Fenugreek seed Defeating Diabetes – Glucose Control

New Yorkers like to say that they’ve seen it all, but apparently they haven’t smelled it all. One night a few years ago, the city’s hotline was flooded with phone calls about a mysterious odor reminiscent of maple syrup wafting across the western end of lower Manhattan. It wasn’t the first time such an “incident” was reported, and the mayor promised city officials would get to the bottom of it.

A few days later, the mayor called a press conference. With pointer in hand he spent the next 20 minutes aiming at dots on a map where the smell was reported and at arrows showing wind patterns coming across the Hudson River from northern New Jersey. The odor, said the mayor, occurred on days when the wind speed was moderate and the air somewhat humid. His investigators had traced the odor to a plant in north Jersey that manufactures flavors for the food, beverage, and fragrance industries. The maple syrup-like scent, he revealed, was the smell of fenugreek seeds being processed.

“I can think of a lot of things worse than maple syrup,” the mayor told a reporter. “It just happens to be one of the aromas that we’re going to have to live with in a city like New York.”

From Folk Medicine to the Medicine of the Future

What’s fenugreek?!?, you say? Fenugreek, for sure, is Greek to most of the Western world (even New Yorkers), but it is a common culinary spice in South Asia, East Asia, and the Middle East. It also has a storied history as a medicinal spice: since ancient times (and right up to the present), fenugreek has been used as a folk remedy for an astonishingly long list of ills.

Fenugreek is a legendary aphrodisiac. Men have used it to grow hair and women to increase bust size. (Its rich content of the hormone-like compound diosgenin is probably responsible for any effects fenugreek might have on increasing libidos or bustlines.) It’s been used to help regulate menstrual cycles, ease labor pains, and encourage milk flow for breastfeeding. Soaked in water, the seeds soften and swell, and are used to normalize digestion, countering both constipation and diarrhea. It has battled asthma, allergies, and other respiratory ills. And in Ayurveda, the traditional medicine of India, it’s a classic “drug” for blood sugar (glucose) control—a use that modern science has strongly seconded.

Good News for Glucose Control

The body works best on a steady supply of blood sugar: not too much, not too little, but just right. The hormone insulin, manufactured by the pancreas, keeps levels normal, ushering glucose into liver cells for processing, muscle cells for instant energy, and fat cells for storage. But the standard American diet—loaded with sugars and refined carbohydrates that turn into a flashflood of glucose—overwhelms the insulin-generating capacity of the pancreas. And all the fat in the American diet clogs insulin receptors on cells. The end result is chronically high levels of blood sugar: 57 million Americans have prediabetes(fasting blood sugar levels 100 to 125 mg/dL), and another 24 million have type 2 diabetes (fasting blood sugar levels above 125 mg/dL). The long-term consequences of diabetes are disastrous: year after year, extra blood sugar batters blood vessels, leading to heart disease, stroke, blindness (from damage to the vessels of the retina), kidney disease (from damage to these vessel-rich organs), nerve pain (from damage to the tiny vessels called capillaries that nourish nerves), and amputations (from poor circulation to the feet and legs).

Fenugreek to the rescue. More than 100 scientific studies—mostly in animals with experimentally induced diabetes—show that fenugreek has the power to regulate blood sugar. Fenugreek can: balance daily blood sugar levels, lower A1C (the percentage of red blood cells that have been frosted by hemoglobin, the best measurement of long-term blood sugar control), increase enzymes that help regulate blood sugar, and activate insulin signaling in cells. Fenugreek can also help control the circulatory aftershocks of high blood sugar: high total cholesterol, high “bad” LDL cholesterol, high triglycerides, and low “good” HDL cholesterol.

In the most recent study on people, researchers in the Food Science Department at Louisiana State University (LSU) made flour from fenugreek seeds, baked up a batch of fenugreek bread, and fed two slices a day to eight people with type 2 diabetes. The bread lowered insulin resistance—the inability of cells to use the hormone insulin. Another demonstration, said the researchers in the Journal of Medicinal Food, that fenugreek “will reduce insulin resistance and treat type 2 diabetes.”

In another recent study, this one in the International Journal of Vitamin and Nutrition Research, scientists studied 18 people with type 2 diabetes, feeding them powdered fenugreek seeds in either yogurt or hot water. After two months, there was a 25 percent decrease in fasting blood sugar, a 30 percent decrease in triglycerides, and a 30 percent decrease in “bad” LDL cholesterol. “Fenugreek seeds can be used . . . in the control of type 2 diabetes,” the researchers concluded.

Fenugreek seed may help prevent and/or treat:

Cancer

Cataracts

Cholesterol problems (high total cholesterol, high “bad” LDL cholesterol, low “good” HDL cholesterol)

Diabetes, type 2

Gallstones

Infection, bacterial and viral

Insulin resistance (prediabetes)

Kidney stones

Liver disease

Overweight

Triglycerides, high

In China, researchers studied 69 people with type 2 diabetes that wasn’t well-controlled with a standard diabetes drug. They divided them into two groups—one group continued taking the drug; one group took the drug and fenugreek seeds. After three months, those taking the drug and fenugreek had “remarkable” results, said the researchers: much lower fasting blood sugar, lower blood sugar levels after meals, lower A1C, and fewer symptoms of diabetes (such as fatigue). The combined therapy of an anti-diabetes drug and fenugreek “could lower blood glucose and ameliorate clinical symptoms in the treatment of type 2 diabetes,” said the researchers in the Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine.

Indian researchers gave 60 people with type 2 diabetes a mixture that included fenugreek seeds. After three months, many in the study had either lowered their dose of glucose-controlling medication or gotten off the medication completely.

In another study from India, doctors at the Jaipur Diabetes and Research Centre studied 25 people newly diagnosed with diabetes, dividing them into two groups. Half received an extract of fenugreek seeds and half were treated with diet and exercise. After two months, those on the fenugreek had more normal levels of glucose and insulin, a bigger drop in triglycerides, and a bigger increase in HDL. “Use of fenugreek seeds improves glycemic control and decreases insulin resistance in mild type-2 diabetic patients,” the researchers concluded.

Why is fenugreek so effective in controlling type 2 diabetes? “Fenugreek stimulates the insulin signaling pathway,” said the researchers from LSU. In other words, it helps cells respond to the hormone that moves glucose out of the blood, said the researchers. Fenugreek also stimulates insulin secretion from the pancreas, slows the absorption of glucose from the intestines, and helps generate enzymes that regulate the use of glucose for energy in muscle cells. And, they note, “fenugreek is very safe.”

Fenugreek: Multi-Tasking Natural Medicine

The LSU scientists point out that “fenugreek has other beneficial effects in addition to its effect on diabetes”—including stopping kidney stones, helping with weight loss, and controlling fatty liver disease. Let’s look at these and other benefits of the spice.

Weight loss. Researchers from the University of Minnesota studied 18 obese people (body mass index over 30), dividing them into three groups: at breakfast, one group took four grams of fenugreek fiber powder with orange juice, one took eight grams, and one didn’t take any. Between breakfast and lunch, the group taking eight grams of powder had a greater feeling of fullness, felt more satisfied (satiety), and felt less hungry—and they ate 10 percent fewer calories for lunch! “Fenugreek fiber may have a role in the control of food intake in obese individuals,” said the researchers in Phytotherapy Research. Fenugreek fiber powder—also called galactomannan—is widely available as a supplement.

In another experiment on fenugreek and food consumption, French researchers found that people taking fenugreek seed extract (about 600 mg a day) ate 17 percent less fat and 12 percent fewer calories. Fenugreek seed extract might help with “weight reduction in the long term, particularly in some . . . overweight or obese patients for whom a low-fat diet is recommended,” the researchers concluded in theEuropean Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

Cancer. In a paper called “Fenugreek: A Naturally Occurring Edible Spice as an Anti-cancer Agent,” scientists at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University discuss how their studies have shown fenugreek seed extract can slow or stop the growth of breast, pancreatic, and prostate cancer cells. “These studies add another biologically active agent to our armamentarium of naturally occurring agents with therapeutic potential,” said the scientists in Cancer Biology and Therapy.

High cholesterol. Fenugreek doesn’t just lower cholesterol in people with type 2 diabetes. Indian doctors studied 20 healthy people, dividing them into two groups—one took fenugreek seed powder and one didn’t. After one month, there was a “significant reduction in total cholesterol and LDL levels,” wrote the researchers in Plant Foods in Human Nutrition.

Fatty liver disease. An estimated one-third of Americans have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD): at least 20 percent of liver cells are filled with fat globules. The causes: overweight, insulin resistance, and diabetes. Another 10 million Americans have alcoholic fatty liver disease, caused by heavy drinking (more than two drinks a day for a woman and more than three drinks a day for a man). Fatty liver can progress to cirrhosis and liver cancer. In an animal study, Canadian researchers found that fenugreek seeds prevented or reversed fatty liver. “These findings . . . provide a strong impetus to explore the therapeutic benefit of fenugreek and its active components in [fatty liver disease] associated with obesity and insulin resistance,” the researchers said in the International Journal of Obesity.

Cataracts. Researchers in India used a chemical to induce cataracts in the eyes of two groups of experimental animals—one that was fed fenugreek seeds and one that wasn’t. Fenugreek seed completely prevented the development of cataracts; 72 percent of the animals not eating fenugreek developed the disease. The researchers found a high level of antioxidant activity in the eyes of the fenugreek-fed animals.

Kidney stones. Eighty percent of kidney stones are made of calcium oxalate. Noting that fenugreek seeds are “widely used in Morocco” to prevent the development of kidney stones in those prone to form them, Moroccan researchers tested the seeds on experimental animals. Fenugreek decreased the deposition of calcium oxalate in the kidney by 27 percent.

Gallstones. Researchers in India induced gallstones in experimental animals and then divided them into three groups: one group received a high dose of fenugreek seed powder, one group received a low dose, and one didn’t receive any powder. Fenugreek reversed gallstones by 64 percent in the high dose group and 61 percent in the low dose; there was no reversal in the other group. Fenugreek could help prevent gallstones, shrink ones that already exist, and prevent recurrence, the researchers concluded.

Fenugreek is a plant with yellow and white flowers that resembles alfalfa.

Fenugreek seed pairs well with these spices:

Asafoetida

Black cumin

seed

Black pepper

Chile

Clove

Coriander

Curry leaf

Garlic

Ginger

Mustard seed

Onion

Star anise

Tamarind

Turmeric

and complements recipes featuring:

Bread

Chutney

Pickles

Potatoes

Tomatoes

Vegetables

Caution: Pregnant women should not eat fenugreek seeds, because they contain saponins, an active compound that is found in oral contraceptives. Research indicates that fenugreek could induce a miscarriage.

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Other recipes containing fenugreek seed:

Berbere

Caribbean Curry Paste

Colombo Powder

Garbanzo Beans with Mushrooms and Toasted Almonds

Hot Curry Powder

Panch Phoron

Sambaar Masala

Infections. Researchers in India fed experimental animals a fenugreek extract and tested their immune systems. They found the spice increased the activity of macrophages, white blood cells that gobble up bacteria and viruses. “Overall, fenugreek showed a stimulatory effect on immune functions,” they wrote, a result that “strengthens the rationale of its use in several Ayurvedic drugs.”

