Cinnamon is a spice, the bark of the cinnamon tree, so do you want to know what it is? Let me introduce it to you in detail, let’s learn about it together!
Basic introduction to cinnamon
Cinnamon, also known as cinnamon, official cinnamon or fragrant cinnamon, is the general name for the bark of Lauraceae plants such as Cinnamomum edulis, Cinnamomum chinensis, fine-leafed cinnamon, cinnamon or Sichuan cinnamon. One of the earliest spices used by humans. Cinnamon was mentioned in historical records in 2800 BC; the name of cinnamon was also mentioned in the Western Bible and ancient Egyptian documents. Before the Qin Dynasty, cinnamon was already as famous as ginger as a meat condiment in my country.
Cinnamon is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine, food spice or cooking seasoning. The original plant of commercial cinnamon is relatively complex, with about ten species, all of which are plants of the genus Lauraceae. There are 8 kinds commonly used in various places, among which the main ones are osmanthus, Osmanthus obtusa, Cinnamomum sinensis and Guizhou south China. Other types are mostly used in regional medicines. Various varieties were used as spices in ancient times in the West. It is used to season stews in Chinese food and is a component of five-spice powder.
Nutritional value of cinnamon
Cinnamon has a fragrant aroma because it contains volatile oils. It can make meat dishes deodorized, fragrant and delicious, and stimulate appetite. Big increase. Adding an appropriate amount of cinnamon to your daily diet may help prevent or delay type 2 diabetes caused by old age.
According to the British "New Scientist" magazine: Cinnamon can reactivate the ability of fat cells to respond to insulin and greatly speed up glucose metabolism. Adding 1/4 to 1 spoon of cinnamon powder to drinks or liquids every day may prevent type 2 diabetes.
Cinnamon contains phenylacrylic acid compounds, which have a therapeutic effect on prostatic hyperplasia, and can increase the blood flow of prostate tissue and promote the improvement of regional tissue blood supply. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that cinnamon is hot in nature and has the functions of warming the stomach, dispelling cold, activating blood circulation, relaxing muscles, unblocking meridians, relieving pain and stopping diarrhea.
What is it?
Cinnamon bark has a pungent and sweet taste and is hot in nature. It enters the kidney, spleen and bladder meridians; it can nourish yang, warm the spleen and stomach, remove cold accumulation, unblock meridians and relieve pain and relieve pain. It has purgative effect; it mainly treats weak vitality fire, cold limbs and weak pulse, yang deficiency, abdominal pain and diarrhea, cold hernia, cold pain in waist and knees, amenorrhea, vaginal gangrene, and deficiency of yang with rising heat above and cold below. Symptoms.
1. Warm the middle and dispel cold: used for epigastric cold pain due to deficiency of spleen and stomach, as well as abdominal pain and diarrhea, often used together with dried ginger and aconite;
2. Warm the kidney and strengthen yang. : Used for chills, cold limbs, and cold pain in waist and knees caused by insufficient kidney yang. It can also be used for asthma and inverse qi caused by insufficient kidney qi;
3. Warm meridians and relieve pain: can warm and unblock blood vessels, It can dispel cold and relieve pain, and is used for dysmenorrhea and limb pain caused by cold qi stagnation.
How to buy cinnamon
1. Distinguish the sound and observe the shape. Dry cinnamon bark is solid, brittle and easy to break when broken by hand, making a sound and having a smooth cross-section; moist cinnamon bark has a quiet but tough cross-section when broken, and has a jagged cross-section.
2. Smell the fragrance. Pick the ventral surface of the cinnamon bark with your fingernails. If there is slight oil seepage, smell the aroma and it will be pure. Break the cross section or bite the cinnamon bark with your teeth. If you feel the fragrance, coolness, and slight sweetness, it is the top grade.
3. Look at color. The bark of cinnamon is grayish-grey and light brown on the inside, brown on the inside, with fine lines on the surface, and shiny on both sides or inside of the skin, which is of good quality. The skin is dark brown, with moldy green spots, or grayish white spots, which is of poor quality.
4. The length of cinnamon bark is generally 35 cm.