Originally from Ceylon, this spice is delicately fragrant and sweet. Today, it is grown in most hot and humid tropical regions.
Cinnamon comes from a shrub in the laurel family and more precisely from the bark of its fine branches which, stripped of its outer covering, rolls up into pipes approximately 2.5 cm in diameter.
In the West its use is almost reserved for sweet dishes.
In the Orient, it often flavors simmered meats such as lamb. Mixed with dried fruits, it stuffs poultry and pork. As a stick, it can be used to flavor certain desserts, syrups, hot drinks, mulled wine, chocolate or coffee.
Virtues of cinnamon:
It is a food very rich in fiber!
In fact, fibers constitute nearly 40% of its total weight.
Cinnamon is known to stimulate the immune system in the broad sense and contributes to the general strengthening of the body. It is recommended to consume it in cases of flu, for example.
Finally, numerous studies have confirmed the possible role of cinnamon in the fight against type 2 diabetes. In fact, it has properties equivalent (although of lesser intensity) to those of insulin. It can therefore be effective, in addition to traditional drug treatment. Cinnamon is also nicknamed poor man's insulin in China.
Cinnamon contains coumarin which, if present in too large quantities, can be bad for the liver. Ceylon cinnamon contains much less coumarin than its cousins from Indonesia, but especially from China. The latter two can have a coumarin level up to 60 times higher than that of Ceylon cinnamon.