Getting to Know Fenugreek Seed

Fenugreek—known to botanists as Trigonellafoenum-graecum—is a plant with yellow and white flowers that resembles alfalfa. In fact, its Latin name means “Greek hay,” and it was grown by the ancient Egyptians as fodder for animals. Today, fenugreek is grown around the world—in South Asia, the Middle East, South America, Europe, and China.

As a spice, fenugreek is popular in India, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Armenia, Iran, and Turkey, where it is used to make curries, chutneys, pickles, relishes, and an array of vegetarian dishes.

In India, the seeds are dry roasted or fried in hot oil and used whole to flavor curries (especially fish curry), broth-based stews called sambars, and fermented flat breads, such as dosas and idlis. It is also an ingredient in many Indian spice mixes, including curry powder. A few fenugreek seeds are always added to starchy vegetables and hard-to-digest legumes, especially if asafoetida is not available.

In the Middle East, seeds are soaked overnight in cold water and mixed into a paste with other spices to make a condiment called hilbeh and a sweetmeat called halva. Cooks also grind fenugreek into a paste and rub it into salted meat, which is then dried.

In Yemen, fenugreek is mixed with other spices to make zhug, which is put on top of stews. Armenians mix it with garlic and red chile to make a peppery spice mix called chemen, which is used to spice beef. The Greeks boil the seeds and eat them with honey.

How to Buy Fenugreek Seed

Fenugreek seeds are hard, yellowish-brown ovals that resemble tiny pebbles. You can recognize them by the deep furrow across one side. They are sold whole or ground in Indian markets. Fenugreek is also available in specialty spice shops and online, usually ground. (To find whole seeds, see the “Buyer’s Guide”.)

In terms of quality, one batch of fenugreek seeds is pretty much like another. But double-check for cleanliness. Because the seeds look like stones, it’s not uncommon to find them contaminated with little stones and grit. Examine them carefully before putting them in your grinder so you don’t damage it.

Brussels Sprouts Kulambu

Kulambu is a sweet-and-sour stew popular in India. This authentic Indian recipe, courtesy of Alamelu Vairavan’s Healthy South Indian Cooking, is a vegetarian entree to be served over rice. You can also serve it as a side dish to a roast. Check the “Buyer’s Guide” section to find some of the more unusual ingredients.

2 tablespoons canola oil

¼ teaspoon asafoetida powder

4 to 6 curry leaves (optional)

½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds

1 teaspoon black mustard seeds

1 teaspoon urad dal (split white lentils)

½ cup chopped onion

½ cup chopped tomato

¼ teaspoon turmeric

2 teaspoons sambaar masala or commercial curry powder

1 cup tomato sauce

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon tamarind paste

1½ cups brussels sprouts, cut in half (if large, cut into quarters)

1. Place oil in a saucepan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, but not smoking, add the asafoetida powder, curry leaves, fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds, and urad dal. Cover and fry over medium heat until the mustard seeds pop and urad dal is golden brown, about 30 seconds.

2. Add the onions, tomato, and turmeric, stirring constantly.

3. Add the sambaar masala, tomato sauce, and salt. Stir well. Add 2 cups of warm water to the saucepan. Stir and cook for a few minutes.

4. Add tamarind paste and mix thoroughly.

5. When the mixture in the saucepan begins to boil, add the brussels sprouts. Cover and cook over low heat until the brussels sprouts are just tender, about 10 minutes. Be careful not to overcook.

Makes 4 servings.

Whole seeds stay fresh for three years, as long as they’re kept in an airtight container and out of sunlight. Fenugreek’s flavor dissipates once the seeds are ground, and ground seeds keep for only a few months.

In the Kitchen with Fenugreek Seed

Don’t eat fenugreek seeds raw—hard as a rock, they’re impossible to chew. Cooking turns their pungent, slightly bitter taste into a nutty, maple syrup-like flavor. It also softens the seed, so it’s easier to grind. A light roasting of a minute or two is all that’s needed. (For directions on how to roast spices, see Roasting Spices.) Be careful, however, not to burn the seeds, which makes the flavor so bitter it’s unpalatable. You can also soak the seeds overnight to make them soft and jelly-like.

Add fenugreek to a dish cautiously—the strong flavor can overtake other flavorings.

Here are some ways to get more fenugreek into your diet:

• Add a sprinkling of ground seeds to the breading for fried foods.

• Sprinkle a few seeds in vegetable casseroles.

• Add a pinch of ground fenugreek to cookie recipes.

• Add a pinch or two to mayonnaise to give it a mustard-like bite.

• Mix roasted ground seeds with dried, ground chiles and other spices, and use as a dipping sauce for bread.

• Add roasted and coarsely chopped seeds to salads, which adds an interesting crunchiness.

Cinnamon: Balancing Blood Sugar – Defeating Diabetes

Maybe it’s ironic that cinnamon—the spicy-sweet favorite that cooks use to give sugary confections extra flavor—can help control blood sugar problems. Or maybe—given the fact that 24 million Americans have type 2 diabetes and 57 million have prediabetes—it’s Mother Nature’s way of cutting us a break.

Defeating Diabetes

The rate of type 2 diabetes in the US has doubled in the past two decades, from 5 to 10 percent of American adults, with 1.3 million new cases every year. This disease of chronically high blood sugar (fasting blood sugar levels above 125 milligrams per deciliter, or mg/dL) attacks arteries and veins, increasing the risk of heart disease six-fold. In fact, medical guidelines instruct doctors to treat a patient with type 2 diabetes as if he or she has already had a heart attack! This body-wide circulatory destruction can lead to many other health problems along with heart disease and stroke. They include painful nerve damage, hard-to-heal skin ulcers, vision loss and blindness, kidney failure, and even—as blood flow is choked—the amputation of gangrenous toes, feet, and lower limbs.

Managing type 2 diabetes requires a total approach that typically includes losing weight, eating more whole foods, exercising regularly, and taking (or injecting) glucose-controlling medications such as insulin (the pancreas-hormone that helps control blood sugar levels). Preventing diabetes or reversing prediabetes (fasting blood sugar levels from 100 to 125) is possible with lifestyle alone—and lifestyle changes are more effective than preventive medications, as the 10-year Diabetes Prevention Program Study showed. But study after study also shows that cinnamon can play a role in the everyday management of blood sugar (glucose) levels and other cardiovascular disease CVD risk factors.

Will the Real Cinnamon Please Stand Up?

You know that stuff you sprinkle on your morning toast and oatmeal called cinnamon? It’s not true cinnamon. It’s cassia.

Cassia cinnamon (Cinnamomum cassia) and true cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) belong to the same botanical family (Cinnamomum). They also look alike—it takes a trained eye to tell them apart. But they differ in flavor. Cassia is the sweeter and stronger of the two—and the one preferred throughout most of the world (including the US) as a culinary spice. It’s also the version that was used in all the studies discussed in this post.

Cassia cinnamon is commonly used in the United States, Europe, China, and Southeast Asia. True cinnamon is found in kitchens in Mexico, Latin America, India, and other nations in South Asia.

In some parts of the world it’s actually illegal to refer to cassia as cinnamon. In Great Britain and Australia, for example, Cinnamomum cassia can only be sold as cassia, and Cinnamomum verum can only be sold as cinnamon. In the US, both are legally sold as cinnamon.

France has solved the issue quite nicely—they call the spice cannelle, applying the name to both cassia and true cinnamon.

Cassia cinnamon is also called Chinese cinnamon. True cinnamon also goes by the names Ceylon and Sri Lankan cinnamon. You can find cassia cinnamon . . . everywhere. In the US, you can find true cinnamon in Indian marketplaces and specialty spice shops or online.

Long-term blood sugar control. In a recent study from the US, 109 people with type 2 diabetes were divided into two groups, with one receiving one gram of cinnamon a day and one receiving a placebo. After three months, those taking the cinnamon had a 0.83 percent decrease in A1C, or glycosylated hemoglobin—the percentage of red blood cells that have been frosted (glycated) by blood sugar, and the most accurate measurement of long-term blood sugar control. (Seven percent or less means the diabetes is controlled, and a decrease from 0.5 to 1.0 percent is considered a significant improvement.) Those taking the placebo had a 0.37 percent decrease in A1C. “Taking cinnamon could be useful . . . in addition to usual care” of diabetes, concluded the study leader in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

However, cinnamon probably won’t work to control blood sugar in type 1 diabetes—an autoimmune disease that attacks the insulin-producing pancreas. In a study by researchers at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, researchers asked 72 adolescents with type 1 diabetes to take either cinnamon or a placebo. After three months, there was no change in A1C levels in either group, or the amount of insulin they had to take to control the disease.

Heart-protecting power. In another study, 30 people with type 2 diabetes took one to six grams of cinnamon a day (about ¼ to ½ teaspoon). After 40 days, they had decreases up to 29 percent in fasting blood sugar—and decreases up to 27 percent in “bad” artery-clogging LDL cholesterol, up to 26 percent in total cholesterol, and up to 30 percent in triglycerides (another blood fat, with high levels linked to heart disease). “Those who have type 2 diabetes, or those who have elevated glucose, triglycerides or total cholesterol, may benefit from regular inclusion of cinnamon in their daily diet,” concluded the researchers in Diabetes Care.

The researchers also noted that the study participants had lower levels of blood sugar and blood fats even after 20 days without taking any cinnamon—“indicating that cinnamon would not need to be consumed every day” for health benefits.

They also pointed out that cinnamon worked at every level it was tested, from one to six grams—and that “intake of less than one gram daily is likely to be beneficial in controlling blood sugar and lipid [fat] levels.”

Finally, they said that regular inclusion of cinnamon in the diet is probably a good idea not only for those with type 2 diabetes, but for everybody—“cinnamon may be beneficial for the remainder of the population to prevent . . . elevated glucose and blood lipid levels.” There’s a lot of evidence that shows they’re right.

Lowering risk factors in prediabetes. Researchers in France studied 22 people who were overweight and had prediabetes, dividing them into two groups. One group took a widely available supplement containing 250 mg of a water extract of cinnamon (Cinnulin PF). The other group took a placebo. After three months, those taking the cinnamon supplement had much lower levels of several biomarkers ofoxidation—the destructive, cell-destroying process that contributes to the development of both diabetes and cardiovascular disease. And the lower the oxidation levels, the more stable the levels of blood sugar. “The inclusion of water soluble cinnamon compounds in the diet could reduce risk factors associated with diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” concluded the researchers in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

Mastering the metabolic syndrome. This condition—also known as the insulin resistance syndrome and syndrome X—is characterized by blood sugar problems, overweight (especially around the abdomen), high blood pressure, and high triglycerides (but not necessarily high LDL). It’s one form of prediabetes, and, needless to say, it’s a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Cinnamon can help control it.

