The Value of True Cinnamon

Ahh..Cinnamon. The warming, sweet and delicious spice that is known for its potential to help balance blood sugar levels, lower cholesterol and fight against yeast infections among other conditions.

Like with most things, the better the quality, the more effective and functional it will be. Cinnamon is no different. In North America, there is no need to distinguish true cinnamon from another variety of cinnamon which is more inferior. The quality difference also defines the potential impact on health. Studies have consistently found that Cassia cinnamon has significantly more couramin levels than True or Ceylon Cinnamon. Couramin in high doses can cause liver damage and potentially issues for blood clotting. In one study, On average, cassia cinnamon powder contained up to 63 times more coumarin than Ceylon cinnamon powder and cassia cinnamon sticks contained 18 times more coumarin than Ceylon sticks.

Sadly, you only need a little bit of Cassia to reach your tolerable daily limit (TDI). A more recent study in Germany found that, for an adult with a body weight of 60 kg, the TDI is reached, if 2 g of Cassia cinnamon with average coumarin content are consumed per day. For an infant with a body weight of 15 kg, this is the case if 0.5 g of Cassia cinnamon with average coumarin content are consumed per day. Consumers who frequently eat large quantities of cinnamon as a spice should therefore opt for the low-coumarin True cinnamon. True Cinnamon is more expensive but clearly better for you.

 Here are some ways to tell the difference:

Name

The real Cinnamon is more commonly known and sold as True Cinnamon or Ceylon Cinnamon to differentiate it from all other varieties.

 Botanical Name

True Cinnamon is derived from Cinnamom Zeylanicum or Verum  and is usually grown in Sri Lanka or India whereas other Cinnamon could be from China, Indonesia or Vietnam is usually a derivative of Cassia, often known as Saigon Cinnamon or Chinese Cinnamon. In North America, Cassia can be called Cinnamon, hence the consumer confusion that arises.

Colour

True Cinnamon (below top) is usually light brown to pale tan whereas Cassia (below bottom) is usually much darker, verging on a reddish brown colour. Both forms of Cinnamon can be bought in quills, bark or ground form.

Categorization & Taste

If you look at our grades of taste profiles for spices (hot, pungent, tangy, sweet & mild), the true cinnamon would be a sweet spice. True Cinnamon in its ground form is very dusty in texture and still light in colour. It is sweet smelling and has woody undertones with no lingering bitterness or pungency. By comparison, Cassia is slightly coarser in texture and does have a slight bitterness to it and the powder is darker and redder.

Quick Tips for Everyday Use

Here are some ways to incorporate True Cinnamon into your diet:

1. Breakfast: Add 1/2 teaspoon to smoothies, spread on toast, add to granola
2. Snacks: Sprinkle a little on fruits like apples, pears, bananas,
3. Treats: Sprinkle a little over ice-cream or in a chocolate sauce
4. Savoury: Cinnamon pairs really well with Chili so try adding a little bit to curries and any Mexican dish!

Know what you buy and why you are buying it before you buy it.

Let's Chat about Chaat

As I prepare for our  Indian Street Food booth (with a healthy twist of course!) at the Canmore Folk Fest, it is only appropriate to about the most common form of street food in India - the Chaat!

Chaat (meaning "taste" or "lick") is the umbrella name given to savoury snacks and appetizers in Indian and Pakistani cuisine. Most Chaat dishes originated in my state of Gujarat or Uttar Pradesh but it is widely popular all over the Indian & Asian Sub-continent now. It usually comprises of something crunchy, a vegetable or bean layer, chutneys or sauces and of course special spice mixes! Many are eaten cold and some hot. In India, these are typically offered by food carts or specialist restaurants and in the West, in most Indian restaurants. Just as there is so much diversity within Indian food (other than Butter Chicken!), there is just as much in the different types of Chaats.

What I love about Chaat is that it encompasses a real balance in flavours . Take the Chaat I will be making for the Folk Fest: a Healthy Chickpea Chaat. The crunch will be kale (and hemp seeds), the bean: chickpea to be served in a tamarind sauce and also a coconut yoghurt chutney as an optional. The organic spice mix will include cayenne, cumin, mango powder (amchur), coriander, salt and other spices This is quite a tangy dish given the tamarind and yoghurt chutney but the spice mix is well balanced with the hot, pungent, tangy, sweet and mild. Refreshing, gluten free and so good for you!

