It’s worth remembering the other downside of Cassia cinnamon. It causes liver damage in higher doses.
The amount it starts becoming unsafe at is something like 1 teaspoon a day, which is a lot, but not that much when I consider how much I might put in an apple crumble or cinnamon bun recipe.
For this reason I always make sure I’m buying Ceylon.
How realistic is it really though? One teaspoon is a lot and even if I use it, I will not eat everything myself in one day. I guess the only real issue is with kids. I also don't eat cinnamon every day. Our small package of cinnamon lasts for months, and it's around 10 tea spoons.
The only way I have cinnamon is in the bark form that gets added whole to flavor dishes. The bark itself doesn’t get eaten. I wonder what the problematic amount that way is.
This article [0] has a pretty good overview of the possible side-effects one can have. The substance toxic to the liver (hepatotoxic) is believed to be coumarin. An article that specifically looks at coumarin in food can be found here. [1] It confirms what the parent comment says. Cassia is also the form commonly used in pastries according to the article.
Most homemade Chai tea recipes I'm familiar with tend to drop a cinnamon stick into the pot to infuse, rather than dissolving ground cinnamon into it. I'm not sure how much realistically leeches out when you drop a stick in, but I'd assume less than a "dissolved" teaspoon (which rarely actually "dissolves", in my experience--usually it just floats on top of the liquid).
cinnamon, cardamom, star anise, cloves, ginger.
grind then dry fry on pan then add water and milk (and tea leaves if you want).
it's a really great high.
there are of course many local and regional variations.
I don't know about others, bit at home for my daily tea(or is it bi daily now), I use an eighth of a teaspoon of cinnamon, some cardamom, and ginger.
I boil the ginger in water, add tea leaves, add milk bring to a near boil and then finally add in the other spices
They are very different spices. I don't care for cassia. I'll use it, no problem, but I much prefer Ceylon cinnamon. I grind sticks in a coffee grinder (you can't do this with cassia, it's too tough) and the freshly ground stuff is full of woody and citrus notes. Sometimes it smells like a threw in some orange peel, it's that noticeable.
Everything I could find about the difference between the two says that Ceylon cinnamon has a much "milder" and "subtle" flavor than Cassia, and that Cassia tastes much hotter/spicier, so this would seem to be in line with your experience. Ceylon cinnamon essential oil is only 50-65% cinnamaldehyde, while Cassia is about 95% according to an article I read, which explains much of the difference.
It is the quality of the spice you are getting. I have a nice fresh ceylon cinnamon and it is floral, aromatic, sewwt and punchy cinnamon smell. Very nice and puffs up the house with aroma when cooked.
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The amount it starts becoming unsafe at is something like 1 teaspoon a day, which is a lot, but not that much when I consider how much I might put in an apple crumble or cinnamon bun recipe.
For this reason I always make sure I’m buying Ceylon.
[0] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2018.03.013
[1] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2007.12.068
(Disclaimer: I spent 12 years operating a tea stall in Shimla)
there are of course many local and regional variations.
Is it just because my taste buds have been de-sensitized to cinnamon? Or is the specific brand bad?
Because right now I wouldn't buy Ceylon again (and I bought it specifically because it has less cumarin).
we can eat a lot of roots, but not generally wood..