In one study, 22 people with metabolic syndrome were divided into two groups: one took 500 mg a day of Cinnulin PF and one took a placebo. After three months, those taking the cinnamon had significant decreases in average fasting blood sugar (down 8.4 percent, to 106), lower systolic blood pressure (the top reading, down 4 points to 128), and more muscle, or lean body mass. (That’s good news, because additional muscle means additional ability to burn up excess blood sugar.) They also had a small drop in body fat. “This naturally-occurring spice can reduce risk factors associated with diabetes and cardiovascular diseases,” concluded the researchers.

Stopping spikes in blood sugar after a meal. Swedish researchers studied 14 people, feeding them the same meal twice—rice pudding, with or without a hefty sprinkling of cinnamon. The cinnamon-spiced meal significantly lowered post-meal levels of blood sugar.

Works in healthy people, too. British researchers studied healthy young men, dividing them into two groups. For two weeks, one group received three grams of cinnamon a day and the other a placebo. After two weeks, the men taking the cinnamon supplement had a much improved “glucose tolerance test”—the ability of the body to process and store glucose. They also had better “insulin sensitivity”—the ability of this hormone to usher glucose out of the bloodstream and into cells.

Richard Anderson, PhD, a scientist at the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center of the US Department of Agriculture, who has conducted several studies on cinnamon and diabetes, theorizes that the spice mimics the action of insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar. It may stimulate insulin receptors on fat and muscle cells the same way insulin does, he said, allowing excess sugar to move out of the blood and into the cells.

And a team of Indian researchers laud cin, cinnamon’s active ingredient—which their study on experimental animals with diabetes showed can decrease blood sugar, A1C, total cholesterol, and triglycerides, and increase insulin and “good” HDL cholesterol. The findings were in Phytomedicine.

Controlling Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

There’s another disease where insulin and blood sugar levels are haywire and the sufferer is at higher risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke—polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This hormonal disorder, which strikes 5 to 10 percent of women of reproductive age in the US, lines the ovaries with small cysts. Symptoms include menstrual abnormality, extra facial and body hair, acne, and overweight. It’s also the most common cause of female infertility.

In a study by a team of American researchers from Columbia University, the University of Hawaii, and the US Department of Agriculture, 13 women with PCOS were asked to take either a daily cinnamon supplement (333 mg, three times a day) or a placebo. After eight weeks, those taking cinnamon had a 17 percent decrease in fasting glucose, a significant decrease in insulin resistance, and 21 percent reduction in levels of blood sugar after a glucose tolerance test. The researchers called the findings “interesting” and encouraged other scientists to conduct additional studies to validate their findings, which were reported in Fertility and Sterility.

Manhandling Microbes

Cinnamon has the power to fight disease-causing microbes such as bacteria and fungi.

Preserving food. Scientists proved cinnamon’s ability to preserve food and help prevent food poisoning in a kitchen experiment with two pots of vegetable broth. They added cinnamon oil to one pot but not the other and let the two sit in the refrigerator—for two months! When they took off the lids, the pot without the cinnamon was teeming with bacteria. The other pot? Good enough to eat. In fact, the scientists said the added cinnamon improved the flavor! (Don’t try this at home.)

Fighting fungi. Cinnamon is also effective against Candida albicans, the fungus that causes most cases of vaginal yeast infections. In laboratory tests, cinnamon extracts were able to stop the growth of strains of C. albicans resistant to fluconazole (Diflucan), the medication commonly used to treat yeast infections.

Beating bacteria. Researchers in Italy found that cinnamon is effective at eradicating Helicobacter pylori infection, the bacterial cause of most stomach ulcers and a leading cause of stomach cancer. In fact, their research showed that cinnamon was more effective than the antibiotic amoxicillin (Amoxil) at killing H. pylori. And the bacteria didn’t show any resistance to the spice—important, because H. pylori are becoming more and more resistant to standard antibiotic treatment.

Cinnamon is derived from the bark of a tropical evergreen tree.

Cinnamon, On and On

There are other intriguing areas of research for cinnamon.

Cancer. American researchers found that cinnamon may slow angiogenesis, the development of new blood supplies to tumors. They concluded that an extract of the spice “could potentially be useful in cancer prevention and/or treatment.” The findings were in Carcinogenesis.

Post-stroke protection. Researchers in Korea found that cinnamon protected brain cells in the laboratory from the type of damage caused by a stroke.

Brain injury from liver failure. Similarly, cinnamon protected brain cells from the type of damage seen in hepatic encephalopathy—a type of brain damage caused by advanced liver disease.

Wound healing. In a study from Indian researchers, extracts of cinnamon bark improved wound healing in animals.

Getting to Know Cinnamon

Cinnamon’s sweet-and-spicy bite is the same as its bark—the spice is derived from the bark of a tropical evergreen tree.

That deliciously aromatic bite has been heralded since the beginning of human history. God commanded Moses to include cinnamon in a recipe for sacred anointing oil. The Song of Solomon praises its scent. The Greeks and Romans offered it to their gods.

The ancient cultures of India and China also used cinnamon—as medicine. The Ayurvedic physicians of India used it (and continue to use it) for respiratory ailments, stomach upset, muscles spasms—and, of course, for diabetes. Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine used it (and continue to use it) for its “warming” qualities, particularly for respiratory problems and muscle aches. (It’s also a major ingredient in Tiger Balm, the popular Chinese ointment for pain relief.)

Of course, cinnamon is more than medicine—it’s a much-beloved ingredient in cuisines around the world. In the United States and Europe, it’s most popular in sweet dishes—apple pie, coffee cake, fruit compotes, buns, muffins, doughnuts, cakes, and cookies. It is a key ingredient in apple pie spice and mulling spice. It is sprinkled on toast and whipped cream. Cinnamon sticks are stirred into hot beverages, including mulled cider and wine.

The English are very fond of what they call cassia. (For more on the difference between “true cinnamon” and cassia, please see the box.) Many households keep a large sterling silver canister on the table for sprinkling cassia onto sweets and into beverages. It is an ingredient in English fruitcakes, stewed fruits, and pastries.

In Spain, cinnamon is a popular addition to chocolate dishes and confections. In Germany, it’s used in apple strudel, to flavor sweet and sour dishes, and in foods containing raisins. In the Netherlands, cinnamon is the dominant flavor in the Christmas spiced cookie called speculaas. Italians put whole cinnamon sticks in mostarda, a classic chutney-like condiment.

Can Chewing Gum Make You Smarter?

Maybe—if you chew cinnamon gum. In fact, you don’t even have to chew it. Just smelling cinnamon might boost your thinking ability.

That’s the result of a study conducted by Phillip R. Zoladz, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at Ohio Northern University, who found students scored better on several mental performance tests after smelling or tasting cinnamon.

In the first part of the study, Dr. Zoladz gave a group of students one of the following to chew: cinnamon, peppermint, cherry, or flavorless gum. In the second part, he asked students to sniff cinnamon, peppermint, jasmine, or no odor.

In both parts of the study, the students who chewed the cinnamon gum or smelled cinnamon scored best—with the best memory, the most focused attention, and the fastest reflexes between connecting what they saw and what they had to do.

Dr. Zoladz and his colleagues concluded that cinnamon has potential for decreasing test anxiety—and even preventing age-related memory loss!

The French favor canelle (their word for cinnamon) in savory foods featuring game, such as duckling à la Montmorency, a classic dish flavored with cinnamon and spiked with cherry sauce. It’s one of the four ingredients in the French spice quatre épices, which is most often used to enhance game dishes.

In Asia, cinnamon is almost exclusively used in savory dishes. In China, it’s used in braises and clay pot cooking, or what is often called “red cooking.” In this technique, you simmer cinnamon, star anise, and orange zest in water, rice wine, and soy sauce, then cook a chicken breast side down in the liquid until it is red and cooked through. Cinnamon is also one of the five spices in Chinese five-spice powder.

Cooks in the Middle East use cinnamon as a flavoring in meat stew. It’s a popular spice in many Moroccan spice blends, including the famous ras-el-hanout. It also gives a tang to Moroccan stews calledtagines. In Syria, it’s one of only two spices found in the kitchen. (The other is allspice.) In Iran it’s a key spice in khoresht, a thick tart stew made with pomegranate juice.

In India, it’s a common spice in curry cooking, and in rich dishes called biryanis. Indian cooks fry a whole cinnamon stick in hot oil to release its aroma, then add it to the curry or rice as it is being cooked. It’s also used in many Indian spice blends, and is a key flavoring in the ubiquitous garam masala.

Vietnamese use it in pho bos, long-simmering beef soups, which are served with noodles.

Mexicans are fond of cinnamon tea (té de canela), which is made from broken cinnamon quills. It’s also an ingredient in Mexican moles.

Cinnamon is also used in a wide array of non-food products. It is put in toothpastes to mask the taste of pyrophosphate, an unpleasant-tasting compound that inhibits the formation of plaque. It is used in making toiletries, pharmaceutical products, and even tobacco.

How to Buy Cinnamon

Virtually all of the cinnamon imported into the United States is cinnamon cassia. (For the difference between cassia and so-called “true cinnamon,” please see the box.) If you want to find “true cinnamon,” take a trip to an Indian marketplace or shop online. Cassia cinnamon is usually called cinnamon, cassia, or Chinese cinnamon. True cinnamon is usually called true cinnamon, Ceylon cinnamon, or Sri Lankan cinnamon.

Cinnamon may help prevent and/or treat:

Cancer

Cholesterol problems

(high total cholesterol, high “bad” LDL cholesterol, low “good” HDL cholesterol)

Diabetes, type 2

Food poisoning

Heart disease

High blood pressure (hypertension)

Insulin resistance (prediabetes)

Metabolic syndrome

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)

Stroke

Triglycerides, high

Ulcer

Vaginal yeast infection

Wounds

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Cinnamon pairs well with these spices:

Caraway

Cardamom

Clove

Cocoa

Coriander

Cumin

Ginger

Mint

Nutmeg

Star anise

Sun-dried tomato

Tamarind

Turmeric

and complements recipes featuring:

Apples

Baked or stewed fruit

Bananas

Cantaloupe

Cauliflower

Chicken

Chocolate

Corn

Curries

Grapes

Hot toddies

Pastries

Oranges

Pork

Both cinnamon and true cinnamon are harvested from dried bark and rolled, scroll-like, into tight quills—or what we call cinnamon sticks.

Quills of cinnamon are usually cut into four or five-inch pieces that easily fit in a spice jar. The quills are thick and are dark reddish-brown in appearance and deliver a sweet and strong aroma. It is grown in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

True cinnamon is cut the same way, but the quills are longer, have a brittle, paper-like appearance, and are light-brown in color. The taste is mild, delicate, and sweet. Though true cinnamon grows wild in South India, the best comes from Sri Lanka, off the coast of South India.

The best quality cinnamon is harvested from the trunk and is graded according to its length, breadth, and thickness.

The best quality quills are tightly rolled, evenly colored, and blemish free. When transported, the quills often break and are then sold as second-grade quillings. The next grade is called featherings, which are the inner bark of twigs and small shoots that were not large enough to form a full quill. They are still considered cinnamon, but lack the visual appeal of good quality quills. The lowest grade is cinnamon chips, made from shavings and trimmings. The lower grade featherings and chips generally come from the Seychelles Islands or Madagascar, which accounts for much of the world’s supply of lower-grade cinnamon bark.

