Results from the Great Cinnamon Experiment

Results from the great cinnamon experiment:

Coffee, tea, anything having to with apples, and bread are greatly improved by adding lots and lots of cinnamon.

Otherwise, caveat emptor.

Comments

[meno]

American! Barbarian!
But I repeat myself.

[John Emerson]

A tavern I used to go to used an intensely powerful cinnamon scent in the bathrooms. It was so overpowering that it became sickening, and they quit using it rather quickly.

[dan]

fajitas take to it well.

[Paul]

Real cinnamon, of course, not the weak Cassia stuff often passed off as cinnamon.

[Martin Langeland]

Northern European derivative types think of cinnamon in connection with sweets. Elsewhere cinnamon is welcome as a savory as well. Add it to your curry, chille or red sauce. Not a lot, maybe, but enough to add some wonderful undercurrents to the garlic and herbs. Say a teaspoon per quart? Also useful in stirfrys. It is part of Five Spice Powder.

-- ml

[Tom]

Tea!?

I presume you drink some kind of fruity and funky left-coast tea. I can't imagine real tea (English style) with cinnamon.

[dan]

Indians drink their tea with cinnamon in it (as well as cardmom, ginger, cloves, etc.)

[ctate]

If I might toot my own horn for a moment: cinnamon-tangerine ice cream is *fabulous*. Recipe at http://ctate.livejournal.com/11612.html .

[Cryptic Ned]

I've been told that any food can be made better by adding either cinnamon, garlic, or ginger.

It's possible that "ginger" doesn't even need to be part of the statement.

[ogmb]

> Tea!?

> I presume you drink some kind of fruity and funky left-coast tea.

The Prof is talking about Snapple:

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2005/12/snapple_iced_te.html

[craig tindale]

Brad ,

Sorry this is off topic but this speech by Australian Prime Minister John Howard (last night ) on Iraq is a diplomatic nuke.

Impeach the bastard now not tomorrow.

http://www.johnhowardpm.org/speech1817.html

[ilsm]

Craig,

Thanks for the link!

Gandhi would have said: "My commitment is to truth as I see it each day, not to consistency."

'I was wrong best course to stop the continuing harm I started.'

[craig tindale]

This is big he has either met Ghandi's ghost or as he hints something huge is about to break and hes running for cover.

Brad it needs to be a feature on your blog read it a few times and its hard to believe its a diplomatic nuke aimed right at Bush.

[chris]

Ned,

Ginger is essential to make stewed rhubarb edible, and a good idea in any recipe originating between the Tigris and the Pacific ocean.

Cinnamon is also the business in lamb casseroles.

[Barry]

"A tavern I used to go to used an intensely powerful cinnamon scent in the bathrooms. It was so overpowering that it became sickening, and they quit using it rather quickly. "

Posted by: John Emerson

It was probably some sort of horrible artificial scent. There's few scents which are improved by an artificial version.

[Ken Houghton]

Barry - Could you name one? (I suspect you're correct on "few" as opposed to "none," but I can't think of any.)

[Silent E]

I discovered this myself at Starbucks recently. They were selling special cinnamon lattes - very tasty. I thought - why not just add it to the coffee?

There's always a cinnamon shaker next to the half-and-half. I always use it.

Advice: add the spice BEFORE the cream - the higher temperature of the black coffee will release the oils and flavors in the cinnamon faster and more completely. The difference is noticable - esp. viz the aroma.

[Dave]

The Howard speech looks like a fake.

From the linked page, click on the "Speeches" link. Note that the Deakin Society address is the first link. This page uses actual headers and footers from the official Australian government site, but is not part of the official site.

Now click on the "Prime Minister" link at the top of the page to go to the PM's actual official site home page. From there, choose "News Room" (menu at upper right) and then "Speeches" to get back to the list of speeches. Note that this is a different page with a different URL (one actually part of the Government site) from the original "Speeches" page.

Besides, who says in a speech that they won't talk about any of it outside that room and then posts a transcript?

[Tom Hilton]

What about cocoa? I always make mine with generous amounts of vanilla and cinnamon.

[Auros]

I use nutmeg and mustard in my gruyere/swiss cheese sauce. Nutmeg is, I think, better for many savory dishes than cinnamon, though both are good.

[dan]

cocoa i like with vanilla, mint, and chile. and salt/sugar of course.

[John]

Mar 1, Mark Bittman in the NY Times had a good recipe for Moroccan chicken with green olives. The chicken is cooked pretty much French style, à la bonne femme, but the secret ingredient is cinnamon. It gives the dish an exotic flavor.

I'm seconding the person who said cinnamon doesn't need to be limited to sweets.

[Josh]

lentils, heavy on the hot curry powder and some cinnamon.

[ogmb]

http://www.johnhowardpm.org/speech1817.html

Hm, am I missing something? The speech is not linked on the official pm.gov.au site:

http://www.pm.gov.au/news/speeches/index.cfm

http://www.pm.gov.au/news/speeches/speech1817.html

[JRoth]

The (usually) very discriminating palettes at Cook's Illustrated rated vanillin as equal to vanilla extract for purposes savory and sweet. To this day, I can't believe it. I find artificial vanilla identifiable at 30 paces. But that's at least one vote in the "few" not "none" category.

Of course, "vanilla-scented" odorizers don't even use anything so tolerable as vanillin....

[kharris]

WARNING!

I went to ctate's link and he is the devil!

Evidence? Along side cinnomon-tangerine ice cream is a recipe for extreme vanilla and saffron-cardamom ice creams. The devil, I'm tellin' ya.

[MKR]

Plus, it inproves insulin sensitivity (a little bit). The folks who track their bloodsugar closely on the diabetes newsgroups found it didn't help that much. But, the studies show it helps some. It also doesn't matter what form of cinnamon, the "fake" cassia or the real - both work. 1/4-1/2 teaspoon per day. That's all you need, more doesn't help any more.

Cinnamon Extract Prevents the Insulin Resistance Induced by a High-fructose Diet. Horm Metab Res. 2004 Feb;36(2):119-25.
Isolation and characterization of polyphenol type-A polymers from cinnamon with insulin-like biological activity. J Agric Food Chem. 2004 Jan 14;52(1):65-70.
Antihyperglycaemic effect of Cassia auriculata in experimental diabetes and its effects on key metabolic enzymes involved in carbohydrate metabolism. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2003 Jan-Feb;30(1-2):38-43.
Cinnamon Improves Glucose and Lipids of People With Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2003 Dec;26(12):3215-3218.
Cinnamon extract (traditional herb) potentiates in vivo insulin-regulated glucose utilization via enhancing insulin signaling in rats. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2003 Dec;62(3):139-48.
Effect of Cassia auriculata Linn. on serum glucose level, glucose utilization by isolated rat hemidiaphragm. J Ethnopharmacol. 2002 May;80(2-3):203-6.
A hydroxychalcone derived from cinnamon functions as a mimetic for insulin in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. J Am Coll Nutr. 2001 Aug;20(4):327-36.
Insulin-like biological activity of culinary and medicinal plant aqueous extracts in vitro. J Agric Food Chem. 2000 Mar;48(3):849-52.
Regulation of PTP-1 and insulin receptor kinase by fractions from cinnamon: implications for cinnamon regulation of insulin signalling. Horm Res. 1998 Sep;50(3):177-82.
Insulin potentiating factor and chromium content of selected foods and spices. Biol Trace Elem Res. 1990 Mar;24(3):183-8.
Insulin activity: stimulatory effects of cinnamon and brewer's yeast as influenced by albumin. Horm Res. 1992;37(6):225-9.