Cinnamon

Mmm. You know you can’t resist this yummy one, eh? Cinnamon is not just for flavory goodness though, it has wonderful healing properties.

It is an antiseptic and kills a lot of decay and disease causing bacteria, fungi, and viruses too. That’s why it’s added to toothpaste and dental floss. And it can be used to treat cuts and scrapes. Just wash the injury well, then sprinkle on some powdered cinnamon.

It also helps with digestion. Plus, some studies are beginning to show that it even helps to reduce high blood pressure.

All this thinking about cinnamon has put me in the mood for some cinnamon tea.

I’ll leave you with this — something interesting I found on Wikipedia about Cinnamon and cassia:

The name cinnamon is correctly used to refer to Ceylon Cinnamon, also known as “true cinnamon” (from the botanical name C. verum). However, the related species Cassia (Cinnamomum aromaticum) and Cinnamomum burmannii are sometimes sold labeled as cinnamon, sometimes distinguished from true cinnamon as “Indonesian cinnamon” or, at least for Cassia, “Bastard 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^[1].
Cassia is generally a medium to light reddish brown, is hard and woody in texture, and is thicker (2-3 mm thick), as all of the layers of bark are used.

Most of the cinnamon sold in supermarkets in the United States is actually cassia. European health agencies have recently warned against consuming high amounts of cassia, due to a toxic component called coumarin.^[2]This is contained in much lower dosages in Ceylon cinnamon and in Cinnamomum burmannii. Coumarin is known to cause liver and kidney damage in high concentrations.

The two barks when whole are easily distinguished, and their microscopic characteristics are also quite distinct. Cinnamon sticks (or quills) have many thin layers and can easily be made into powder using a coffee or spice grinder whereas cassia sticks are much
harder, made up of one thick layer, capable of damaging a spice or coffee grinder. It is a bit harder to tell powdered cinnamon from powdered cassia. When powdered bark is treated with tincture of iodine (a test for starch),
little effect is visible in the case of pure cinnamon of good quality, but when
cassia is present a deep-blue tint is produced, the intensity of the coloration depending on the proportion of cassia.

Cinnamon is also sometimes confused with Malabathrum (Cinnamomum tamala) and Saigon Cinnamon (Cinnamomum loureiroi).