Once ground, cinnamon begins to lose the fragrance that comes from its volatile oils, so it’s best to buy whole quills and grind them as needed. The quills are somewhat tough, so you’ll need a sturdy spice grinder.

If your only option is to buy ground cinnamon, you’ll get the most fragrance from the finest quality, which is smooth rather than gritty. Ground cinnamon quills are the best grade, though the spice is also ground from quillings and featherings. Ground cassia, often called “baker’s cinnamon,” is usually lower-priced than the ground quills of true cinnamon.

Whole quills keep for three years, as long as they aren’t in extreme heat. Ground cinnamon begins to fade in flavor after a few months.

In the Kitchen with Cinnamon

All the studies on the health benefits of cinnamon were done on . . . cinnamon (cassia, Chinese cinnamon)—the spice you’re familiar with and that is sold in supermarkets. Culinary experts generally agree (with some dissenters) that cinnamon cassia also has the best flavor—more robust, more perfume. Cassia goes best with other strong flavors, liked dried fruit. The more delicate true cinnamon is a better complement to fresh fruit. But there’s no rule that says you can’t mix the two and get the best of both worlds!

Other recipes containing cinnamon:

Apple Pie Spice

Baharat

Berbere

By-the-Bay Fisherman’s Chowder

Chesapeake Bay Seafood Seasoning

Chinese Five-Spice Powder

Garam Masala

Grilled Lamb Patty Pockets with Cucumber Mint Sauce

Grilled Pork Chile Adobo

Jamaican Jerk Marinade

La Kama

Malaysian Curry Paste

Mulling Spice

Pears Poached in Port and Star Anise

Pickling Spice

Quatre Épices

Ras-el-hanout

Sambaar Masala

Spiced Milk Tea

Spiced Mixed Nuts

Spicy Vanilla Rice Pudding

Banana Cinnamon French Toast

Cinnamon is a classic on toast—and is even better on a special dish like French toast.

2 large very ripe bananas

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

4 eggs, cracked

8 slices thick whole grain bread

3 tablespoons butter

Maple syrup

1. Place the bananas, milk, cinnamon and nutmeg in a blender or food processor. Add the cracked eggs and process until smooth. Transfer to a large baking pan large. Add the bread slices, turning occasionally, under the bread has absorbed most of the mixture, about 30 minutes.

2. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium head. Add the bread in batches and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side. Serve with maple syrup.

Makes 4 servings.

Ground cinnamon is more commonly used in the US because it is the form that is generally used in baking. Quills are preferred for liquid-based savory dishes; they’re used to infuse flavor and are discarded after cooking and before eating.

Whatever form of cinnamon you choose and use, make sure you don’t overcook it. Cinnamon turns bitter if it’s in the pot too long.

Here are some ideas to help get more cinnamon in your diet:

• Put a cinnamon quill in beef or vegetarian stews, or in lentil soup.

• Make spiced wine: Put a bottle of wine in a large pot and gently simmer it with ½ cup of sugar, a cinnamon stick, and a lemon studded with cloves for 15 minutes.

• Make spiced tea: Put a quart of brewed tea in a pot, add two cups of apple juice, and gently simmer it with a sliced lemon and two cinnamon sticks for 10 minutes.

• Sprinkle some cinnamon into pastry dough for pies and quiches.

• Sprinkle cinnamon on apples, bananas, melons, and oranges.

• Mix cinnamon with mint and parsley in ground beef for burgers or meatloaf.

• Combine equal parts of cinnamon, cardamom, and black pepper and rub it into pork tenderloin or lamb before baking.

• Mix cinnamon into rice pilaf.

• Add cinnamon to hot cocoa to enhance the flavor of the chocolate.

Cumin: Keeping Diabetes Under Control – Protecting Bones

Cumin is a commoner. Sitting in the jar, it isn’t much to look at—just kind of brown and drab. It isn’t pleasant to touch—a little too oily. Its flavor won’t send your taste buds into orbit—it’s bitter and stale. And the aroma is akin to musty old pine.

But once it’s out of the jar and into the cooking pot, its transformation is akin to Cinderella’s, as the pungent and bitter smell mellows to a rich, nutty aroma that brings to mind the scent of a Mexican cantina. That’s because while chile gives Mexican food the fire, cumin gives the zest—it is the most popular spice in Mexican cuisine.

Cumin has a flavor unlike any other because it’s loaded with cuminaldehyde, a compound with medicinal qualities that are active as, well, Mexican jumping beans.

Fighting Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease of chronically high levels of blood sugar (glucose). And that flood of extra sugar damages blood vessels throughout the body, increasing the risk for heart disease and stroke (the cause of death in 75 percent of people with diabetes), blindness, and kidney disease. Cumin to the rescue . . .

In a study from India, scientists treated laboratory animals with type 2 diabetes with either cumin or glibenclamide (Diabeta), an antidiabetes drug. They found that both worked equally well to reduce levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, heart-damaging blood fats common in people with diabetes. The animals also had a “significant reduction” in blood sugar, lowered levels of A1C (the amount of glucose attached to red blood cells, a measure of long-term blood sugar levels), and lower levels of damaging fat and inflammation in the cells of the pancreas, the organ that manufacturs insulin, the hormone that controls blood sugar levels.

Cumin “supplementation was found to be more effective than glibenclamide in the treatment of diabetes mellitus,” concluded the researchers in Pharmacological Research.

People with diabetes have a 60 percent higher risk of developing cataracts, a vision-clouding covering on the lens of the eye. In another animal study from India, researchers tested cumin against the eye disease. They found that feeding cumin powder to diabetic rats delayed the progression of cataracts—by preventing changes in the lens caused by high blood sugar. Dietary cumin “was able to delay the diabetes-caused cataract progression and maturation,” said the researchers.

Researchers at India’s National Institute of Nutrition found that cumin (along with cinnamon, black pepper, and green tea) can cut the formation of AGE, or advanced glycation endproducts, by 40 to 90 percent. AGE are toxic cellular time bombs that form when an overdose of glucose warps proteins. “The inhibition of the formation of AGE is believed to play a role in the prevention of diabetic complications,” wrote the researchers in the British Journal of Nutrition.

Will the Real Cumin Please Stand Up?

Cumin suffers from a bit of an identity crisis . . .

It’s not caraway. In Europe, its popularity has lost out to caraway seed—but caraway can’t stand in for cumin in dishes such as chili and curry.

It’s not black cumin. Cumin isn’t the same as (nor is it a substitute for) black cumin. Black cumin is English for the Indian spice kolonji. Black cumin seeds are jet black, and are sometimes called imperial cumin (because black cumin is somewhat pricey compared to cumin).

It’s not curcumin. Cumin has no relationship to curcumin, the principal ingredient in the spice turmeric.

Protecting Bones

Eating more soy protein or taking soy supplements is commonly suggested as a way to prevent, delay, or even reverse osteoporosis, the bone-thinning disease that afflicts tens of millions of Americans. That’s because soy is a phytoestrogen, a plant compound that helps keep calcium in bones. Well, now researchers are looking at cumin as a possible bone-protector, because it’s also rich in phytoestrogens.

In a study from India, researchers tested the ability of cumin to stop bone loss in laboratory animals with induced osteoporosis. They found those given the spice had greater bone density than those who didn’t receive cumin. In fact, the spice’s “osteoprotective effect” was comparable to that of the hormone estradiol (Estrace), which was popular for the prevention of osteoporosis before researchers discovered it also increased the risk of heart disease and breast cancer.

The researchers’ remarkable conclusion: “Cumin can help postmenopausal women from losing their bone and seems to be a potential candidate for the development of new herbal approaches for osteoporosis treatment without any serious side effects.”

Combating Cancer

Cumin’s volatile oil and rich content of vitamins C and A make it a potent antioxidant—and a potential cancer-stopper. Animal studies have found that cumin:

• Prevented the formation of colon tumors in rats fed cancer-causing substances.

• Reduced the risk of cervical cancer by 82 percent compared to animals not receiving the spice.

• Significantly decreased the incidence of stomach and liver cancer.

Cumin to the Max

Other conditions that cumin may help control include:

Epilepsy. Researchers in the Middle East found that cumin suppressed convulsions in animals with chemically induced seizures.

Food poisoning. In India, researchers found that cumin was the most effective spice in blocking the action of the bacteria that cause food poisoning.

Tuberculosis. Cumin boosts the infection-fighting power of rifampicin, a antibiotic used to treat tuberculosis.

Cumin may help prevent and/or treat:

Cancer

Diabetes, type 2

Epilepsy

Food poisoning

Osteoporosis

Tuberculosis

___________________________________

Cumin pairs well with these spices:

Ajowan

Allspice

Basil

Black pepper

Caraway

Chile

Cinnamon

Cocoa

Coriander

Fennel seed

Fenugreek seed

Garlic

Ginger

Mustard

Onion

Oregano

Pumpkin seed

Saffron

Tamarind

Turmeric

and complements recipes featuring:

Black beans

Chile con carne

Curries

Mexican food

Potatoes

Tomatoes

Tex-Mex dishes

Getting to Know Cumin

Like most popular spices, cumin has a world-historical pedigree. Ancient Greeks kept cumin on the dining table in its own box, just as they did with pepper. It was currency for the early Romans, who used it to pay taxes. (If only we could send a jar of cumin seeds to the IRS!)

Other recipes containing cumin:

Adobo

Alamelu’s Salt Substitute

Baharat

Black Pepper Rice with Almonds

By-the-Bay Fisherman’s Chowder

Caribbean Curry Paste

Chaat Masala

Cocoa Rub

Coconut Meatballs with Peanut Sauce

Colombo Powder

Dukkah

Garam Masala

Garbanzo Beans with Mushrooms and Toasted Almonds

Green Pumpkin Seed Sauce

Grilled Lamb Patty Pockets with Cucumber Mint Sauce

Hot Curry Powder

Madras Curry Paste

Madras Curry Powder

Onion and Tomato Chutney

Panch Phoron

Potato Cauliflower Curry

Ras-el-hanout

Sambaar Masala

Spicy Hash Brown Potatoes

Vindaloo Curry Paste

Yucatan Pickled Red Onions

Today cumin is a staple in the kitchens of North Africa, western Asia, India, Greece, Turkey, and, of course, Mexico and Latin America. However, those countries south of the border didn’t use cumin until it was brought to the Americas by merchants from India.

India has appreciated cumin for millennia, for both its aroma and medicinal qualities. Cumin is one of the essential ingredients in curry powder and most curry spice mixes. It is also a key ingredient ingaram masala, the Indian basic spice mix. The whole seeds are used in the spice mixes chaat masala and panch phoron.

Cumin comes from a flowering plant that thrives in hot, arid lands.

In Mexico, cumin is used in tacos, enchiladas, and burritos, as well as other popular dishes. It is as essential as chili powder in making Mexican chili (and Texan chili con carne).

In the Caribbean, the seeds are a main ingredient in Colombo powder, a super-hot spice blend.

The Dutch make a cumin-flavored cheese. Cumin bread is a regional French specialty. In Spain, cumin is cleverly combined with cinnamon and saffron to flavor casseroles.

