A sweet, warming bark that softens the edges of a dish.
In the pot
Use the small curls of true cinnamon (Ceylon) where you can find it. The harder, hollow cassia bark sold in many supermarkets is stronger and rougher, fine for long-simmered meat dishes, less suited to milk and rice. Whole sticks early in the cook, ground at the end.
I put a small piece of cinnamon stick in the pan when rice goes on, along with a clove and two cardamom pods. The rice carries the spice quietly, never loudly.
In the body
Cinnamon is sweet, pungent and astringent. It suits vata (the air constitution) and kapha (the earth and water constitution), and is one of the gentler warming spices, easy on the system.
On a cold morning I add an extra small piece of cinnamon to the chai, along with the ginger and cardamom. By the second cup the cold has lifted.
