Types of Cinnamon

High-quality cinnamon must have a very strong aroma along with a sweet and pungent taste. Though slightly more muted than the Big Red smell that jumped from our favorite sticks by Curio, this ground cinnamon worked hard to give off a tantalizingly spicy aroma. As is often the case, the flavor was much milder, but it managed to hold its own against cassia styles, even in baking, which no other true cinnamon could. For cinnamon purists open to looking outside cinnamon’s traditional region, this Tanzanian variety brings the most flavor. However, like Burlap & Barrel's other cinnamon, the packaging meant that it made a bit of a mess every time we opened the jar.
It's hard to tell from the studies whether it leads to a significant, long-term reduction in blood sugar. "Yes, it does work," says Paul Davis, a research nutritionist with the University of California, Davis. He authored a recent meta-analysis published in the Journal of Medicinal Food that concluded that cinnamon lowers fasting blood glucose. For instance, says John Critchley, executive chef at Bourbon Steak Restaurant in Washington, D.C., why not add it to savory dishes? He uses cinnamon to create a spice and herb rub for lamb loin.

Dried cassia barkThe part of the bark that is used to make spices is called the Cinnamomi cortex. Chinese cassia (called ròuguì; 肉桂 in Chinese) is produced primarily in the southern provinces of Guangxi, Guangdong, and Yunnan. It is considered one of the 50 fundamental herbs in traditional Chinese medicine.
Given the lack of evidence about its safety, children, pregnant women, and women who are breastfeeding should avoid cinnamon as a treatment. Researchers tested the phytochemicals  found in cinnamon and discovered antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. In one study, certain cinnamon compounds also targeted free radicals with promising results.

The essential oils and some of the major compounds present in cinnamon, including -cinnamaldehyde, eugenol, and linalool, were investigated in reference to peroxynitrite-induced nitration and lipid peroxidation. Eugenol and the essential oils were more effective than the other two compounds . In a comparative study among 26 spices, cinnamon showed the highest antioxidant activity, indicating that it can be applied as an antioxidant used in foods .
It's then scraped off into quills and dried - and, if needed, ground into a powder. The biggest cinnamon flavors usually came with a heat to match, but these sticks balanced sweetness and warmth without deterring those who prefer less spice. The sticks also grated nicely, making them a good option on kids' toast or oatmeal. Purchased in bag form, it comes to less than $3 an ounce for ground, organic cinnamon, making it the cheapest of any cinnamon with good flavor. But when it comes to what you need to know about cinnamon to find the best for your cooking, baking, and mulling projects, you want to know about the sticks and ground varieties.
If you want to add a sweet taste to your food, these cinnamon sticks are for you. Check out the best overall product on this list today and elevate your dishes and desserts. Cinnamon gets its distinct aroma and taste from the essential oil cinnamaldehyde. Because of its naturally sweet taste, adding cinnamon to foods and recipes can help you cut down on the amount of sugar you normally use, effectively lowering theglycemic load of your meal. It’s a great sweetener for people with insulin sensitivity. Saigon cinnamon is our bestselling varietal and often the first thing people try at the Spice House.

Overall, Korintje cinnamon poses a lot of health benefits which makes this an amazing all-around spice since it provides different purposes. It’s safe to say that consuming cinnamon is healthy and decreases your risk of catching any disease. Korintje cinnamon is key to lowering the risk of diabetes, specifically type II diabetes.
Saigon cinnamon also contains more coumarin than other types of cinnamon like Ceylon. Couramin can be harmful in large doses, potentially causing high blood pressure, kidney damage, and other health problems. According to one study, cinnamon lowered blood sugar levels as well as bad cholesterol levels in participants when used for 4-18 weeks. Cinnamon contains a compound called coumarin, which can be toxic in high doses.

The coumarin content in those supplements is strongly dependent on the cinnamon type and the way it is absorbed in a human organism. If Cassia cinnamon is used in the form of powder, there is a possibility for the consumers, depending on the dose, to exceed the TDI of coumarin . Coumarins occur naturally in many plants, natural spices and foods. A large number of these compounds is present in many different herbal plants, which are commonly used as medicinal plants, aromatic plants and edible plants in human and animal nutrition . Those coumarins are distributed differently in all parts of the plants, therefore, they can be found in plants seeds, flowers, leaves, roots, and stems. Moreover, in citrus fruits, it was found that the peel is the richest part in coumarins, considering both molecular diversity and the concentration of coumarins and furanocoumarins .
Studies have shown that cinnamon is generally safe and can be used as an adjuvant therapy ingredient to improve the health of patients. Taking cinnamon internally also has a migraine-relieving effect. A 2019 study published in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences found cinnamon to be an cinnamon and cassia difference effective treatment for migraine attacks and inflammation. Hu pointed  out that people with kidney deficiency often suffer from low back pain. Eating cinnamon will not only warm the kidneys and improve low back pain, but will also strengthen bones and teeth, and can even prevent gray hair.

"Chemical farming is a serious threat to our nature, our health, our farmland and our eco-systems. Always try to use natural products which are free from pesticide and harmful chemicals. While Ceylon cinnamon is considered the real cinnamon, these cinnamons are mild in flavor and mainly grow in Sri Lanka. They have a less bitter and lighter taste than Cassia cinnamons. Serum LDL-C, TG and TC levels were also found to be improved in PCOS patients in comparison to placebo (Hajimonfarednejad et al., 2018a; Borzoei et al., 2018b). However, HDL-C level did not show any significant improvement (Borzoei et al., 2018b).
Cinnamon is also widely used in the USA to flavor various foods. The results verified that coumarin presented only in small amount in the true cinnamon, C. Coumarin was detected in all of the analyzed products, while their chemical composition revealed that Indonesian cassia, C.
These results confirm that this method can be used for quick  and routine determination of coumarins in foods. UHPLC-DAD is also a method that can also be used to determine components such as coumarin, trans-cinnamic acid, trans-cinnamaldehyde and eugenol in encapsulated cinnamon flavoring powder. This powder is actually cinnamon essential oil encapsulated with different carriers, which improves product characteristics, such as stability, oxidation, and thus ensures a longer shelf life of the product.