In Morocco it is used in couscous (cracked wheat steamed in spices) and is a main ingredient in ras-el-hanout, the famous Moroccan spice blend. Iranians use it to make pickles.

How to Buy Cumin Americans know cumin

Americans know cumin best as a dark powder that feels somewhat oily to the touch. However, cumin starts out as seeds, which is the way it is sold in Indian markets, where it is referred to as jeera. Indian as well as many Asian cuisines use the seeds whole.

Buying whole seeds is better than buying ground cumin, and both are available in most supermarkets. If you are cooking ethnic dishes, chances are you’ll need a jar of whole seeds. Once the seeds are ground the flavor starts to deteriorate. (If you’ve had a bottle of cumin for a year or more, throw it out. Ground cumin doesn’t retain its quality for more than a few months.)

All-American Chili con Carne

We call this all-American because it combines the best of this country’s chilies, from Texas, Arizona, and (believe it or not) Cincinnati, Ohio, which claims to have more chili parlors than anywhere else in the country. The secret ingredient in Cincinnati chili is the allspice. Make chili at least a few hours ahead and let the aromas meld. Reheat before serving.

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 large onions, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

2½ pounds extra-lean ground beef or ground turkey

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon dried Mexican oregano or other oregano

2 teaspoons dried basil

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 twenty-eight-ounce can crushed tomatoes, chopped

½ cup red wine vinegar

3 cans red kidney beans

2 or more jalapeños, seeded and diced

½ cup Monterey Jack cheese (optional)

½ cup sour cream (optional)

½ cup diced onions or sliced scallions (optional)

1. In a large heavy-bottom casserole, heat the olive oil. Add the onions and cook until soft but not brown. Stir in the garlic and cook one minute more.

2. Add the ground beef or turkey, breaking up the pieces with a wooden spoon, until just brown. Combine the chili powder, cumin, oregano, basil, allspice, cocoa, turmeric, salt, and pepper and add to the meat. Blend well and cook one minute.

3. Add the canned tomatoes, red wine vinegar, kidney beans, and jalapeños and stir. Bring to a simmer, lower the heat, cover, and cook for 30 minutes. Serve with the optional ingredients on the side.

Makes 8 servings.

Cumin seeds should be dry roasted before they’re ground, which will intensify the flavor. For instructions on how to dry roast see Roasting Spices.

Cumin seeds are yellowish-brown and oval shaped and somewhat resemble caraway seeds. If you can’t find the seeds in the supermarket, you can buy them in an Indian market or via the Internet. The“Buyer’s Guide” can help you find a retailer.

In the Kitchen with Cumin

Cumin is one of the most frequently used spices and is found in virtually every cuisine in the world. The reason: its versatility. Though the ground spice is quite pungent, keep in mind that it mellows when cooked.

Use cumin in stews and casseroles and any long-cooking food that requires liquid. It pairs well with other strong spices, especially chili powder. In fact, cumin can come in handy if you find a dish you are making is too strong or “off” the intended aroma. Adding a pinch of cumin will help even out the flavor. Here are some other ways to enjoy cumin:

• Make a glaze for roasted vegetables by combining ½ cup canola oil with ½ cup orange juice and 1 tablespoon of ground cumin. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

• Use it as a flavoring in cheese sauces.

• Sprinkle it in a cheese omelet.

• Add roasted seeds to marinades.

• Make a spice blend with ½ cumin and ½ chili powder.

• Use cumin to help spice up creamy dips.

• Add toasted seeds to lentils and rice pilaf.

Caraway: After-Dinner Relief – Remedy for Diabetes

When Alice of Wonderland fell down the rabbit hole, she didn’t have a toothbrush with her—but she did have a box of comfits in her pocket. These little cakes coated in caraway seeds were a popular confection in Victorian England, when caraway seeds were highly regarded for keeping the breath fresh and the digestive system running smoothly.

Rural Victorians celebrated a successful spring sowing of wheat with ale and wiggs, another caraway cake. The superstitious among the Victorians believed that anything caraway touched couldn’t be stolen, and women put caraway seeds in their husbands’ pockets in the belief that it would keep them from straying. The spice was also bottled as a love potion and became known as “kissing caraway.”

But caraway’s popularity among the English went the way of chimney sweeps and “pantalettes” for covering piano legs. Perhaps it’s time for a revival of the spice—in the UK and the US, where post-meal tummy troubles such as burning, bloating, belching, cramping, and nausea plague an estimated 40 percent of the population. New scientific studies show what Alice and her contemporaries on this side of the looking glass knew from firsthand experience: caraway is one of the most powerful digestive aids around.

Better than Antacids

Researchers in the UK reviewed 53 studies on antacids and found they provided “little relief” for digestive woes. Then they looked at 17 studies on herbal remedies, including a combination of peppermint and caraway oil, both of which con tain carvone, a component of some essential oils that relaxes spasms in the digestive tract. The herbal combo effectively reduced stomachache and other post-meal problems anywhere from 60 to 95 percent of the time. In one study, people who used the combo for four weeks had an average 45 percent reduction in gastrointestinal pain.

A Folk Remedy for Diabetes

The English aren’t the only traditional fans of caraway. Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians considered the spice both food and medicine, baking it into bread, cakes, and fruit dishes to stimulate digestion and fight colds and bronchitis.

Caraway continues to be a popular folk remedy in Morocco, where many of the populace chews on lightly roasted seeds after dinner. It’s also considered a way to prevent and control blood sugar problems. In fact, in 2004, Moroccan researchers tested the remedy on rats with drug-induced diabetes—and found that the daily administration of the remedy for two weeks completely normalized the ailing animals’ blood sugar levels. The finding “represents an experimental confirmation of the Moroccan traditional use” of caraway seeds for the control of type 2 diabetes, said the researchers in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology.

Way More to Caraway

In fact, caraway seeds contain more than 50 healing compounds, which studies show can fight all kinds of health problems. Those include:

Cancer. Caraway seeds are loaded with limonene, a compound with known anti-cancer activity. Animal studies show that limonene can stop the growth of breast, liver, lung, and stomach cancer. Some animal studies show that limonene and carvone combined reduce the risk of colon cancer.

Food poisoning.E. coli is the germ behind most cases of food poisoning, an infection that strikes 76 million Americans a year. (That’s 21,000 per day.) Chicken is a favorite hangout of E. coli—but researchers who contaminated a pot of chicken soup with the bacteria found that carvone prevented it from multiplying.

Cholesterol and triglycerides. Moroccan researchers found caraway reduced levels of these two blood fats in both normal and diabetic laboratory animals. The spice has “potent lipid [fat] lowering activity,” the researchers concluded.

Constipation. In Bulgaria, doctors treated 32 people with chronic constipation with a laxative containing caraway—and 29 of them started having regular daily bowel movements.

Tuberculosis. In India, where tuberculosis is the leading cause of death from infectious disease, researchers found that dietary caraway enhanced the absorption of three anti-tuberculosis drugs.

Getting to Know Caraway

Unlike most healing spices, caraway thrives in a moderate (rather than tropical) climate, and is grown in many parts of the world, including Europe, Central Asia, North Africa, and the United States. Americans haven’t adopted a fondness for caraway in the same way as other nations, however. We’re most familiar with caraway as the seed on the crust of German and Jewish rye breads.

Real caraway country is in Europe. The intense anise-like flavor is particularly characteristic of German cuisine, where chefs discovered it balances the starches and fats in the traditional meat-and-potato diet. Germans put it in all kinds of dishes—soups, meat stews, sausages, potato casseroles, and cakes. It’s always added to sauerkraut and boiled cabbage, to banish the lingering sulfuric odor—and flatulence—that cooked cabbage leaves behind. And it’s used to flavor the German liquors kummel (a word for caraway) and schnapps.

Caraway also defines the flavor of aquavit, Scandinavia’s national liquor. It gives a savory sweetness to Hungarian goulash. In Russia, it’s put in borscht. In France, it’s used as a preservative in choucroute.

Unlike most spices, caraway thrives in a moderate (rather than tropical) climate, and grows in many parts of the world.

Lightly roasted caraway seeds often accompany a cheese plate in central Europe: people in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France eat caraway with Muenster cheese; the Dutch eat it with Tilsiter cheese; and in Hungary it’s served with Liptauer cheese along with mustard, butter, and chopped chives.

Caraway is a key ingredient in Tunisia’s famous fiery harissa, one of the hottest condiments on earth. In Nigeria, it’s the spice on the sweet deep-fried wafer chin-chin. In India, caraway is often found in snacks.

How to Buy Caraway

There are two types of caraway: one is from an annual plant native to Europe, the other is from a biennial native to the Middle East. Caraway connoisseurs say the best is grown in Holland.

But none of these facts are particularly relevant unless you buy your spices at a specialty shop.

The most important fact: always buy caraway seeds whole. Grinding releases the spice’s volatile oils, dissipating the flavor. When stored in an airtight container in a cool place and out of the sunlight, the whole seeds will keep for two years or longer.

Caraway may help prevent and/or treat:

Cancer

Cholesterol problems (high total cholesterol)

Constipation

Diabetes, type 2

Food poisoning

Heartburn

(gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD)

Indigestion

Triglycerides, high

Tuberculosis

___________________________________

Caraway pairs well with these spices:

Allspice

Almond

Cardamom

Chile

Cinnamon

Coriander

Fennel seed

Juniper berry

Onion

and complements recipes featuring:

Apples

Cabbage

Cheese

Pears

Pork

Sausages

Sauerkraut

___________________________________

Other recipes containing caraway:

Alsatian Pork and Sauerkraut

Garam Masala

Ras-el-hanout

Tabil

Raw caraway will have a slight aroma, but the full flavor doesn’t come out until the seed is cooked.

In the Kitchen with Caraway

The taste of caraway (which some feel is an acquired taste) is earthy, similar to fennel and anise, with a nutty aftertaste. Even if you buy ground seeds, you will get the best flavor out of caraway by dry roasting. Roast until you detect the release of the volatile oils (your nose will know), then stop immediately. If cooked too long, the seeds turn bitter.

Hungarian Goulash

Paprika doesn’t overpower this national dish because caraway helps balance it—together, they create the unique flavor that defines Hungarian goulash. Use Hungarian paprika, if possible—it makes a difference. Serve over egg noodles.

2 strips bacon

2 pounds veal or beef cubes

¼ cup flour

2 cups sliced onion

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1½ teaspoons caraway seeds

1 teaspoon lemon zest

 cup Hungarian paprika

1 cup peeled and cubed potatoes

1 cup sliced carrots

¼ teaspoon dried thyme

¼ teaspoon dried marjoram

¼ teaspoon dried rosemary

2 cups beef stock

1 cup strong beer

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup low-fat sour cream

1. Cook the bacon over medium-high heat in a large Dutch oven until crisp. Remove. Dredge veal cubes in the flour and brown in the bacon fat. Remove from pot with a slotted spoon and set aside. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

2. Add the onions and cook until soft but not browned. Add the garlic, caraway seeds, and lemon zest and cook one minute. Stir in the paprika and stir to coat well. Return the meat to the pot and stir again. Add the potatoes, carrots, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, stock, and beer. Stir in the tomato paste. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat, cover, and cook for 1½ hours.