Other examples of Chaat are:

PAPDI CHAAT

(small, fried, wheat flour disk piled with potato or chickpeas, tamarind sauce, mint sauce and yoghurt)

 

BHEL

(puffed rice to which onions, green chilies, herbs and various sauces are added)

and of course the more popular Samosas and Pakoras!

If you haven't tasted Chaat, add this to your bucket list for sure! If you have, what's your favourite?

Will the Real Saffron please stand up?

Ahead of the imminent launch of our own organic saffron, I came across something quite disturbing. It seems the practice of selling fake or adulterated spices continues even in the 21st century and Saffron is the biggest victim of them all.

Knowing what you buy is just as important for food as it is for anything else. When you buy a computer, you would want to know the memory space, speed, processor details so why not know where your spices come from and what grade they are?

How to tell the True Saffron from the Fake?  Here are some ways to tell the difference:

Name

The fake saffron is commonly known as American Saffron or Mexican Saffron. True saffron is Greek Saffron, Spanish Saffron or true Saffron.

 Botanical Name

Fake saffron is derived from the dried petals of Safflower (or Carthamus tinctorius), a stiff thistle plant (bottom). In India, true saffron is sometimes replaced or mixed with turmeric as another form of adulteration. Strands of dyed gelatin or corn silk have also been used. True saffron is derived from the stigmas of the crocus sativus plant (top).

Colour

As you will see from the photos below, fake saffron (top) is much lighter in colour than true saffron (bottom).

Shape

The fake saffron strands are straighter and coarser. True saffron strands are finer and usually have trumpet like shape ends.

Pigmentation

American Saffron or other fake saffrons do not contain crocin which is the colouring agent found in true saffron and which has the potential brain health benefits of saffron. Fake saffron usually releases a red-orange colour and pretty quickly too whereas true saffron should release its colour slowly to a beautiful golden yellow colour. Some fake saffrons even dissolve in the water or leach the dye colour to leave behind different coloured strands.

Grading

True saffron is usually graded to ISO standards and any good manufacturer or supplier should provide this information on the labeling.

Category I details

 The higher the colouring strength (crocin) the better the saffron and its other attributes: aroma (safranal) and flavour (picocrocin)

Price

True Saffron costs considerably more than its fake counterpart. This is not surprising when it takes  stigmas of approximately 200,000 saffron flowers to produce 1kg of saffron.

Categorization & Taste

If you look at our grades of taste profiles for spices (hot, pungent, tangy, sweet & mild), the true saffron would be pungent and the fake, mild. The true saffron has a woody aroma with a slight honey taste. The fake saffron often has no taste or if it derived from safflower, a bitter sweetness.

Moral of the story:

I was once asked in a cooking class why you couldn't just buy lots of the American Saffron and use more of it instead of spending so much on the real stuff. The answer is simple: quality over quantity. It is the quality that provides the potential health benefits and superior taste.

In short, Know what you buy and why you are buying it before you buy it!

The Art of Balancing Spices

Have you ever wondered what to do when you put too much of a certain spice into a dish or how to flavour a dish such that you can distinguish between the different spices you have used?

Just as one would pair wine with cheese or food with wine to optimize our eating experience, the same is true of spices. Knowing which spices go well with each other can be crucial to getting an overall balance in flavour in any dish. You wouldn't eat a dish that is too salty or too bitter and nor should you eat a dish where one spice overpowers everything.

The lawyer in me likes to compartmentalize things and so with spices, this is exactly what I do. The taste buds can easily identify the sweetness, saltiness, sourness, bitterness and savouriness in a dish. In similar fashion, I like to split my spices into five easily identifiable tastes:  Hot, Pungent, Tangy, Sweet and Mild. They are also in top-down order of the proportions (little-more) in which, in most but not all cases, they should be used when combined with other spices.

Hot - Often but Little

As the name suggests, these spices are the ones with the most piquancy and heat. They are also most prone to overpowering a dish. Hot spices such as chilis and black pepper are known for their health benefits and antioxidant properties so wherever possible, these should be used often but in small doses. The Mild spices and a natural sweetener would be good ways to counter a dish with too much heat.

