Growing up I always associated cinnamon with sweet dishes and still like to add it to cooked apple. Apart from its very pleasant flavour, this spice is a strong anticeptic and can be used to sweeten the breath, purify the mouth and throat and strengthen the gums. It is also considered to lower blood sugar levels and ease colds.
Cinnamon is said to originate from the cinnamon tree, a small tree mainly grown in Sri Lanka. However, the dried bark of the cassia tree is native to South India. Cinnamon is one of the oldest spices because it is mentioned in the Egyptian scrolls, sanskrit texts and the Bible.
Ayurveda Advice
In Ayurveda it is good for Kapha and Vata because it is heating. Cinnamon has the sweet, pungent and astringent tastes. It helps to promote digestion and eases flatulence and indigestion. Useful for those of a weak constituion, it can be used with chamomile for stomach upsets.
Tip: Once bought store your cinnamon sticks in the dark in an air-tight jar. The taste of cinnamon powder is stronger but its flavour fades more quickly.
Recipe Time! – Spice Tea Muffins
2 handfuls dried fruit e.g. raisins, apricots, dates, figs (soaked – overnight if possible – and cut into pieces)
125 mls non-refine olive oil
125 grs unrefine cane sugar
200 mls Rooiboish tea
300 grs spelt/kamut flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1. Pre-heat the oven at Gas Mark 4 (350-375°F,180 – 190°C).
2. Put individual paper muffin cases in a muffin tin.
3. Put all the dry ingredients – flour, cinnamon, cardamom, bicarbonate of soda – (except the sugar) into one bowl and mix.
4. Put the wet/moist ingredients – soaked dried fruit, oil, water, – and the sugar into another bowl and mix.
5. Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl containing the wet ingredients.
6. Mix well. The mixture will fall easily from the spoon.
7. Pour the mixture into the baking tin.
8. Bake the muffins for about 20 minutes. You will be able to smell the muffins when they are ready.
What’s next?
1. Go shopping for the ingredients you don’t have – organic if possible.
2. Make and start enjoying the cake and share your experiences with us.
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