3. Turn off the heat and remove the meat and vegetables with a slotted spoon and keep warm. Let the liquid cool slightly. Skim off the fat. Stir in the sour cream. Whip the mixture into the sauce and simmer until the sauce thickens. Return meat and vegetables to the sauce and heat through.

Makes 6 servings.

Caraway’s flavor is strong and tends to dominate other flavors. Unless you want to feature its flavor, use less caraway than other spices in your recipes. Here are some ideas for adding more caraway to your diet:

• Caraway goes naturally with pork. Sprinkle it on or around a roast or chops in the last 15 minutes of baking.

• Caraway goes well with apples. Add it to your favorite spiced-apple recipe.

• Add a pinch of caraway to an onion tart recipe.

• Serve apples and caraway on a cheese tray. In addition to the cheeses already mentioned, caraway goes well with Gouda and Gorgonzola.

• Mix toasted seeds into cottage cheese or yogurt.

• Make this popular German potato dish: Halve unpeeled potatoes lengthwise. Dip the flesh side in melted butter, then in a plate of caraway seeds. Bake, cut side down, at 400°F for 30 minutes or until soft.

Cinnamon: Balancing Blood Sugar – Defeating Diabetes

Maybe it’s ironic that cinnamon—the spicy-sweet favorite that cooks use to give sugary confections extra flavor—can help control blood sugar problems. Or maybe—given the fact that 24 million Americans have type 2 diabetes and 57 million have prediabetes—it’s Mother Nature’s way of cutting us a break.

Defeating Diabetes

The rate of type 2 diabetes in the US has doubled in the past two decades, from 5 to 10 percent of American adults, with 1.3 million new cases every year. This disease of chronically high blood sugar (fasting blood sugar levels above 125 milligrams per deciliter, or mg/dL) attacks arteries and veins, increasing the risk of heart disease six-fold. In fact, medical guidelines instruct doctors to treat a patient with type 2 diabetes as if he or she has already had a heart attack! This body-wide circulatory destruction can lead to many other health problems along with heart disease and stroke. They include painful nerve damage, hard-to-heal skin ulcers, vision loss and blindness, kidney failure, and even—as blood flow is choked—the amputation of gangrenous toes, feet, and lower limbs.

Managing type 2 diabetes requires a total approach that typically includes losing weight, eating more whole foods, exercising regularly, and taking (or injecting) glucose-controlling medications such as insulin (the pancreas-hormone that helps control blood sugar levels). Preventing diabetes or reversing prediabetes (fasting blood sugar levels from 100 to 125) is possible with lifestyle alone—and lifestyle changes are more effective than preventive medications, as the 10-year Diabetes Prevention Program Study showed. But study after study also shows that cinnamon can play a role in the everyday management of blood sugar (glucose) levels and other cardiovascular disease CVD risk factors.

Will the Real Cinnamon Please Stand Up?

You know that stuff you sprinkle on your morning toast and oatmeal called cinnamon? It’s not true cinnamon. It’s cassia.

Cassia cinnamon (Cinnamomum cassia) and true cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) belong to the same botanical family (Cinnamomum). They also look alike—it takes a trained eye to tell them apart. But they differ in flavor. Cassia is the sweeter and stronger of the two—and the one preferred throughout most of the world (including the US) as a culinary spice. It’s also the version that was used in all the studies discussed in this post.

Cassia cinnamon is commonly used in the United States, Europe, China, and Southeast Asia. True cinnamon is found in kitchens in Mexico, Latin America, India, and other nations in South Asia.

In some parts of the world it’s actually illegal to refer to cassia as cinnamon. In Great Britain and Australia, for example, Cinnamomum cassia can only be sold as cassia, and Cinnamomum verum can only be sold as cinnamon. In the US, both are legally sold as cinnamon.

France has solved the issue quite nicely—they call the spice cannelle, applying the name to both cassia and true cinnamon.

Cassia cinnamon is also called Chinese cinnamon. True cinnamon also goes by the names Ceylon and Sri Lankan cinnamon. You can find cassia cinnamon . . . everywhere. In the US, you can find true cinnamon in Indian marketplaces and specialty spice shops or online.

Long-term blood sugar control. In a recent study from the US, 109 people with type 2 diabetes were divided into two groups, with one receiving one gram of cinnamon a day and one receiving a placebo. After three months, those taking the cinnamon had a 0.83 percent decrease in A1C, or glycosylated hemoglobin—the percentage of red blood cells that have been frosted (glycated) by blood sugar, and the most accurate measurement of long-term blood sugar control. (Seven percent or less means the diabetes is controlled, and a decrease from 0.5 to 1.0 percent is considered a significant improvement.) Those taking the placebo had a 0.37 percent decrease in A1C. “Taking cinnamon could be useful . . . in addition to usual care” of diabetes, concluded the study leader in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

However, cinnamon probably won’t work to control blood sugar in type 1 diabetes—an autoimmune disease that attacks the insulin-producing pancreas. In a study by researchers at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, researchers asked 72 adolescents with type 1 diabetes to take either cinnamon or a placebo. After three months, there was no change in A1C levels in either group, or the amount of insulin they had to take to control the disease.

Heart-protecting power. In another study, 30 people with type 2 diabetes took one to six grams of cinnamon a day (about ¼ to ½ teaspoon). After 40 days, they had decreases up to 29 percent in fasting blood sugar—and decreases up to 27 percent in “bad” artery-clogging LDL cholesterol, up to 26 percent in total cholesterol, and up to 30 percent in triglycerides (another blood fat, with high levels linked to heart disease). “Those who have type 2 diabetes, or those who have elevated glucose, triglycerides or total cholesterol, may benefit from regular inclusion of cinnamon in their daily diet,” concluded the researchers in Diabetes Care.

The researchers also noted that the study participants had lower levels of blood sugar and blood fats even after 20 days without taking any cinnamon—“indicating that cinnamon would not need to be consumed every day” for health benefits.

They also pointed out that cinnamon worked at every level it was tested, from one to six grams—and that “intake of less than one gram daily is likely to be beneficial in controlling blood sugar and lipid [fat] levels.”

Finally, they said that regular inclusion of cinnamon in the diet is probably a good idea not only for those with type 2 diabetes, but for everybody—“cinnamon may be beneficial for the remainder of the population to prevent . . . elevated glucose and blood lipid levels.” There’s a lot of evidence that shows they’re right.

Lowering risk factors in prediabetes. Researchers in France studied 22 people who were overweight and had prediabetes, dividing them into two groups. One group took a widely available supplement containing 250 mg of a water extract of cinnamon (Cinnulin PF). The other group took a placebo. After three months, those taking the cinnamon supplement had much lower levels of several biomarkers ofoxidation—the destructive, cell-destroying process that contributes to the development of both diabetes and cardiovascular disease. And the lower the oxidation levels, the more stable the levels of blood sugar. “The inclusion of water soluble cinnamon compounds in the diet could reduce risk factors associated with diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” concluded the researchers in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

Mastering the metabolic syndrome. This condition—also known as the insulin resistance syndrome and syndrome X—is characterized by blood sugar problems, overweight (especially around the abdomen), high blood pressure, and high triglycerides (but not necessarily high LDL). It’s one form of prediabetes, and, needless to say, it’s a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Cinnamon can help control it.

In one study, 22 people with metabolic syndrome were divided into two groups: one took 500 mg a day of Cinnulin PF and one took a placebo. After three months, those taking the cinnamon had significant decreases in average fasting blood sugar (down 8.4 percent, to 106), lower systolic blood pressure (the top reading, down 4 points to 128), and more muscle, or lean body mass. (That’s good news, because additional muscle means additional ability to burn up excess blood sugar.) They also had a small drop in body fat. “This naturally-occurring spice can reduce risk factors associated with diabetes and cardiovascular diseases,” concluded the researchers.

Stopping spikes in blood sugar after a meal. Swedish researchers studied 14 people, feeding them the same meal twice—rice pudding, with or without a hefty sprinkling of cinnamon. The cinnamon-spiced meal significantly lowered post-meal levels of blood sugar.

Works in healthy people, too. British researchers studied healthy young men, dividing them into two groups. For two weeks, one group received three grams of cinnamon a day and the other a placebo. After two weeks, the men taking the cinnamon supplement had a much improved “glucose tolerance test”—the ability of the body to process and store glucose. They also had better “insulin sensitivity”—the ability of this hormone to usher glucose out of the bloodstream and into cells.

Richard Anderson, PhD, a scientist at the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center of the US Department of Agriculture, who has conducted several studies on cinnamon and diabetes, theorizes that the spice mimics the action of insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar. It may stimulate insulin receptors on fat and muscle cells the same way insulin does, he said, allowing excess sugar to move out of the blood and into the cells.

And a team of Indian researchers laud cin, cinnamon’s active ingredient—which their study on experimental animals with diabetes showed can decrease blood sugar, A1C, total cholesterol, and triglycerides, and increase insulin and “good” HDL cholesterol. The findings were in Phytomedicine.

Controlling Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

There’s another disease where insulin and blood sugar levels are haywire and the sufferer is at higher risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke—polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This hormonal disorder, which strikes 5 to 10 percent of women of reproductive age in the US, lines the ovaries with small cysts. Symptoms include menstrual abnormality, extra facial and body hair, acne, and overweight. It’s also the most common cause of female infertility.

In a study by a team of American researchers from Columbia University, the University of Hawaii, and the US Department of Agriculture, 13 women with PCOS were asked to take either a daily cinnamon supplement (333 mg, three times a day) or a placebo. After eight weeks, those taking cinnamon had a 17 percent decrease in fasting glucose, a significant decrease in insulin resistance, and 21 percent reduction in levels of blood sugar after a glucose tolerance test. The researchers called the findings “interesting” and encouraged other scientists to conduct additional studies to validate their findings, which were reported in Fertility and Sterility.

Manhandling Microbes

Cinnamon has the power to fight disease-causing microbes such as bacteria and fungi.

Preserving food. Scientists proved cinnamon’s ability to preserve food and help prevent food poisoning in a kitchen experiment with two pots of vegetable broth. They added cinnamon oil to one pot but not the other and let the two sit in the refrigerator—for two months! When they took off the lids, the pot without the cinnamon was teeming with bacteria. The other pot? Good enough to eat. In fact, the scientists said the added cinnamon improved the flavor! (Don’t try this at home.)

Fighting fungi. Cinnamon is also effective against Candida albicans, the fungus that causes most cases of vaginal yeast infections. In laboratory tests, cinnamon extracts were able to stop the growth of strains of C. albicans resistant to fluconazole (Diflucan), the medication commonly used to treat yeast infections.

Beating bacteria. Researchers in Italy found that cinnamon is effective at eradicating Helicobacter pylori infection, the bacterial cause of most stomach ulcers and a leading cause of stomach cancer. In fact, their research showed that cinnamon was more effective than the antibiotic amoxicillin (Amoxil) at killing H. pylori. And the bacteria didn’t show any resistance to the spice—important, because H. pylori are becoming more and more resistant to standard antibiotic treatment.

