Why is cinnamon in sticks

First is the obvious advantage to keeping spices whole : increasing shelf life. Cinnamon sticks can be used differently than ground cinnamon, but can still be ground if you just need a pinch.

Beyond the practicalities, a true cinnamon stick is a historical lesson, study in craftsmanship, and sensory delight all rolled into one. The technical details are here , but suffice it to say that cassia is a larger and less delicate spice.

A few legal loopholes allow the cheaper cassia cinnamon to be sold as true, or Ceylon, cinnamon. You can differentiate the two in a number of ways. Cassia is a visusally very different creature, with a single thick layer of bark curling in on itself. Cassia trees contain a lot of flavor at full maturity, and can actually improve with age.

A year-old cassia tree packs a powerful, long-lasting bite. Cinnamon trees, on the other hand, are harvested very early when their shoots are still supple and young, with concentrated flavor. The process of turning a cinnamon tree shoot into a cinnamon stick technically, a cinnamon stick is called a quill is highly specialized task. If you're not interested in having both on hand, buy cinnamon sticks and grind them with a spice grinder or Microplane when using a recipe that calls for the powder.

Though the first uses for cinnamon that come to mind are likely sweet baked goods, the spice is necessary in many savory dishes, from the spiced tomato sauce in North African and Israeli shakshuka to the aromatic broth of Vietnamese banh mi bo kho.

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Print Save. Types of Cinnamon True story: I once told a former boss that the ounce container of cinnamon he coveted like a child wasn't "true" cinnamon. In people with type 2 diabetes, 1 gram or about half a teaspoon of cinnamon per day has been shown to have beneficial effects on blood markers.

More recently, a big review study concluded that a cinnamon dose of just mg per day can have these effects. In animal studies, cinnamon has been shown to reduce blood pressure 3. Cinnamon may improve some key risk factors for heart disease, including cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure.

This is known as insulin resistance , a hallmark of serious conditions like metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. The good news is that cinnamon can dramatically reduce insulin resistance, helping this important hormone do its job 12 , By increasing insulin sensitivity, cinnamon can lower blood sugar levels, as discussed in the next chapter.

Cinnamon is well known for its blood-sugar-lowering properties. Apart from the beneficial effects on insulin resistance, cinnamon can lower blood sugar by several other mechanisms. First, cinnamon has been shown to decrease the amount of glucose that enters your bloodstream after a meal. It does this by interfering with numerous digestive enzymes, which slows the breakdown of carbohydrates in your digestive tract 14 , Second, a compound in cinnamon can act on cells by mimicking insulin 16 , This greatly improves glucose uptake by your cells, though it acts much slower than insulin itself.

For more information on how you can lower your blood sugar levels, check out 15 easy ways to lower blood sugar levels naturally. Cinnamon has been shown to reduce fasting blood sugar levels, having a potent anti-diabetic effect at 1—6 grams or 0.

Neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by progressive loss of the structure or function of brain cells. However, human research is lacking. Overall, the evidence is limited to test-tube and animal studies, which suggest that cinnamon extracts may protect against cancer 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , It acts by reducing the growth of cancer cells and the formation of blood vessels in tumors and appears to be toxic to cancer cells, causing cell death.

A study in mice with colon cancer revealed that cinnamon is a potent activator of detoxifying enzymes in the colon, protecting against further cancer growth These findings were supported by test-tube experiments, which showed that cinnamon activates protective antioxidant responses in human colon cells Whether cinnamon has any effect in living, breathing humans needs to be confirmed in controlled studies. For a list of 13 foods that could potentially lower your risk of cancer, you might want to read this article.

Cinnamaldehyde, one of the main active components of cinnamon, may help fight various kinds of infection. It can also inhibit the growth of certain bacteria, including Listeria and Salmonella 32 , Do you know where cinnamon comes from? It's a spice we use all the time, but do you know where it grows and how it comes to be in our cinnamon buns? Cinnamon is one of those sweet spices that is so versatile -- in and outside the kitchen -- that we might even take it for granted sometimes.

It goes well in savory dishes like soups and tagines, and can do wonders on meat and chicken. It also shines in desserts, like churros and cobblers, and is your best friend at breakfast. You can also use it in your beauty routine. It can help out around the house and it may even have some healing properties. Cinnamon makes us think of Christmas and cozying up in front of the fire, but it also makes us think of apple pie in the fall and cinnamon sugar doughnuts at the summer farmers market.

As much as we use cinnamon, it's not wholly apparently where we get it from. Its origin may surprise you, but if you give that cinnamon stick a second look, it will probably start to make a whole lot of sense. News U.