Have you ever wondered what cinnamon is in your bran muffins, cereal, smoothies, cookies, protein powders and so much more? Most likely Cassia or something in its close family. It is in absolutely everything at the store, and all the cinnamons that you have ever bought there in your cupboard. Ubiquitous as it is we can still be aware of what we are consuming, though I figured you probably didn't ask this question before.
As you can see Cassia cinnamon is thicker & harder. If you want to crush & grind Cassia barks it will be with some effort. It's darker & does have a longer shelf life. Has a sharper flavor with more heavier sharp flavor tones.
Ceylon cinnamon has a lighter color, is softer, easy to crumble & grind. Has a shorter shelf life but a lighter flavor with high sweet tones. Took some photos of our chocolate milk with a Ceylon stick inside, sucked all the good stuff out of it and tasted sooooooo good. I used it as my stir stick and the last sips were AMAZING!! Though I think using a Ceylon stick to stir is a it bougie at the price though, maybe washing it and letting it dry in between?
I like to take time when enjoying my granola, making it myself I know exactly what's inside the recipe. Either in cereal, as a dry snack, maybe mixed with some nuts or tossed in my smoothie. Baking is fun and my snickerdoodles are amazing and never last long in our house. The whole holiday season in general has plenty of cinnamon to go around. Eggnog, gingerbread, apple pie and we can't forget pumpkin pie! That flavor that your tasting is something called Cinnamaldehyde, and is what gives Ceylon cinnamon its delicious flavor.
It can be found in all cinnamons since this is what you recognize when tasting different cinnamons. This is a delicate compound and is what makes Ceylon cinnamon more of a finishing spice, like over your hot cocoa or your oats. Once heated too much it looses a lot of of its flavor. Compared to Cassia cinnamon which holds its flavor longer through the heating process.
As you have heard on any herbal journey, everyone is different when processing each herb. So one persons cinnamon experience is different than another generally speaking. There are certain constituents that cinnamon contains that can be hazardous to your body systems if taken too much at a time. It was always something a bit more scarce in the past, not really consumed by the general public too much. A special occasion here or there, but we had other seasonings to use. Somehow cinnamon just became very saturated into our food system, very easy to get.
The wonderful ground organic cinnamon you just got from your favorite grocery store is most likely Cassia cinnamon. From the chart you see at the top this can be a few different types. I would like to make clear these cinnamons are not bad, like any other herb it's important to understand how to use them correctly. You'll find me using these store bought cinnamons in baking only in little bits, then sprinkling over the creation with Ceylon powder just out of the oven. I rarely buy things with large amounts of cinnamon in it, honestly nothing that I can remember other that buying the actual bottled spice.
Cassia cinnamons can run .07 - .1% in Coumarin, which builds up in our liver & other body systems. This is a lot if your consuming a lot of cinnamon from the store! On the other hand Ceylon cinnamon has .003 - .007% Coumarin. Still an amount so it's good to be aware of how much your consuming, but not at all as much as Cassia Cinnamon!
When a person gets too much cinnamon and suffers side effects most of the time it is because of Coumarin. This is another constituent that all cinnamons have, some more than others. Some side effects felt by too much of the wrong cinnamon can be:
Liver Damage
Mouth Sores
Low Blood Sugar
May Cause Breathing Problems
May Interact With Certain Medications
These lists are just what COULD happen, not that it will. If you don't have any liver issues then this most likely is not something you have to worry about. Like I said before, everyone is different so it is extremely important to pay attention to what your body is telling you. Things start small and most of the time if you are seeing the worst symptoms it's almost too late. After overexposure it is a focus of healing the damage than preventing the symptoms.
That said I am sure you're thinking, 'How much is a good amount that is safe to consume?'
Here's the breakdown, since this mostly applies to Cassia due to the coumarin lets focus on that. Still Ceylon does contain an amount so what you are consuming does add to the total, just not that much. The coumarin content of ground Cassia cinnamon may range between 0.1–3.5 milligrams (mg) per gram (g) of cinnamon, depending on the consistency of the sample.
According to a guideline set by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the tolerable daily intake of coumarin is about 1.5 mgTrusted Source for an adult weighing 60 kg or 132 pounds (lb). A 2021 study also recommends not going over 0.1 mg/1 kg or 2.2 lb of body weight.
I personally like to use Cassia in controlled doses, we cook most of our food (all of our meals that have cinnamon). We monitor the usage of Cassia to keep it below what is recommended. Cassia is known to be great for the immune system and may do a lot of wonderful things like:
reduce inflammation
protect against heart disease
improve insulin sensitivity
lower blood sugar
lower cholesterol
protect against infections
Ceylon cinnamon still helps with a lot of this just not as effectively as Cassia. So the constituent that can hurt us also helps us in the proper dose, basic herbal stuff right there. More is NOT better and we do need to be aware of something as casual as cinnamon since it has so many volatile ingredients.
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