Cinnamon is derived from the bark of a tropical evergreen tree.

Cinnamon, On and On

There are other intriguing areas of research for cinnamon.

Cancer. American researchers found that cinnamon may slow angiogenesis, the development of new blood supplies to tumors. They concluded that an extract of the spice “could potentially be useful in cancer prevention and/or treatment.” The findings were in Carcinogenesis.

Post-stroke protection. Researchers in Korea found that cinnamon protected brain cells in the laboratory from the type of damage caused by a stroke.

Brain injury from liver failure. Similarly, cinnamon protected brain cells from the type of damage seen in hepatic encephalopathy—a type of brain damage caused by advanced liver disease.

Wound healing. In a study from Indian researchers, extracts of cinnamon bark improved wound healing in animals.

Getting to Know Cinnamon

Cinnamon’s sweet-and-spicy bite is the same as its bark—the spice is derived from the bark of a tropical evergreen tree.

That deliciously aromatic bite has been heralded since the beginning of human history. God commanded Moses to include cinnamon in a recipe for sacred anointing oil. The Song of Solomon praises its scent. The Greeks and Romans offered it to their gods.

The ancient cultures of India and China also used cinnamon—as medicine. The Ayurvedic physicians of India used it (and continue to use it) for respiratory ailments, stomach upset, muscles spasms—and, of course, for diabetes. Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine used it (and continue to use it) for its “warming” qualities, particularly for respiratory problems and muscle aches. (It’s also a major ingredient in Tiger Balm, the popular Chinese ointment for pain relief.)

Of course, cinnamon is more than medicine—it’s a much-beloved ingredient in cuisines around the world. In the United States and Europe, it’s most popular in sweet dishes—apple pie, coffee cake, fruit compotes, buns, muffins, doughnuts, cakes, and cookies. It is a key ingredient in apple pie spice and mulling spice. It is sprinkled on toast and whipped cream. Cinnamon sticks are stirred into hot beverages, including mulled cider and wine.

The English are very fond of what they call cassia. (For more on the difference between “true cinnamon” and cassia, please see the box.) Many households keep a large sterling silver canister on the table for sprinkling cassia onto sweets and into beverages. It is an ingredient in English fruitcakes, stewed fruits, and pastries.

In Spain, cinnamon is a popular addition to chocolate dishes and confections. In Germany, it’s used in apple strudel, to flavor sweet and sour dishes, and in foods containing raisins. In the Netherlands, cinnamon is the dominant flavor in the Christmas spiced cookie called speculaas. Italians put whole cinnamon sticks in mostarda, a classic chutney-like condiment.

Can Chewing Gum Make You Smarter?

Maybe—if you chew cinnamon gum. In fact, you don’t even have to chew it. Just smelling cinnamon might boost your thinking ability.

That’s the result of a study conducted by Phillip R. Zoladz, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at Ohio Northern University, who found students scored better on several mental performance tests after smelling or tasting cinnamon.

In the first part of the study, Dr. Zoladz gave a group of students one of the following to chew: cinnamon, peppermint, cherry, or flavorless gum. In the second part, he asked students to sniff cinnamon, peppermint, jasmine, or no odor.

In both parts of the study, the students who chewed the cinnamon gum or smelled cinnamon scored best—with the best memory, the most focused attention, and the fastest reflexes between connecting what they saw and what they had to do.

Dr. Zoladz and his colleagues concluded that cinnamon has potential for decreasing test anxiety—and even preventing age-related memory loss!

The French favor canelle (their word for cinnamon) in savory foods featuring game, such as duckling à la Montmorency, a classic dish flavored with cinnamon and spiked with cherry sauce. It’s one of the four ingredients in the French spice quatre épices, which is most often used to enhance game dishes.

In Asia, cinnamon is almost exclusively used in savory dishes. In China, it’s used in braises and clay pot cooking, or what is often called “red cooking.” In this technique, you simmer cinnamon, star anise, and orange zest in water, rice wine, and soy sauce, then cook a chicken breast side down in the liquid until it is red and cooked through. Cinnamon is also one of the five spices in Chinese five-spice powder.

Cooks in the Middle East use cinnamon as a flavoring in meat stew. It’s a popular spice in many Moroccan spice blends, including the famous ras-el-hanout. It also gives a tang to Moroccan stews calledtagines. In Syria, it’s one of only two spices found in the kitchen. (The other is allspice.) In Iran it’s a key spice in khoresht, a thick tart stew made with pomegranate juice.

In India, it’s a common spice in curry cooking, and in rich dishes called biryanis. Indian cooks fry a whole cinnamon stick in hot oil to release its aroma, then add it to the curry or rice as it is being cooked. It’s also used in many Indian spice blends, and is a key flavoring in the ubiquitous garam masala.

Vietnamese use it in pho bos, long-simmering beef soups, which are served with noodles.

Mexicans are fond of cinnamon tea (té de canela), which is made from broken cinnamon quills. It’s also an ingredient in Mexican moles.

Cinnamon is also used in a wide array of non-food products. It is put in toothpastes to mask the taste of pyrophosphate, an unpleasant-tasting compound that inhibits the formation of plaque. It is used in making toiletries, pharmaceutical products, and even tobacco.

How to Buy Cinnamon

Virtually all of the cinnamon imported into the United States is cinnamon cassia. (For the difference between cassia and so-called “true cinnamon,” please see the box.) If you want to find “true cinnamon,” take a trip to an Indian marketplace or shop online. Cassia cinnamon is usually called cinnamon, cassia, or Chinese cinnamon. True cinnamon is usually called true cinnamon, Ceylon cinnamon, or Sri Lankan cinnamon.

Cinnamon may help prevent and/or treat:

Cancer

Cholesterol problems

(high total cholesterol, high “bad” LDL cholesterol, low “good” HDL cholesterol)

Diabetes, type 2

Food poisoning

Heart disease

High blood pressure (hypertension)

Insulin resistance (prediabetes)

Metabolic syndrome

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)

Stroke

Triglycerides, high

Ulcer

Vaginal yeast infection

Wounds

___________________________________

Cinnamon pairs well with these spices:

Caraway

Cardamom

Clove

Cocoa

Coriander

Cumin

Ginger

Mint

Nutmeg

Star anise

Sun-dried tomato

Tamarind

Turmeric

and complements recipes featuring:

Apples

Baked or stewed fruit

Bananas

Cantaloupe

Cauliflower

Chicken

Chocolate

Corn

Curries

Grapes

Hot toddies

Pastries

Oranges

Pork

Both cinnamon and true cinnamon are harvested from dried bark and rolled, scroll-like, into tight quills—or what we call cinnamon sticks.

Quills of cinnamon are usually cut into four or five-inch pieces that easily fit in a spice jar. The quills are thick and are dark reddish-brown in appearance and deliver a sweet and strong aroma. It is grown in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

True cinnamon is cut the same way, but the quills are longer, have a brittle, paper-like appearance, and are light-brown in color. The taste is mild, delicate, and sweet. Though true cinnamon grows wild in South India, the best comes from Sri Lanka, off the coast of South India.

The best quality cinnamon is harvested from the trunk and is graded according to its length, breadth, and thickness.

The best quality quills are tightly rolled, evenly colored, and blemish free. When transported, the quills often break and are then sold as second-grade quillings. The next grade is called featherings, which are the inner bark of twigs and small shoots that were not large enough to form a full quill. They are still considered cinnamon, but lack the visual appeal of good quality quills. The lowest grade is cinnamon chips, made from shavings and trimmings. The lower grade featherings and chips generally come from the Seychelles Islands or Madagascar, which accounts for much of the world’s supply of lower-grade cinnamon bark.

Once ground, cinnamon begins to lose the fragrance that comes from its volatile oils, so it’s best to buy whole quills and grind them as needed. The quills are somewhat tough, so you’ll need a sturdy spice grinder.

If your only option is to buy ground cinnamon, you’ll get the most fragrance from the finest quality, which is smooth rather than gritty. Ground cinnamon quills are the best grade, though the spice is also ground from quillings and featherings. Ground cassia, often called “baker’s cinnamon,” is usually lower-priced than the ground quills of true cinnamon.

Whole quills keep for three years, as long as they aren’t in extreme heat. Ground cinnamon begins to fade in flavor after a few months.

In the Kitchen with Cinnamon

All the studies on the health benefits of cinnamon were done on . . . cinnamon (cassia, Chinese cinnamon)—the spice you’re familiar with and that is sold in supermarkets. Culinary experts generally agree (with some dissenters) that cinnamon cassia also has the best flavor—more robust, more perfume. Cassia goes best with other strong flavors, liked dried fruit. The more delicate true cinnamon is a better complement to fresh fruit. But there’s no rule that says you can’t mix the two and get the best of both worlds!

Other recipes containing cinnamon:

Apple Pie Spice

Baharat

Berbere

By-the-Bay Fisherman’s Chowder

Chesapeake Bay Seafood Seasoning

Chinese Five-Spice Powder

Garam Masala

Grilled Lamb Patty Pockets with Cucumber Mint Sauce

Grilled Pork Chile Adobo

Jamaican Jerk Marinade

La Kama

Malaysian Curry Paste

Mulling Spice

Pears Poached in Port and Star Anise

Pickling Spice

Quatre Épices

Ras-el-hanout

Sambaar Masala

Spiced Milk Tea

Spiced Mixed Nuts

Spicy Vanilla Rice Pudding

Banana Cinnamon French Toast

Cinnamon is a classic on toast—and is even better on a special dish like French toast.

2 large very ripe bananas

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

4 eggs, cracked

8 slices thick whole grain bread

3 tablespoons butter

Maple syrup

1. Place the bananas, milk, cinnamon and nutmeg in a blender or food processor. Add the cracked eggs and process until smooth. Transfer to a large baking pan large. Add the bread slices, turning occasionally, under the bread has absorbed most of the mixture, about 30 minutes.

2. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium head. Add the bread in batches and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side. Serve with maple syrup.

Makes 4 servings.

Ground cinnamon is more commonly used in the US because it is the form that is generally used in baking. Quills are preferred for liquid-based savory dishes; they’re used to infuse flavor and are discarded after cooking and before eating.

Whatever form of cinnamon you choose and use, make sure you don’t overcook it. Cinnamon turns bitter if it’s in the pot too long.

Here are some ideas to help get more cinnamon in your diet:

• Put a cinnamon quill in beef or vegetarian stews, or in lentil soup.

• Make spiced wine: Put a bottle of wine in a large pot and gently simmer it with ½ cup of sugar, a cinnamon stick, and a lemon studded with cloves for 15 minutes.

• Make spiced tea: Put a quart of brewed tea in a pot, add two cups of apple juice, and gently simmer it with a sliced lemon and two cinnamon sticks for 10 minutes.

• Sprinkle some cinnamon into pastry dough for pies and quiches.

• Sprinkle cinnamon on apples, bananas, melons, and oranges.

• Mix cinnamon with mint and parsley in ground beef for burgers or meatloaf.

• Combine equal parts of cinnamon, cardamom, and black pepper and rub it into pork tenderloin or lamb before baking.