Pungent - Always and in Equal parts

Pungency is most associated with aroma and the sense of smell but it is also an apt description for the next level of spices in our chart. Spices such as cardamom, cloves, saffron, cumin would fall under this category. There really should be sub-categories as each spice in this category has a different flavour and level of pungency. Cloves would be more at the stronger and more menthol end while saffron and cardamom at a more sweeter and lighter end. However, none of these spices have any heat but they are still strong in flavour and so it is really important to keep proportions equal or as close to equal when using more than a few of the pungent spices in a dish. The key is to get a beautiful balance of flavours and if a dish has twice as much cloves or cumin as cardamom, the dish would be menthol and earthy but lack the aromatic sweetness of cardamom.

Tangy -Occasional and Enough

If you have already used hot and pungent spices, a dish may call for some sourness to take the edge off the spices a little. The spice equivalent to lemon or lime would be curry leaves, tamarind, sumac or amchur powder. Again, as with the pungent spices, the tangy spices are individual in the strength of sourness they would bring to a dish. Sumac and amchur powder are at the lighter citrusy end of the spectrum with tamarind being at the opposite end. Use these when the occasion calls for it in a dish or spice blend and just enough to add tanginess into the flavour pot.

Sweet - Alone and More

Spices such as cinnamon, rose, nutmeg and vanilla are typically associated with baking or desserts and so no wonder these are appropriately allocated to the 'Sweet' category. That said, these spices are also just as effective and flavourful in savoury dishes when used in the right proportions and context. The other beauty of these spices is that they can easily be used on their own in so many ways without needing any other spice to accompany it. The Sweet spices also marry very well with the 'lighter' Pungent ones too such as cardamom and saffron.

Mild - Necessary and Most

The likes of turmeric, coriander and fennel  form part of this group of spices. These spices maintain their individual taste and tones but when combined with other spices, they tend to take a back seat in a dish - either not seen, not tasted or not overpowering. This, of course, means one can use more of these in proportion to other spices and coriander, especially, is a great countering spice with too much cumin or hot spices.

Not every dish requires a spice from each category but a good balance can be just as effectively achieved by some of the following combinations:

Hot + Pungent + Mild  

E.g. Chili + Cumin + Coriander

Pungent + Sweet + Mild 

E.g. Cardamom + Cinnamon + Fennel

Pungent + Sweet

E.g. Saffron + Rose

Hot + Sweet + Tangy + Mild 

E.g. Chili + Cinnamon + Amchur + Turmeric

Pungent + Tangy + Mild

E.g. Nigella + Curry Leaves + Turmeric

What pairing combinations do you use?

Spice Trivia: Fennel, Cloves, Ginger & Cumin

I love to learn something new everyday and so thought it would be fun to put together a list of interesting facts about spices which you may not have known.

Let's start this trivia series with Fennel, Cloves, Ginger and Cumin.

Did you Know?

Fennel

Fennel from India is prized for its strong and notably sweeter anise flavor. Turkish fennel has a somewhat subtle anise flavor and Egyptian fennel a very subtle anise flavor. 

Cloves

Good quality Cloves are easy to spot: heads must be intact, the heads should be a lighter brown colour than the stems and the heads will float vertically in water or sink. Good quality cloves should have 15-20% volatile oil content.

Ginger

The best ginger comes from Jamaica or India. Jamaican ginger is strong and pungent while Indian is lighter in colour and has a lemon undertone. Chinese ginger (mostly imported and sold in North America) is slightly more bitter and fibrous.

Cumin

The name for cumin came from the Sanskrit word, sughandan, which means "good smelling." No wonder most of the cumin grown in the world comes from India!

The Lawyer, The Cook & The Kitchen

The social media-verse is such a small place! Just this week alone, I have come across quite a few existing or former lawyers in the UK who have taken up their secret passion for food to start a blog, write a book or offer cooking classes and more. It is so inspiring to know that I am not alone or crazy in making this transition in my life. It seems that among all the analytical and intense work regime, there is a budding chef waiting to lose him/herself in a world of edible creativity.

Almost all of my blog posts to date have been about the health benefits of spices which is my new found passion but in this post I want to humanize my blog and business. For those that do not know me, I think to understand where I am at is to understand where I came from. 

My journey in this world started in Kenya and then I grew up and worked in London, England for most of my life until a few years ago when we moved to Canmore in Canada. For those that do not know Canmore, it is a world away from the big city life. It is nestled in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and just a mere 15 minutes away from Banff National Park. It is also a place where so many people come for a lifestyle change and end up reinventing themselves. So it seems I have have found the right place to not just change countries but career path too!

