Origin: Imported from China to Egypt as early as 2000 B.C.,cinnamon was given as a prestigious offering to Monarchs. It iseven featured with positive and symbolic meaning in the NY TimesAll-time Best Seller, The Bible, in the books of Exodus andProverbs.
Plant: A small evergreen tree with oblong leaves and littlegreen flowers with an unpleasant smell. Inside the tree's smallpurple berry is a single seed. Cinnamon is harvested by growingthe tree for two years and then cutting it back in order to growshoots from the tree's roots over the duration of the next year.The shoots are then stripped of their bark and dried. Afternaturally drying, the outer portion is removed and only aminimally thin inner bark is used. Finally, the thin bark islayered with other pieces and once more left to dry into therecognizable curled strips. This final result, known as thequill is then cut into spicejar-sized pieces. The oil, alsohighly utilized is prepared by pounding the bark, soaking it insea water and then distilling it.
Quality: The best cinnamon comes naturally out of Sri Lanka, aswell as commercially grown farms in Brazil, Madagascar, Sumatra,West Indies, Vietnam, and more. It possesses a very thin smoothbark with a light-yellowish brown color. Its fragrant odor isparticularly sweet, warm and it gives a very pleasing taste, theresult of the concentration of its cinnamon oil.
Benefits: U. S. Department of Agriculture found in studies thatusing a half teaspoon of cinnamon daily lowered many dangerousblood related levels, including blood sugar in diabetics(especially Type-2), cholesterol, triglyceride and Low DensityLipo-proteins (LDL's). The same result is achieved by addingcinnamon in tea. To be furthered researched is a notion thatingesting cinnamon can lower blood pressure and whether or notexcessive amounts of the fat-soluable components of cinnamon aresafe from toxicity.
The Oil of cinnamon also has its benefits - boosting brainfunction. Research by the Association for ChemoreceptionSciences found that products with cinnamon oil enhancedresesarch participant's cognitive processing, especially, incomputer-based tasks such as attentional processes, virtualrecognition, working memory, and visual-motor speed.
Blurb: When mentioning cinnamon, desserts such as the cinnamonroll come to mind first. However, in all purpose cinnamon doesmore than just make your food taste good. It also qualifies asan "anti-microbial" food, stopping the growth of bacteria aswell as fungi such as yeast (Candida). In laboratory tests,growth of yeast with resistance to anti-fungal medication wasoften stopped by cinnamon extracts. With this data, cinnamoneven proves itself worthy as a natural food preservative...butreally, to us it just tastes and smells great!
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=68http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon
About the author:Sherri L Dodd is the creator and author of Mom Looks Great - TheFitness Program for Moms. She is an ACE-certified PersonalTrainer, Lifestyle & Weight Management Consultant and KickboxingInstructor with over fifteen years of exercise experience. Shehas lectured to groups on her fitness plan and is a freelancewriter on the topics of fitness and general nutrition as well asthe humorous side of motherhood.