• Mix cinnamon into rice pilaf.

• Add cinnamon to hot cocoa to enhance the flavor of the chocolate.

Cumin: Keeping Diabetes Under Control – Protecting Bones

Cumin is a commoner. Sitting in the jar, it isn’t much to look at—just kind of brown and drab. It isn’t pleasant to touch—a little too oily. Its flavor won’t send your taste buds into orbit—it’s bitter and stale. And the aroma is akin to musty old pine.

But once it’s out of the jar and into the cooking pot, its transformation is akin to Cinderella’s, as the pungent and bitter smell mellows to a rich, nutty aroma that brings to mind the scent of a Mexican cantina. That’s because while chile gives Mexican food the fire, cumin gives the zest—it is the most popular spice in Mexican cuisine.

Cumin has a flavor unlike any other because it’s loaded with cuminaldehyde, a compound with medicinal qualities that are active as, well, Mexican jumping beans.

Fighting Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease of chronically high levels of blood sugar (glucose). And that flood of extra sugar damages blood vessels throughout the body, increasing the risk for heart disease and stroke (the cause of death in 75 percent of people with diabetes), blindness, and kidney disease. Cumin to the rescue . . .

In a study from India, scientists treated laboratory animals with type 2 diabetes with either cumin or glibenclamide (Diabeta), an antidiabetes drug. They found that both worked equally well to reduce levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, heart-damaging blood fats common in people with diabetes. The animals also had a “significant reduction” in blood sugar, lowered levels of A1C (the amount of glucose attached to red blood cells, a measure of long-term blood sugar levels), and lower levels of damaging fat and inflammation in the cells of the pancreas, the organ that manufacturs insulin, the hormone that controls blood sugar levels.

Cumin “supplementation was found to be more effective than glibenclamide in the treatment of diabetes mellitus,” concluded the researchers in Pharmacological Research.

People with diabetes have a 60 percent higher risk of developing cataracts, a vision-clouding covering on the lens of the eye. In another animal study from India, researchers tested cumin against the eye disease. They found that feeding cumin powder to diabetic rats delayed the progression of cataracts—by preventing changes in the lens caused by high blood sugar. Dietary cumin “was able to delay the diabetes-caused cataract progression and maturation,” said the researchers.

Researchers at India’s National Institute of Nutrition found that cumin (along with cinnamon, black pepper, and green tea) can cut the formation of AGE, or advanced glycation endproducts, by 40 to 90 percent. AGE are toxic cellular time bombs that form when an overdose of glucose warps proteins. “The inhibition of the formation of AGE is believed to play a role in the prevention of diabetic complications,” wrote the researchers in the British Journal of Nutrition.

Will the Real Cumin Please Stand Up?

Cumin suffers from a bit of an identity crisis . . .

It’s not caraway. In Europe, its popularity has lost out to caraway seed—but caraway can’t stand in for cumin in dishes such as chili and curry.

It’s not black cumin. Cumin isn’t the same as (nor is it a substitute for) black cumin. Black cumin is English for the Indian spice kolonji. Black cumin seeds are jet black, and are sometimes called imperial cumin (because black cumin is somewhat pricey compared to cumin).

It’s not curcumin. Cumin has no relationship to curcumin, the principal ingredient in the spice turmeric.

Protecting Bones

Eating more soy protein or taking soy supplements is commonly suggested as a way to prevent, delay, or even reverse osteoporosis, the bone-thinning disease that afflicts tens of millions of Americans. That’s because soy is a phytoestrogen, a plant compound that helps keep calcium in bones. Well, now researchers are looking at cumin as a possible bone-protector, because it’s also rich in phytoestrogens.

In a study from India, researchers tested the ability of cumin to stop bone loss in laboratory animals with induced osteoporosis. They found those given the spice had greater bone density than those who didn’t receive cumin. In fact, the spice’s “osteoprotective effect” was comparable to that of the hormone estradiol (Estrace), which was popular for the prevention of osteoporosis before researchers discovered it also increased the risk of heart disease and breast cancer.

The researchers’ remarkable conclusion: “Cumin can help postmenopausal women from losing their bone and seems to be a potential candidate for the development of new herbal approaches for osteoporosis treatment without any serious side effects.”

Combating Cancer

Cumin’s volatile oil and rich content of vitamins C and A make it a potent antioxidant—and a potential cancer-stopper. Animal studies have found that cumin:

• Prevented the formation of colon tumors in rats fed cancer-causing substances.

• Reduced the risk of cervical cancer by 82 percent compared to animals not receiving the spice.

• Significantly decreased the incidence of stomach and liver cancer.

Cumin to the Max

Other conditions that cumin may help control include:

Epilepsy. Researchers in the Middle East found that cumin suppressed convulsions in animals with chemically induced seizures.

Food poisoning. In India, researchers found that cumin was the most effective spice in blocking the action of the bacteria that cause food poisoning.

Tuberculosis. Cumin boosts the infection-fighting power of rifampicin, a antibiotic used to treat tuberculosis.

Cumin may help prevent and/or treat:

Cancer

Diabetes, type 2

Epilepsy

Food poisoning

Osteoporosis

Tuberculosis

___________________________________

Cumin pairs well with these spices:

Ajowan

Allspice

Basil

Black pepper

Caraway

Chile

Cinnamon

Cocoa

Coriander

Fennel seed

Fenugreek seed

Garlic

Ginger

Mustard

Onion

Oregano

Pumpkin seed

Saffron

Tamarind

Turmeric

and complements recipes featuring:

Black beans

Chile con carne

Curries

Mexican food

Potatoes

Tomatoes

Tex-Mex dishes

Getting to Know Cumin

Like most popular spices, cumin has a world-historical pedigree. Ancient Greeks kept cumin on the dining table in its own box, just as they did with pepper. It was currency for the early Romans, who used it to pay taxes. (If only we could send a jar of cumin seeds to the IRS!)

Other recipes containing cumin:

Adobo

Alamelu’s Salt Substitute

Baharat

Black Pepper Rice with Almonds

By-the-Bay Fisherman’s Chowder

Caribbean Curry Paste

Chaat Masala

Cocoa Rub

Coconut Meatballs with Peanut Sauce

Colombo Powder

Dukkah

Garam Masala

Garbanzo Beans with Mushrooms and Toasted Almonds

Green Pumpkin Seed Sauce

Grilled Lamb Patty Pockets with Cucumber Mint Sauce

Hot Curry Powder

Madras Curry Paste

Madras Curry Powder

Onion and Tomato Chutney

Panch Phoron

Potato Cauliflower Curry

Ras-el-hanout

Sambaar Masala

Spicy Hash Brown Potatoes

Vindaloo Curry Paste

Yucatan Pickled Red Onions

Today cumin is a staple in the kitchens of North Africa, western Asia, India, Greece, Turkey, and, of course, Mexico and Latin America. However, those countries south of the border didn’t use cumin until it was brought to the Americas by merchants from India.

India has appreciated cumin for millennia, for both its aroma and medicinal qualities. Cumin is one of the essential ingredients in curry powder and most curry spice mixes. It is also a key ingredient ingaram masala, the Indian basic spice mix. The whole seeds are used in the spice mixes chaat masala and panch phoron.

Cumin comes from a flowering plant that thrives in hot, arid lands.

In Mexico, cumin is used in tacos, enchiladas, and burritos, as well as other popular dishes. It is as essential as chili powder in making Mexican chili (and Texan chili con carne).

In the Caribbean, the seeds are a main ingredient in Colombo powder, a super-hot spice blend.

The Dutch make a cumin-flavored cheese. Cumin bread is a regional French specialty. In Spain, cumin is cleverly combined with cinnamon and saffron to flavor casseroles.

In Morocco it is used in couscous (cracked wheat steamed in spices) and is a main ingredient in ras-el-hanout, the famous Moroccan spice blend. Iranians use it to make pickles.

How to Buy Cumin Americans know cumin

Americans know cumin best as a dark powder that feels somewhat oily to the touch. However, cumin starts out as seeds, which is the way it is sold in Indian markets, where it is referred to as jeera. Indian as well as many Asian cuisines use the seeds whole.

Buying whole seeds is better than buying ground cumin, and both are available in most supermarkets. If you are cooking ethnic dishes, chances are you’ll need a jar of whole seeds. Once the seeds are ground the flavor starts to deteriorate. (If you’ve had a bottle of cumin for a year or more, throw it out. Ground cumin doesn’t retain its quality for more than a few months.)

All-American Chili con Carne

We call this all-American because it combines the best of this country’s chilies, from Texas, Arizona, and (believe it or not) Cincinnati, Ohio, which claims to have more chili parlors than anywhere else in the country. The secret ingredient in Cincinnati chili is the allspice. Make chili at least a few hours ahead and let the aromas meld. Reheat before serving.

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 large onions, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

2½ pounds extra-lean ground beef or ground turkey

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon dried Mexican oregano or other oregano

2 teaspoons dried basil

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 twenty-eight-ounce can crushed tomatoes, chopped

½ cup red wine vinegar

3 cans red kidney beans

2 or more jalapeños, seeded and diced

½ cup Monterey Jack cheese (optional)

½ cup sour cream (optional)

½ cup diced onions or sliced scallions (optional)

1. In a large heavy-bottom casserole, heat the olive oil. Add the onions and cook until soft but not brown. Stir in the garlic and cook one minute more.

2. Add the ground beef or turkey, breaking up the pieces with a wooden spoon, until just brown. Combine the chili powder, cumin, oregano, basil, allspice, cocoa, turmeric, salt, and pepper and add to the meat. Blend well and cook one minute.

3. Add the canned tomatoes, red wine vinegar, kidney beans, and jalapeños and stir. Bring to a simmer, lower the heat, cover, and cook for 30 minutes. Serve with the optional ingredients on the side.

Makes 8 servings.

Cumin seeds should be dry roasted before they’re ground, which will intensify the flavor. For instructions on how to dry roast see Roasting Spices.

Cumin seeds are yellowish-brown and oval shaped and somewhat resemble caraway seeds. If you can’t find the seeds in the supermarket, you can buy them in an Indian market or via the Internet. The“Buyer’s Guide” can help you find a retailer.

In the Kitchen with Cumin

Cumin is one of the most frequently used spices and is found in virtually every cuisine in the world. The reason: its versatility. Though the ground spice is quite pungent, keep in mind that it mellows when cooked.

Use cumin in stews and casseroles and any long-cooking food that requires liquid. It pairs well with other strong spices, especially chili powder. In fact, cumin can come in handy if you find a dish you are making is too strong or “off” the intended aroma. Adding a pinch of cumin will help even out the flavor. Here are some other ways to enjoy cumin:

• Make a glaze for roasted vegetables by combining ½ cup canola oil with ½ cup orange juice and 1 tablespoon of ground cumin. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

• Use it as a flavoring in cheese sauces.

• Sprinkle it in a cheese omelet.

• Add roasted seeds to marinades.

• Make a spice blend with ½ cumin and ½ chili powder.

• Use cumin to help spice up creamy dips.

• Add toasted seeds to lentils and rice pilaf.