Food is such a big part of Indian culture and despite never taking an interest in cooking it until I went to university, I have always loved food! When I reflect back on how my taste buds have evolved, it is interesting to see that I have gone from a sweet tooth child, vegetarian to a pescetarian being in food heaven at gourmet restaurants and now am a vegetarian some days, vegan others and pescetarian others but I am all about whole & organic foods now. The one constant in my food journey has been that if I can't eat healthy or home cooked food, I would rather not eat at all. Of course, like anyone else, I give in to my vices every now and again but life would be boring without them!

In the last decade, it has all been about entertaining, experimenting and experiencing for me! They say "home is where the heart is" - for me the kitchen is where the heart is (sadly, the picture above is my dream kitchen and not my real one!). As part of the lawyer life, it became a welcome therapy and escape and it still remains my source of relaxation (in addition to other pursuits I have a bit more time for nowadays). When I cook from the heart, it shows. It is also inexplicably rewarding when someone I cook for really enjoys my food because it means I have opened them up to experimenting, experiencing and being entertained too!

If I had to classify my cooking, I would say it was contemporary Indian but really I cook a lot of international food and of course there is at least one spice in almost all of my dishes, making it fusion I guess. I remember as a child I could never understand why my mother for putting spices into a pasta dish and now I find myself doing the same! There is a probable reason why India has the lowest incidence of Alzheimer's, why Ayurveda has been an effective therapy used for centuries and why food from the Indian subcontinent is so tasty - SPICES!

With all the wonders spices bring to this world, I live to cook and cook to live. 

How has food changed your life?

A Spice A Day in May

One of my resolutions for the new year for Spice Sanctuary was to organize a fundraiser and so here I am posting a blog about it! Usually fundraisers involve some physical challenge and a lot of commitment. I wanted this fundraiser to be simple yet effective in not just raising money for a good cause but to promote my mission, which is to encourage people to incorporate spices more into their daily lives. I also wanted it to be something your friends and family across the country could get involved in. So here it is, a fundraiser that involves eating, is healthy for you and easy to commit to!


How does it work?

1.   Anyone resident within Canada can participate*. One entry per person.

2.   A donation of $10 per entry together with a valid email address will apply.

3.   Donations can be made via cheque or online**. Please let us know if you wish your donation to   go to only one of the two chosen charities, otherwise your donation will be split equally between the two.

4.   Upon receipt of the donation, we will email you a calendar for May.

5.  Throughout the month of May, you will need to complete the calendar with the names of the spices you consume each day.

6.   To be eligible for the prize draw, there must be at least one spice eaten and logged everyday during the month.

7.   Please email us back your completed calendar(s) by no later than June 10, 2012.

8.   The prize draw will take place on June 11, 2012.

9.  Prizes will be given for the entry with (a) the highest number of spices consumed throughout the month (this can include the same spice multiple times and use of a spice blend will equal 3 spices) and (b) the most amount of different spices used. Where there is a tie, a draw will take place for these prizes.

10.  There will also be a prize draw for all other entries.

11.  Prizes include:

·       Gift certificate for Fairmont Hotels

·       Spice Sanctuary Hamper Box

·       Rocky Mountain Soap Company Gift sets

·       Yoga Accessory from EmbodyActive Pilates

·       Chocolate treats from Le Chocolatier

*If you live outside of Canada, you can still participate but you will not be eligible for the prize draw.
**online donations only available once our store website is live.

Our contribution

1.     We will donate an additional 15% of all donations received for each charity.

2.     We will provide support throughout the month on recipe ideas.

Two worthy causes

This year, we are supporting the following two charities:

Child Haven International

Child Haven International is a Canadian based charity providing homes for orphans and impoverished children in India, Nepal, Tibet and Bangladesh. The children are raised to the highest ideals of their own local cultures and religions. Non violence is taught and lived. Child Haven also strives to improve the condition of women through training, employment  and sometimes legal and medical aid. To find out more about this charity, please visit:

http://childhaven.ca

Dream a Dream

Dream a Dream is an Indian based charity founded in 1999. Its mission is to empower over 3000 children from poor socioeconomic backgrounds with critical life skills through sustainable engagement in sports, creative arts, IT skills, mentoring and adventure camps.

For more information on this charity, please visit:

http://www.dreamadream.org/

For any questions or to enter, please email us: info@spicesanctuary.com

We really hope you can help us raise us much money as possible!