The Book of Household Management by Mrs. Beeton

524. INGREDIENTS.--3 drachms each of ginger, black pepper, and cinnamon,

7 cloves, 1/2 oz. mace, 1/4 oz. of cayenne, 1 oz. grated nutmeg, 1-1/2 oz. white pepper. _Mode_.--Pound the ingredients, and mix them thoroughly together, taking care that everything is well blended. Put the spice in a very dry glass bottle for use. The quantity of cayenne may be increased, should the above not be enough to suit the palate. [Illustration: CINNAMON.] CINNAMON.--The cinnamon-tree (_Laurus Cinnamomum_) is a valuable and beautiful species of the laurel family, and grows to the height of 20 or 30 feet. The trunk is short and straight, with wide-spreading branches, and it has a smooth ash-like bark. The leaves are upon short stalks, and are of an oval shape, and 3 to 5 inches long. The flowers are in panicles, with six small petals, and the fruit is about the size of an olive, soft, insipid, and of a deep blue. This incloses a nut, the kernel of which germinates soon after it falls. The wood of the tree is white and not very solid, and its root is thick and branching, exuding a great quantity of camphor. The inner bark of the tree forms the cinnamon of commerce. Ceylon was thought to be its native island; but it has been found in Malabar, Cochin-China, Sumatra, and the Eastern Islands; also in the Brazils, the Mauritius, Jamaica, and other tropical localities. BROWN ROUX, a French Thickening for Gravies and Sauces.