Here’s where culinary fuckery comes into play. After my cinnamon roll episode, I have received so many “what….WHAT?” messages about the cinnamon. “How do I know if I have the right one?” (it will say Ceylon). “Do I have to toss the other?” (do you, but I would). “Isn’t it more expensive, though?” (yep, and your liver and kidneys are worth it).

The benefits of cinnamon are well known. Taking cinnamon powder, paste or tea has been touted with many health benefits like: natural weight loss but cutting appetite and boosting metabolism, lowering blood pressure, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, antimicrobial effects, potentially protect against certain cancers and neurodegenerative diseases. The undeniable health rockstar Golden Milk and the aromatic heavy hitter Garam Masala rely on it.

The readily available stuff on most supermarket shelves looks so legit and has such a strong, robust smell that you think you are using the best ingredients. BUT it is actually doing WAY more harm than good! Organ damage is chief among the many side effects of regular cassia consumption.

Behold that bottle of “cinnamon” on your store shelf – rich, reddish brown, intensely fragrant. In bark form, the curls are thick, with one or two coils only. It is the default product used commercially, within the US. To make it look even more chic or attractive, cassia will be labled Vietnamese, Saigon or korintje cinnamon. You know, like it is sooooooo imported and fancy. You are fooled no longer. These imposters can cause a toxic reaction because they contain 250x more coumarin than Ceylon. That’s the stuff we do not want in our bodies. Ceylon, on the other hand is lighter in color, sweeter in scent with it’s bark in a more delicate, numerous series of coils. Although the scent of both are closely related, with cassia coming in stronger, it is a cheap, cheap, cheap substitute for the real thing. And that profit margin, my loves, is why it is sooooooo easy to find and why it is generally not revealed as cassia.

Cinnamon and cassia are not obtained from the type of plant. So despite the “ohhhhhhh ahhhhhhh” smell, they should be treated as separate foods, both from a nutritional and health standpoint. The true, Ceylon, cinnamon is a native to Southern India and Sri Lanka – with Sri Lanka producing 60% cinnamon consumed globally. This other “species” of plant is imported anywhere from Sumatra, China, Indonesia and Vietnam. They are not related to cinnamon in any way with the exception of the similarity of scent.

My love language is food (it is also gift giving as per the quiz). I want to be as fluent with the good stuff as possible. My integrity as a Mom and a chef demands that I am keen on what I serve for the nourishment, health and happiness to all I have the honor
of feeding.

So while you are living your best life and prospering, Beautiful, let food be that medicine and medicine be thy food.