Cinnamon is a spice that not everybody loves. It has a taste that it’s difficult to define: sweet but with a bitter, sharp and unmistakable aftertaste that enhances the flavours of food. It’s a spice that should be correctly dosed but that should be frequently used because it has many beneficial properties.

Firstly, it is very high in antioxidants, it is an antibacterial, antispasmodic and vermifuge ingredient; it disinfects the intestines, boosts digestion, tones your body and tackles the flu. When used in cooked food it promotes the preservation of fats and enhances food’s nutritional properties.

Half a teaspoonful of it a day helps getting diabetes, cholesterol and triglycerides levels under control. Researchers at the US Department of Agriculture and Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland gave a group of people suffering from diabetes an apple and cinnamon cake and discovered against expectations that, thanks to this spice, the amount of glucose was contained. Two or three grammes of powdered cinnamon with food help reduce blood sugar levels by 20% and lower “bad” cholesterol levels and triglycerides respectively by 27 and 30%.

When purchasing this spice, it is advisable to choose cinnamon sticks that should be minced when needed: powdered cinnamon could have lost part of its aroma. In cooking it can be used to prepare many types of meals: sweets, smoothies, creams, fruit salads, hot beverages with wine, roasted meat, savoury dishes with curry and to spice coffee. A tip: chewing a stick of cinnamon after meals whitens teeth.