technique #1 (sources: Phil DENR RISE Nov 1992; National Cinnamon Research and Training Center, Sri Lanka): Cut back your young Philippine cinnamon tree. We will share tomorrow Technique #2 (Source: DOST-FPRDI) on harvesting bark from mature trees. We tried Technique #1, and we find it really good…

The World Health Organization recommends the use of the Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS), a natural and inexpensive way to rehydrate when one suffers from diarrhea. In the Philippines, an age-old practice in rural communities is to drink tea from the Philippine cinnamon kalingag bark as a relief from diarrhea. Be sure to plant your own…