Part of the Weird World of Cinnamon

Cinnamon & Foods

10-23-2008 The sense of smell and aromas, odors, fragrances, food flavors, food flavorings, and eating are important to me. To some people the nose is just another body part to maintain. To me, the nose is as important as the Creator thought it was and that's why we have it. Without the sense of smell we have no sense of taste. Without taste, well, life really would be dull. I have always had a very good sense of smell and I enjoy exercising it; sometimes disgustingly so. However, this post is regarding the sense of smell as it relates to food.

I live to eat, although not in quantities that I used to. So I really, really like what I do eat to be flavorful. A complex, but simple approach. On the other hand my dear wife only eats to live. If a food is palatable and has an agreeable texture to her, it's probably ok. She gets more than a bit frustrated at my trying to continually tweak the flavors of a dish. Sometimes she gets angry. At least, I think she gets angry. It's hard to tell sometimes. Certainly she has favorite foods. And she doesn't want them messed with. Not a great sense of food adventure going on. I am not attacking her preferences, just passing on my observations and I am done (on this particular day) with the ones about her and food After being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2006, I knew I needed a healthy, quick, and a not too-carb-laden breakfast. I eventually settled on Quick Quaker Oats. The product is a quick cooking oatmeal that as a complex carb would not cause an immediate spike in my blood sugar, just a slow one. I like the quick-cooking oatmeal's texture more than I like Quaker's Old Fashion regular oatmeal. But I’m not talking about the pre-mixed oatmeal in envelopes. I have not tried Quaker’s steel-cut oats yet. The Quick Quaker Oats are a good source of protein and fiber, too. Now, oatmeal is none too flavorful on its own. It needs adjuncts; something to jazz it up and make it interesting for the long-term oatmeal eater. It makes no sense to me to eat something "for my own good" unless it also tastes good. But even if I did have to eat something for my own good that did not taste very good, I would have to start tweaking it. I started my oatmeal tweaking by sweetening it with stevia rather than sugar. Didn't last long. Too much aftertaste for me. Maybe I used too much. Stevia is a rather interesting plant. It’s been used as an alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners in other countries for years with virtually no side effects. It can only be labeled and sold in the U.S. as a supplement, not a sweetener, thanks to the sugar lobby, high-fructose-corn-syrup makers, and the FDA. A popular soft drink maker with very deep pockets is now trying to get it approved for their drinks and will probably succeed since nearly any manufacturer will have more success with the FDA than would the populace. This is proven by the FDA’s approval of questionable-to-dangerous prescription drugs always flooding the pharmacies. And the drug companies need some way to pay for all the expensive advertising that used to be banned, and to afford the perks they extend to prescribing physicians. But that’s a subject for another day. After a couple of years I have settled on, and enjoy, eating my morning oatmeal sweetened with one or more natural sweeteners. Currently I use molasses, pure maple syrup, and raw honey as sweeteners. Not too much of either, just about a teaspoon. Sunflower kernels are also mixed in, so I get a very good serving of Vitamin E, too. Hazelnut syrup also adds a nice and nutty dimension to the finished flavor, too. Now I’m getting to the cinnamon part of this. Ahh…the cinnamon. I used to buy store-bought cinnamon in the little jars. I thought cinnamon was just that. Cinnamon. And then I began reading about Vietnamese, or Saigon, cinnamon being so much more flavorful. It certainly is. I have become hooked on it. The stuff from the grocery store now tastes like mildly flavored sawdust when compared to Vietnamese cinnamon. Of course the so-called better (more piquant and flavorful) stuff costs quite a bit more than the sawdust variety. But it is so darned good, regardless of whether it is “true cinnamon”, also known as Ceylon cinnamon, or whether it is the related species, cassia cinnamon, which some people say is not true cinnamon. There is currently a sinister and controversial story behind these differences. The name cinnamon is correctly used to refer to Ceylon cinnamon, also known as "true cinnamon" (from the botanical name C. zeylanicum). However, the related species, Cassia (Cinnamomum aromaticum), Saigon Cinnamon (Cinnamomum loureiroi), and Cinnamomum burmannii are sometimes sold labeled as cinnamon, sometimes distinguished from true cinnamon as "Chinese cinnamon", "Vietnamese cinnamon", or "Indonesian cinnamon." Ceylon cinnamon, using only the thin inner bark, has a finer, less dense, and more crumbly texture, and is considered to be less strong than cassia. Cassia has a much stronger (somewhat harsher) flavor than cinnamon, is generally a medium to light reddish brown, hard and woody in texture, and thicker, as all of the layers of the tree's bark are used. In many supermarkets in the United States, products labeled as cinnamon may often be cassia. As if all this is important at 5 a.m. Due to the presence of a moderately toxic component called coumarin, European health agencies have recently warned against consuming high amounts of cassia. We aren’t told what a “high amount” is. Anyway, the culprit is said to be contained in much lower amounts in Cinnamomum burmannii due to its low essential oil content. Coumarin is known to cause liver and kidney damage in high concentrations. True Ceylon cinnamon has negligible amounts of coumarin. Now you understand perfectly, right? Neither do I. Except that the cinnamon usually sold in the U.S. is supposedly bad for us; the cassia. For the most part, I’ll leave it to others to decide. I will just continue to buy Vietnamese cinnamon regardless of which species or variety it is, or how it’s labeled. It's simply, excellent in flavor. Vietnamese cinnamon can be ordered online at Penzeys Spices, or go straight to Penzys cinnamon page. After all, the FDA, in its infinite wisdom surely wouldn’t allow a dangerous product to be sold in the U.S. without a warning label would it? Oh, yes! I just remembered the FDA-approved drug, Vi-xx. Hmmm. Well, too much to do to dwell on it right now. I have to make a trip to my favorite, out of the way, spice shop. I’m almost out of Vietnamese/Saigon cinnamon and my morning oatmeal just wouldn’t be the same without it. - # -