diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/json/JsonPropertyAccessor.java b/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/json/JsonPropertyAccessor.java
index 5c41cfb7a6..3f63e82722 100644
--- a/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/json/JsonPropertyAccessor.java
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/json/JsonPropertyAccessor.java
@@ -41,8 +41,8 @@ public class JsonPropertyAccessor implements PropertyAccessor {
 	/**
 	 * The kind of types this can work with.
 	 */
-	private static final Class<?>[] SUPPORTED_CLASSES =
-			new Class[] { String.class, ObjectNode.class, ArrayNode.class };
+	private static final Class<?>[] SUPPORTED_CLASSES = new Class[] { String.class, ToStringFriendlyJsonNode.class,
+			ObjectNode.class, ArrayNode.class };
 
 	// Note: ObjectMapper is thread-safe
 	private ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
@@ -59,20 +59,28 @@ public class JsonPropertyAccessor implements PropertyAccessor {
 		return ((index != null && container.has(index)) || container.has(name));
 	}
 
+	private ContainerNode<?> assertContainerNode(JsonNode json) throws AccessException {
+		if (json instanceof ContainerNode) {
+			return (ContainerNode<?>) json;
+		}
+		else {
+			throw new AccessException("Can not act on json that is not a ContainerNode: "
+					+ json.getClass().getSimpleName());
+		}
+	}
+
 	private ContainerNode<?> asJson(Object target) throws AccessException {
 		if (target instanceof ContainerNode) {
 			return (ContainerNode<?>) target;
 		}
+		else if (target instanceof ToStringFriendlyJsonNode) {
+			ToStringFriendlyJsonNode wrapper = (ToStringFriendlyJsonNode) target;
+			return assertContainerNode(wrapper.node);
+		}
 		else if (target instanceof String) {
 			try {
 				JsonNode json = this.objectMapper.readTree((String) target);
-				if (json instanceof ContainerNode) {
-					return (ContainerNode<?>) json;
-				}
-				else {
-					throw new AccessException("Can not act on json that is not a ContainerNode: "
-							+ json.getClass().getSimpleName());
-				}
+				return assertContainerNode(json);
 			}
 			catch (JsonProcessingException e) {
 				throw new AccessException("Exception while trying to deserialize String", e);
@@ -103,10 +111,10 @@ public class JsonPropertyAccessor implements PropertyAccessor {
 		ContainerNode<?> container = asJson(target);
 		Integer index = maybeIndex(name);
 		if (index != null && container.has(index)) {
-			return new TypedValue(container.get(index));
+			return new TypedValue(wrap(container.get(index)));
 		}
 		else {
-			return new TypedValue(container.get(name));
+			return new TypedValue(wrap(container.get(name)));
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -125,4 +133,28 @@ public class JsonPropertyAccessor implements PropertyAccessor {
 		this.objectMapper = objectMapper;
 	}
 
+	private ToStringFriendlyJsonNode wrap(JsonNode json) {
+		return new ToStringFriendlyJsonNode(json);
+	}
+
+	public static class ToStringFriendlyJsonNode {
+		private final JsonNode node;
+
+		public ToStringFriendlyJsonNode(JsonNode node) {
+			this.node = node;
+		}
+
+		@Override
+		public String toString() {
+			if (node.isValueNode()) {
+				// This is to avoid quotes around a TextNode for example
+				return node.asText();
+			}
+			else {
+				return node.toString();
+			}
+
+		}
+	}
+
 }
diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/json/JsonPropertyAccessorTests.java b/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/json/JsonPropertyAccessorTests.java
index 3dfa07b214..c9ddf171ce 100644
--- a/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/json/JsonPropertyAccessorTests.java
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/json/JsonPropertyAccessorTests.java
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ import org.springframework.expression.spel.SpelEvaluationException;
 import org.springframework.expression.spel.standard.SpelExpressionParser;
 import org.springframework.expression.spel.support.StandardEvaluationContext;
 
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 
 /**
@@ -49,20 +48,20 @@ public class JsonPropertyAccessorTests {
 	@Test
 	public void testSimpleLookup() throws Exception {
 		Object json = mapper.readTree("{\"foo\": \"bar\"}");
-		JsonNode actual = evaluate(json, "foo", JsonNode.class);
-		assertEquals("bar", actual.asText());
+		Object actual = evaluate(json, "foo", Object.class);
+		assertEquals("bar", actual.toString());
 	}
 
 	@Test(expected = SpelEvaluationException.class)
 	public void testUnsupportedJsonConstruct() throws Exception {
 		Object json = mapper.readTree("\"foo\"");
-		evaluate(json, "fizz", JsonNode.class);
+		evaluate(json, "fizz", Object.class);
 	}
 
 	@Test(expected = SpelEvaluationException.class)
 	public void testMissingProperty() throws Exception {
 		Object json = mapper.readTree("{\"foo\": \"bar\"}");
-		evaluate(json, "fizz", JsonNode.class);
+		evaluate(json, "fizz", Object.class);
 	}
 
 	@Test
@@ -70,8 +69,8 @@ public class JsonPropertyAccessorTests {
 		Object json = mapper.readTree("[3, 4, 5]");
 		// JsonNode actual = evaluate("1", json, JsonNode.class); // Does not work
 		// JsonNode actual = evaluate("'1'", json, JsonNode.class); // Does not work
-		JsonNode actual = evaluate(json, "['1']", JsonNode.class);
-		assertEquals(4, actual.asInt());
+		Object actual = evaluate(json, "['1']", Object.class);
+		assertEquals("4", actual.toString());
 	}
 
 	@Test
@@ -79,22 +78,22 @@ public class JsonPropertyAccessorTests {
 		Object json = mapper.readTree("[[3], [4, 5], []]");
 		// JsonNode actual = evaluate("1.1", json, JsonNode.class); // Does not work
 		// JsonNode actual = evaluate("[1][1]", json, JsonNode.class); // Does not work
-		JsonNode actual = evaluate(json, "['1']['1']", JsonNode.class);
-		assertEquals(5, actual.asInt());
+		Object actual = evaluate(json, "['1']['1']", Object.class);
+		assertEquals("5", actual.toString());
 	}
 
 	@Test
 	public void testNestedHashConstruct() throws Exception {
 		Object json = mapper.readTree("{\"foo\": {\"bar\": 4, \"fizz\": 5} }");
-		JsonNode actual = evaluate(json, "foo.fizz", JsonNode.class);
-		assertEquals(5, actual.asInt());
+		Object actual = evaluate(json, "foo.fizz", Object.class);
+		assertEquals("5", actual.toString());
 	}
 
 	@Test
 	public void testImplicitStringConversion() throws Exception {
 		String json = "{\"foo\": {\"bar\": 4, \"fizz\": 5} }";
-		JsonNode actual = evaluate(json, "foo.fizz", JsonNode.class);
-		assertEquals(5, actual.asInt());
+		Object actual = evaluate(json, "foo.fizz", Object.class);
+		assertEquals("5", actual.toString());
 	}
 
 	@Test(expected = SpelEvaluationException.class)