Nancy Lin Chen - 101 Amazing Uses for Cinnamon

ABoUT THE AuTHoR

NANCY CHEN is a wellness blogger, content creator, and fitness instructor with a family background in herbal medicine. Shes known for creating easy-to-follow recipes and giving effective health and lifestyle guidance on her blog, Nourish by Nancy; she currently resides in Santa Monica, California.

CHAPTER 1

FOR THE HOME CoOK IN YOU

1. UPGRADE YOUR COFFEE

If youre trying to wean yourself off sugar in your coffee, a sprinkle of cinnamon can make a huge difference. Cinnamon adds natural sweetness, helping you skip the sweeteners or lessen the amount you typically need. (This also helps you lower the number of calories in your daily cup of coffee if youre trying to lose weight.)

Beyond simply adding extra flavor to your coffee, adding cinnamon to your morning cup of joe can also help boost your health. Cinnamon has been shown to improve memory, is a rich source of antioxidants, and can help reduce cholesterol. So if you have a habit of drinking coffee regularly, adding cinnamon to it can be an easy way to get these benefits.

There are a couple of ways to add cinnamon to coffee, ranging from quite simple to more elaborate. The easiest way is to just sprinkle some on top of your cup of coffee, latte, or cappuccino. Kicking things up a notch, if youre brewing your own coffee, you can easily infuse cinnamon into the brewing process: add half of the ground coffee, then some cinnamon to taste (a pinch should do it!), and top it off with the rest of the coffee. This works for pour-over, French press, or drip coffee.

If you want to get really fancy, you can create your own cinnamon syrup. It has less artificial sugar than many store-bought coffee syrups and allows you to sweeten your coffee exactly as you wantnot too much and not too little.

You can also create a keto coffee with cinnamon, a dose of high-quality fat, and brewed coffee. This type of rocketfuel or Bulletproof coffee was popularized by Bulletproof founder Dave Asprey, who was inspired by the yak-butter tea he was offered when traveling through the Himalayas. Its designed to be a breakfast replacement because its highly satiating and both nutrient- and calorie-dense. Coffee made in this style has a high concentration of fats and a low carb count, making it a staple for keto and low-carb eaters alike.

CINNAMON COFFEE SYRUP

1 cup brown sugar (packed lightly)

1 cup water

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a pot.

Cook over medium heat, slowly whisking, until the sugar is dissolved. Turn the heat down to a simmer if the mixture starts to boil.

Once the sugar is dissolved, remove the pot from the heat and let the mixture cool.

Store in a glass jar and use in your coffee as desired.

ROCKETFUEL KETo COFFEE

1 cup hot coffee

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon coconut oil or MCT oil

1 tablespoon ghee or butter (can use cocoa butter or vegan butter for a dairy-free option)

1 tablespoon coconut cream

1 scoop of collagen powder (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a blender.

Blend on high until creamy.

Pour into a cup and enjoy!

2. MAKE SPREADS

People have been making butter for centuries. This beloved spread had a few different purposes, ranging from medicinal in Ancient Rome (used for coughs), spiritual in India (ghee was offered to the god Krishna), and as a celebratory food in the Bible (when angels were offered a feast that included butter).

The process of making butter is simpleits just churned milk. Whether its made by using a butter churn like Laura Ingalls Wilder or by shaking a goat hide filled with milk like the Syrians, something wonderful happens when you intensely mix up milk.

These days, getting butter is easy. You can buy it at nearly any grocery store or farmers market. Its used in a variety of ways, from baking and cooking to spreading on top of bread and melting on top of pancakes. And if youve ever been to a really fancy restaurant, you might notice the butter is different. Sometimes its spiced or flavored with herbs; sometimes its whipped.

Cinnamon can help spice up any regular spread, whether its butter or nut butter, by giving it an extra cozy kick. These two recipes are amazing when enjoyed on any sweet treat, like freshly baked bread, waffles, or pancakes.

CINNAMON BUTTER

1/2 cup butter or vegan butter, room temperature (if you use salted butter, omit the pinch of salt)

1/3 cup honey

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl.

Whisk together until smooth. If desired, add more cinnamon and honey to taste.

Store in a glass jar and serve with bread, pastries, etc.

FRESHLY GROuND SNICKERDOODLE NUT BUTTER

1 cup almonds

1 cup cashews

1/2 cup macadamia nuts

Sea salt, to taste

Cinnamon, to taste

Honey, to taste (optional; omit if following a low-sugar diet)

Combine all nuts in a food processor or high-speed blender.

Process or blend until creamy. You may have to stir occasionally to prevent the mixture from sticking to the blades.

Slowly add the sea salt, cinnamon, and honey to taste. Continue blending until everything is completely mixed.

Store in an airtight jar and use as desired.

3. PRESERVE FOoD

Before the invention of modern-day refrigerators, people used a variety of methods to preserve food. This included canning, which was invented by Nicolus Appert in 1809 CE. Appert was a French scientist who stored food in glass jars that he then sterilized using heat. Fast-forward to 2000 CE, when chemical preservatives were invented. But even methods as simple as using vinegar can help preserve food longer than its natural spoiling point.

As the number of chemical additives began to get larger and larger in preserved food, people began to seek alternatives. This is where cinnamon comes incinnamon essential oil has been shown to help prevent bacteria and other microbes from spoiling food due to its high antimicrobial properties. Research suggests cinnamon essential oil can be used as a food preservative, or even incorporated into food packaging, to reduce bacterial contamination.

If you are creating preserves at home (such as jam), you can add cinnamon to your recipe to help extend the foods shelf life.

4. MAKE COZY DRiNKS

Adding cinnamon to your drinks is an easy way to incorporate more of this sweet spice and its benefits into your diet. It also helps make ordinary drinkslike homemade nut milktaste a little more special. There are a variety of ways you can use cinnamon in your drinks:

Mexican Superfood Hot Chocolate: Hot chocolate (or drinking chocolate) was first drunk in Mexico as early as 500 BCE.

Better-than-Coffeeshop Cinnamon Chai: Chai tea, or masala chai (spiced tea), has been around for thousands of years. It was created as an Indian Ayurvedic drink (more on Ayurveda later!) and actually did not contain black tea at first. After the arrival of the Britishwho set up tea plantations in Indiablack tea began to be incorporated into the masala chai. The unique blend of fragrant spices (of which cinnamon is an important part) and tea continues to be a popular drink in coffee shops and tea houses today.

Babys Dream Cinnamon Milk: Warm milk before bed is an age-old remedy to help people sleep. Adding cinnamon to it can help even more by relieving cramps, if you have them. And adding honey replenishes your liver with glycogen to help keep you asleep. This drink also has natural sugar, which raises your insulin levels slightly and allows the amino acid tryptophan to enter your brain, which sets off a chain reaction that helps get you to sleep. This powerhouse combination of ingredients will help you sleep just like a baby!

Homemade Cinnamon Almond Milk: