Spicy Sunday Debut: Cinnamon

Don't we all just love cinnamon so much that we wish it grew on trees? Well, it does! Cinnamon is actually derived from the bark of Cinnamomum trees, of which there are a few. It is a spice that is widely used all over the world for a variety of foods and other purposes.

What other purposes, you ask? Well, it just so happens that, though untested, it is sometimes used to ward off mosquitos and in mice, cinnamon can help prevent Alzheimer's disease. When it comes to health benefits, cinnamon seems to have been used for just about everything, from digestion problems to the common cold. It's yet another food that is jam-packed with antioxidants, which we all know by now, thanks to the media, that antioxidants are great anti-agers that make you look and feel younger.

Beyond that, cinnamon can prevent colon cancer and heart disease. It can even be a player in preventing and treating diabetes due to its regulatory effect on blood sugar levels.

Wow! Cinnamon's great, isn't it? And the best part is that I've never known anyone to dislike the taste of cinnamon (especially when combined with brown sugar). It tastes great in just about every baked good, on apples and other fruit and even in a wide array of beverages. So stock up on your cinnamon and enjoy!

Triple Bran : New Developments

This morning I thought I'd take the cinnamon/brown sugar mix and add some ginger to make it taste even more like gingerbread. I'm pretty undecided about it. I think it's an improvement. Plus, these additional spices are pretty good for you, so the more the merrier. In fact...that has just inspired me to write another blog post in the future, or maybe a series of blog posts about spices and their various health properties.

So stay tuned for Spicy Sundays!