Versatile cinnamon

Know your ingredient

It’s a spice that lends itself excellently to both sweet and savoury dishes. Not only is it popular for its use in the kitchen, but also for its numerous health benefits. That’s our cinnamon, the tan brown curly roll that works wonders to any dish it’s added.

According to early records, cinnamon was imported to Egypt as early as 2000 BCE. So prized was it for its sweet aromatic flavour and its hint of pungency that it was considered a spice fit for the kings. The fact that it was rare and valuable further added to its allure.

It makes a great combination with cloves. While it is a must in most non-vegetarian dishes as a flavour enhancer, it is used extensively in baked goodies like cakes, buns and cookies, and desserts including pies and doughnuts, for that extra zing. And, of course, in the famed Christmas pudding.

Cinnamon-flavoured beverages like coffee and tea are highly-prized the world over. It is a popular flavouring agent in alcoholic beverages like Fireball cinnamon whisky, mulled wine, and liqueur too, and in Christmas drinks such as the eggnog. In some parts of the world, a mixture of cinnamon and sugar is used to flavour cereals, bread-based dishes, and fruit desserts, particularly apples and pears. In Mexico, cinnamon is enjoyed greatly with chocolate. Well, hasn’t our respect for this warm spice gone two notches higher?