Comments on: cassia vs cinnamon

By: Kurundu

Kurundu — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:04:30 +0000

For all those who experienced slimy cinnamon. I just ate a piece of Cassia cinnamon. It is so slimy. You all should try it. I have eaten enough of ceylon cinnamon sticks. It is so different.

By: Kurundu

Kurundu — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:39:21 +0000

Thanks Elizabeth. I continued with my experiment and put it in the fridge. I just threw it away about an hour ago. It was thickening a little bit but still was not slimy. Picture of your slime is pretty gross. I can imagine how the chicken curry looked if it was close to the picture. Spices is one thing I am very reluctant to buy in the stores. For last 18 years I have been buying all my spices from Sri Lanka when I visit. My freezer is full of spices from home. Even at home until last two occasions I always made my own when I go there. When my mom was there she wioll take care of all that. Then another time I washed them, dried them in the sun and took it to the mill to grind them. Last two times I had to depend on my in-laws because of the timing and rain. They bought them at a factory very close to their home. They are very good too. The reason I was reluctant to buy was spices is one thing that people can mix with other things and still hide it. I have heard they mix brick powder or something for chilli powder; turmeric add yellow colouring to flour etc. I am not sure how true these are. But I stay away from unknow sources. Curry powder is very easy to make. Mix all the ingredients and grind. Lucky you to have made your own spices! I've heard of the possibility of adulteration but have to assume that any reputable store here will be buying and selling unadulterated spices. They wouldn't stay in business very long.... I also doubt that the versions of chili powder that have been mixed with brick powder would ever pass the stringent importation regulations. Even so, we usually buy whole dried chilis and grind them if we want chili powder. And you're right that curry powder is easy to make (it's nice to be able to control the amount of turmeric as well - many commercial curry powders have WAY too much turmeric for my taste); we like to toast the spices before grinding them. -Elizabeth

By: ejm

ejm — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:48:33 +0000

Kurundu, the results from your experiments are fascinating. (And I like your point about different kinds of slime. The slime produced from the inferior cinnamon we bought was really offensive though. I don’t think anyone would have wanted to eat that curry! It was still quite slimy when it was warm and disgustingly so when it was cold.)

Initially, we thought the cinnamon we bought was contaminated as well; we were so sure that we threw it out. It was only after reading about cinnamon and cassia that we suspected the cinnamon we bought was from an inferior breed of cinnamon tree, once again proving that if the price seems too good to be true, it IS too good to be true.

It’s very kind of you to offer to deliver real cinnamon to us. But we have not had any problems with the cassia bark purchased in Indiatown and to us, cassia bark offers the same flavour as cinnamon.

-Elizabeth

By: Kurundu

Kurundu — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:50:51 +0000

It is almost 6 a.m. November 11. My test is still waiting to be slimy. It was sitting on my counter all night. It is exactly how it looked when I boiled it only colder. I think you got some cinnamon that is contaminated with something. Or may be it is how cinnamon from India. Or it was mixed with cassia (I haven't done the test with cassia since I don't have cassia powder). I know true cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum or C.zeylanicum) is native to Sri Lanaka and South India. Here is a link I found in the web about the slimy factor. This one agrees with my observation over few decades of my life. I have never bought cinnamon here. I always bring my own spices from Sri Lanka (yes for 18 years I have done it). wiki.answers.com: How come_when cinnamon is prepared in a hot liquid it sometimes gets slimy I can deliver some of real cinnamon to you.

By: Kurundu

Kurundu — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:46:59 +0000

Interesting! I grew up with cinnamon until I left my little village in Sri Lanka in 1990 to come to Canada. I was surrounded by Ceylon cinnamon trees whereever I went (80% cinnamon plantations). That was my favourite snack; I would break a leaf and eat the stem. After eating few stems if the trip through cinnamon plantation is longer I would break off a stick and chew the bark.

I never looked at the slime that way. We put cinnamon in every curry. But it is only meat and fish that creates the slime. After I read your blog, I boiled 1 tbsp of cinnamon in a cup of water and boiled it. It is getting cooled as I write this. Did you ever think about other slime this way like gelatin for example? Sour cream, Yorgurt, they are all slimy in a different way. Meat and fish curries doesn’t get slimy until it is cooled. When you warm it up it dessolves. I use this slime to take out more fat from the dish. Fat is just on top of the slime. If any of you are interested in Ceylon Cinnamon they are available at Noah’s Natural foods and few other natural food stores. Brunos fine foods has them too. Not all locations have them, so call before you go to the store.

By: Pat C

Pat C — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:06:57 +0000

The Cinnamon that we buy in the US is actually Cassia. Cassia has a chemical called coumarin which could be toxic. Please click the below link to read more German Federal Institute for Risk Management: coumarin in cinnamon: 30 October 2006 (bfr.bund.de/cd/8487)

I had heard that almost all the cinnamon sold in Canada and the US is derived from Cassia too.

(excerpt from wikipedia: Coumarin) Coumarin is a chemical compound (benzopyrone); a toxin found in many plants, notably in high concentration in the tonka bean, vanilla grass, woodruff, mullein, and bison grass.[...]Coumarin is moderately toxic to the liver and kidneys [...]. Although only somewhat dangerous to humans, [...] European health agencies have warned against consuming high amounts of cassia bark, one of the four species of cinnamon, because of its coumarin content. The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment has established a tolerable daily intake of 0.1 mg coumarin per kg body weight, but also advises that, [if] this level is exceeded for a short time only, there is no threat to health. For example, a person weighing 135 lbs or about 61 kg would have a TDI of approximately 6.1 mg of coumarin. [...] 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder contains 5.8 to 12.1 mg of coumarin, which may be above the Tolerable Daily Intake for smaller individuals.

A teaspoon of cinnamon is quite a lot of cinnamon. I doubt that many would consume this much in a day -ejm

By: ejm

ejm — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:48:49 +0000

Annette, I suspect that ground cinnamon will work.

cinnamon Equivalents: One cinnamon stick yields 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon. - excerpt from 'The Cooks Thesaurus' (www.foodsubs.com/SpiceUniv.html#cinnamon)